Independent Film Biz Plan

Introduction to a seventy-five page prospectus for an independent film, seeking to raise production capital:

In the composition of this document two assumptions apply: that the prospective investor is sophisticated in the world of finance and has reviewed documents of this kind in the past; and that said investor realizes that motion-picture finance is inherently a risky venture and that profit/loss projection and actualization is subject to numerous variables beyond normal control.

That said, the following details the finer points of the project, market, and industry at hand. Just as the motion-picture industry and the culture of motion-picture appreciation diverges from other endeavors, so will this narrative at times diverge from the style of the typical memorandum in an attempt to characterize some small aspect of the contemporary alchemy that is filmmaking. It is acknowledged that the attempt is like trying to capture lightning in a jar; as most magic won’t hold still for scrutiny, so any detailed examination of the proposed synthesis of story, mood, character, style, period, music and theme will fail utterly to capture the essence that is the quintessence of a good movie.

Suffice it to say that in that moment when the lights go down and the screen lights up, what occurs reaches well beyond a simple photonic substitution. The overall effect comprises perhaps the most significant influence on American and international culture of the contemporary age, and offers the sophisticated financier an opportunity to affect the lives of ordinary people in a manner and scale unparalleled in human history. Yet the opportunity is often squandered in the attempt to reconcile art and commerce (and the two, it should be emphasized, must be reconciled); in such manner are billions routinely committed to promote narratives of villainy, chaos and the destruction of our social, intellectual, moral and material strata. Said destruction accrues to the inestimable detriment of our society. In its report entitled Strategic Development Of the Irish Film Industry, the members of the document’s review group noted, “A fundamental policy of every national community in the world is to master and secure a distinctive presence and to express their own cultural identities through film and television.” Such is true for virtually every nation except the United States, in which the only sustained cultural imperative is that which is widely marketable. The unfortunate corollary of the notion is that anything that sells is culturally desirable.

Thus do the producers herewith offer The Ferryman in antithesis of popular entropy. It is the aim of this document to acquaint sophisticated capital resources with the opportunity at hand to forge real market and cultural value – value that interacts with and inspires the sensibilities of moviegoers not only in darkened theaters in points across the globe but also in home media collections and televised programming for years to come.