1. Find a really great script.
It’s your building block to your film. Ask yourself – Is it a compelling story audiences will pay to see? Are the lead roles strong enough to attract name actors? What is the emotional hook an audience will relate too?
2. Build a good team around you that support any skills you may not have.
Have clear contracts with all. It’s always a good plan to make sure all have an understanding of what their job duties are and clear expectation of what they will get money wise and credit wise from the start as once the money is on the table people can get greedy and ego’s can flare up and many projects fall apart from this.
3. Start your marketing strategy from day one.
Start building your audience, emotionally engage them with the film you are making and invested in it’s success. Ask questions too – feedback can be useful.
4. Constantly keep up on industry information.
Read the trades, talk to other film makers- you can learn from their successes and mistakes. You don’t want to be telling your investors you have an offer out to an actor to have them read in Variety that that actor has signed on to do lead in big studio movie shooting in your planned time slot.
5. Have a good business plan for your film.
Who and where are you going to sell your film too? What is your film realistically worth, get feedback from sales agents, look at comparable films and make sure that your budget is at the right level so your investors have a real chance of recouping and making profit. Who are the distributors who are successful in your genre and how can you get in business with them?
