Question #1 Is there still a market for micro-budget films? Yes. After dying a sad death a few years ago when the world economy tanked, micro-budget films are boomeranging themselves back to viability. However, there are a few guidelines to follow to help yours thrive: Question #2 Are pre-sales for indie films really dead? To quote Miracle Max from The Princess Bride, they’re “mostly dead,” at least in the traditional sense. Meaning, buyers are not willing to pay for your film upfront, unless it is infused with an A-list, sellable cast (by A-list I mean Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, not Tom Arnold and Brad Garrett). But, the good news is, many international buyers will give your sales agent/international distributor a price range of what they will “most probably” pay for your film when it’s finished, based on if they like the concept and genre. While having a buyer say, “I will most probably buy your film” is not a guarantee, it is most probably going to lead to a sale. Furthermore, those “most probably” sales could earn you a pretty penny. For example, let’s say you make a great little $40,000 action film that looks like you spent $125,000-$200,000. Your film could land sales in the $5,000-$50,000 range from multiple territories, earning you gross sales anywhere from $50,000-$200,000 and maybe more. Not bad for a $40,000 action film. Question #3 What can I do to get my webisode series noticed? Make something that’s abundantly commercial because more people will want to watch your series and advertisers will want to sponsor you. Remember, 2012 marks the first year ever when ad dollars spent online surpassed the ones spent in print, so advertisers are ready to sponsor you as long as your content is made for the consumer groups that those advertisers are trying to reach. Question #4 How many hits will it take for my webisode series to get a sponsor? That depends. An “R” rated series with 250,000 hits per episode may not capture as much interest from advertising sponsors as a “PG” rated series with 150,000 hits per episode does. So, it’s not about the numbers of hits as much as it is whom those hits are coming from. Of course, numbers are always good, but only if they’re reaching people that advertisers are angling to embrace. Since there are far more questions for me to answer, I’ll wrangle up more of them next week. As always, I thank you for lending me your eyes and I look forward to borrowing them again next Tuesday! I can be followed on Twitter @Lonelyseal.
