Table of Contents
Introduction
PART 1 One small problem
1 A surprising discovery
2 The journey begins
PART 2 The obstacles
3 The culture of secrecy
4 Fear and loathing: commercial is a dirty word?
5 This stuff is complicated
6 Falling revenues: falling demand for indies
7 The downside of festival culture
8 Trends in film journalism
PART 3 How films make money
9 Rubber, meet road
10 The players
11 Monetization
12 How much to DIY
13 Promotion and publicity – who’s selling this thing, anyway?
PART 4 Making profitable films
14 Sell the sizzle
15 Development: crafting a commercial success
16 Genre
17 Rising above genre
18 More film elements
19 Drafting
20 Casting
21 Producers and producing
22 Financials
23 Raising money the traditional way – beg
24 Before you start begging
25 Reducing the risk when presales don’t work
26 Press – the gift that keeps on giving
Conclusion
Top ten lessons
Appendix: case studies, interviews and producer profiles
Case study: micro- budget filmmaking – Marcus Mizelle
Interview with legendary film school teacher Dov Simens
Case studies: niche moviemaking – Tom Malloy
Case studies: low-risk, low-budget sci fi – Jeffrey Giles
Case study: making 70 films with Daniel Zirilli of PopArt Film Factory