Become the Producer Every Great Film Needs
From financing to festivals, learn how successful producers get films made.
Every year thousands of brilliant screenplays are written. Most will never become films. Not because they aren’t good enough.
Because nobody knows how to produce them.
Films don’t die from bad ideas. They die from weak budgets. Poor contracts. Missing finance. Unrealistic schedules.
No audience strategy.
This course changes that.
Stop Waiting for Permission. Start Producing.
You’ve got a script.
You’ve spotted talent before anyone else noticed them.
And you’ve hustled a crew together on goodwill, caffeine and blind optimism.
And now you’ve hit the wall.
Because passion doesn’t pay invoices.
And “believing in the project” doesn’t unlock finance, contracts, or distribution.
This is where most films die.
The Film Producers’ Foundation Certificate exists for one reason only:
To teach you how to get a film funded, finished, and actually seen without begging gatekeepers or self-sabotaging your own project.
Five evenings.
No fantasy.
No film-school poetry.
Just the mechanics of producing — the stuff nobody teaches you until you’ve already lost money.
Who This Course Is For (And Who It Isn’t)
This course is for:
- Producers who are tired of guessing
- Writers and directors who want control
- Actors who want ownership
- Filmmakers who’ve realised the paperwork runs the industry, not the passion
It is not for:
- People waiting to be “discovered”
- Anyone who thinks producing is just “having taste”
- Filmmakers allergic to numbers, contracts, or responsibility
If you want your film to exist in the real world, keep reading.
What You’ll Actually Learn
By the end of this certificate, you won’t just understand producing, you’ll be able to do it.
You’ll know how producers:
- Develop films strategically (not emotionally)
- Raise money without sounding delusional
- Build budgets that don’t implode
- Protect their film legally
- Market and sell work in a hostile marketplace
This is the difference between a “project” and a career.
So… What Is a Producer?
Let’s clear this up.
A producer is not:
- The loudest voice in the room
- The person who “knows people”
- The one with the nicest pitch deck
A producer is the person who:
- Controls the project
- Assembles the team
- Protects the rights
- Manages the money
- Gets the film to an audience
Producers create the conditions for everyone else to thrive — or fail.
If that responsibility scares you, good.
If it excites you, welcome.
Week 1: Creating A Business Plan For Your Film
No Plan. No Film. Convince someone to invest in your film
By the end of this session you’ll know how to build a business plan investors understand and filmmakers respect.
Once you’ve chosen a script and a director, reality hits:
Where is the money coming from?
This session dismantles the fantasy version of film finance and replaces it with something investors actually understand.
You’ll learn:
- How to approach investors without embarrassing yourself
- How to structure a real business plan
- How to estimate sales and income streams
- How profit participation actually works (not how people pretend it works)
This is where your film either becomes viable — or quietly dies.
Take this class on its own for £69.99 here.
*Remember: Raindance members save 30%
Week 2: Budgeting And Scheduling For Your Movie
Get This Wrong and You’re Finished.
Budgets and schedules are not admin.
They are survival tools.
If your budget is fantasy, your film collapses halfway through.
If your schedule is wrong, quality dies or the film never finishes.
This session teaches you how professionals break down scripts and turn ambition into reality.
You’ll learn:
- Script breakdowns that actually work
- Realistic pricing
- Union vs non-union realities
- How to build a schedule your film can survive
***THIS CLASS WILL RUN FROM 6.30PM TO 9PM***
Budgeting and scheduling on it’s own for £69.99 HERE.
*Remember: Raindance members save 30%
Week 3: Legal Requirements For Filmmakers
No Chain of Title = No Sale. End of Story.
Finished film. Buyers interested.
Then they ask one question:
“Show us the chain of title.”
If you can’t answer, your film is unsellable.
This session is legal self-defence for filmmakers.
You’ll learn:
- Copyright fundamentals
- Rights of creatives and performers
- What contracts actually do
- How to negotiate without getting destroyed
- Legal terminology you must understand
Think of this as insurance, because fixing it later is expensive or impossible.
Legal Requirements on it’s own for £69.99 HERE.
*Remember: Raindance members save 30%
Week 4: Movie Money: Where it is and how to find it
The Boring Stuff That Unlocks Everything.
This is where most filmmakers panic and where most successful producers separate themselves from the crowd.
This session covers:
- Tax-efficient finance vehicles
- Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS)
- Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs)
- Profit participation structures
These tools are why the UK remains one of the best places in Europe to raise film finance — if you know what you’re doing.
***THIS CLASS WILL RUN ONLINE ONLY FROM 6.30PM TO 9PM***
Movie Money is available on it’s own for £69.99 HERE.
*Remember: Raindance members save 30%
(Note: This session focuses on business finance tools, not current BFI schemes.)
Week 5: Marketing And Selling Your Film
Make the Film. Then Make Them Care.
If you don’t know who your audience is before you shoot, you’re already behind.
This session shows you how films actually get noticed — not how filmmakers wish they did.
You’ll learn:
- How to write a synopsis that sells
- How to build a real press kit
- How festivals actually work
- What film markets are for
- How sales agents operate
- How to create marketing assets that travel
Plus practical social media strategies that generate buzz instead of noise.
Marketing and Selling Your Film is available on it’s own for £69.99 HERE *
Remember: Raindance members save 30%
⚡ What changes after this?
Before:
- You’re guessing your way through producing
- You don’t understand finance, contracts, or sales
- Your project feels fragile
After:
- You know how films are structured as businesses
- You can speak to investors without sounding naïve
- You understand how to protect, finance, and position your film
This is the difference between a “project” and a producer.
Why This Certificate Exists
Because the industry doesn’t reward talent.
It rewards execution.
Because great films fail every year due to bad producing.
And because no one is coming to save your project.
If you’re ready to stop guessing and start producing —
this is where you begin.
Attend all five evenings. Get certified. Get dangerous.
About Elliot Grove
Elliot Grove founded Raindance Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards because the industry wasn’t built for independent filmmakers — and still isn’t.
He has produced 700+ short films and seven feature films, including the multi-award-winning The Living and the Dead(2006) and the SXSW Grand Jury Prize winner Alice (2019). His work spans development, production, distribution, and the parts of filmmaking most people only learn after things go wrong.
Elliot teaches screenwriting and producing internationally across the UK, Europe, Asia, and North America. He is the author of three widely used industry texts:
Raindance Writers’ Lab: Write + Sell the Hot Screenplay (Focal Press, 2008),
Raindance Producers’ Lab: Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking (Focal Press, 2013), and
130 Projects to Get You Into Filmmaking (Barron’s, 2009).
In 2009, he was awarded a PhD for services to film education — for building filmmakers, not just talking about it.
At Raindance, Elliot teaches the Film Producers’ Foundation Certificate, Screenwriters’ Foundation Certificate, Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking, and Write & Sell the HOT Script courses.
He doesn’t teach filmmaking.
He teaches how to survive it.
About Deborah Sheppard
Deborah Sheppard is a highly experienced senior film and distribution marketing executive, who started her career in advertising.
Iheartcinema was set up in 2012, to consult on a bespoke basis for independent filmmakers and distributors in the UK and overseas advising on scripts, audiences, casting, distribution and marketing/awards campaigns. She has also been building a development arm, and has come on board as producer or EP for a number of varied projects, covering several genres, from period and contemporary adventure, animation and comedy, and thriller/dramas.
From 2007-2012, she was Marketing Director for the UK and Ireland for Paramount Pictures, and presided over a multitude of releases from festival films and local acquisitions, such as Babel, Into the Wild, Revolutionary Road, True Grit, Made In Dagenham, Killing Bono to animated favourites, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, Rango, and Tintin, to major franchise blockbusters, including Transformers, Star Trek, Mission Impossible among others.
Prior to that, she was Marketing Director for 10 years at United International Pictures (international distribution network set up by Universal, Paramount and MGM) which included such diverse films as Tomorrow Never Dies, The Thomas Crown Affair, Inside Man, Shrek, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Love Actually, The Ring, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-rabbit, Jarhead, United 93, The Bourne Identity, Nanny McPhee,The Rugrats Movie and many more.
She has worked extensively with many UK production companies, including Working Title, Number 9 Films, and Aardman Animation.
In total, she has released more than 420 titles, achieving a box office of over $4bn. She presents Film Sales and Marketing at Raindance.
About Alec Christie
Alec Christie is Founder and Director of Creative at Them Apples.
Alec has experience working as a Head of Production. Executive Producer, Line Producer and Production Manager. He is proficient in budgeting, scheduling, managing production units in feature films, drama, commercials, animation, documentaries, promos and live events. He has a wealth of industry contacts in Europe, the United States and further afield.
Between 1984 and 1993 Alec Christie worked professionally in front of the camera before going on to study film at the University of Warwick.
About Tony Morris
Tony Morris has more than 35 years experience in advising on a broad range of transactional and contentious matters. He primarily focuses on the TMT sector and the creative media. Tony’s clients include film, TV, record companies, music publishers, composers, musicians, book and online publishers, as well as brands and other creatives and media companies. He is the author of the iconic film industry textbook The Filmmakers Legal Guide. He is also active as a qualified Arbitrator and an Accredited Mediator. Tony is the principal legal advisor for Raindance Film Festival.
About Jasmin Morrison
Having previously served as the Investment Manager at London based The Fyzz Facility Jasmin has been involved in the financing of over 100 feature films and has experience working from conception to distribution.
Jasmin Morrison has wide experience as a film professional having worked in production, post production and film finance. In 2019 Jasmin founded Soul Cognition a production and consultancy company which is committed to diverse stories from a myriad of filmmakers.
Jasmin is also an experienced public speaker having presented at numerous events worldwide including at SXSW, Film London’s New Entrants course and having been featured on The Best Girl Grip and Screenster Podcasts. Jasmin also serves as a consultant for Breaking Through the Lens.
About Dave Morrison
Both a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor, Dave was a tax manager at two large firms before spending a number of years running his own (MOBO Nominated) DJ, club and concert business. He joined NLP in the late 1990s and his association with the world of entertainment continues, with specific areas of expertise in Creative Industry Tax Credits and EIS share issues. Along with his skills with regards to tax enquiry work, Dave has also represented clients at tax tribunal cases and takes a keen interest in a wide range of technical tax matters.
He was chairman of the Institute of Chartered Accountants’ Entertainment and Media Group for several years and regularly presents and writes articles on issues salient to both the entertainment and tax industries.
Beyond that, he spends less evenings dancing, now opting to spend his weekends cycling, accomplishing most Audax awards and completing many prestigious British and European rides. He even has a trophy or two at home! He also still proudly holds a season ticket at QPR.
Did you know?
- 30% discount for Raindance Premium / Pro members
You can join online >HERE< and start saving immediately - This course is FREE for our HND and Postgraduate/MA/ students
- You can book a free 1-1 consultation about our full-time degree courses HERE
- The Raindance Guarantee: If this course fails to meet your expectations, let us know at the break and we will make a full, 100% no-questions-asked refund
- We don’t teach ‘filmmaking’ at Raindance. At Raindance we make filmmakers.
Diane Kerr –
I really enjoyed the course. It was full of useful information. Each weekly module had a specialist in their field explain the topic in depth. I made good contacts and gained useful knowledge that will allow me to put some tangible skills in to practice.
Daniel Cowie (verified owner) –
I had recently completed producing a couple of short films and felt it was time to work on a feature. I have a strong business background, but I had no formal education in Film prior and didn’t really know how to go about getting something of that stature made.. so I thought I’d give the Producers Foundation a go (as I already had Eliot’s Lo-to-no Budget Filmmaking book). By god it has helped me no end!! after completing this 5 week course, it was like someone just switched on the light and I understood how feature film making worked. I now feel confident enough to attack financing deals, look for sellers/distributers, Prepare budgets & business plans, promote our film & most of all, make sure it gets made.
Peter Bispham (verified owner) –
It was great to learn from people actively working in the industry. Each week a different tutor gave an insight into a particular area of film production, sharing practical hints and tips gained from their own experience. Met some interesting people and made a few contacts.
Austin Staton –
This course has helped to give me the tools to begin to produce my own short and feature films as well as making some vital contacts and learning a hell of a lot about the filmmaking process not only making the film but selling the film. Highly recommended ?
aidy –
I enjoyed the course, I enjoyed connecting with the tutors, other students, and Raindance staff, and I learnt from it, but to be honest I found all the information quite overwhelming and daunting… My position is this: I want to make a feature film, but I’m stuck… I’m looking for a producer, and I’m baffled that I still haven’t got one… I think there’s a gap in the market for Raindance to fill, which is “You want to make a film? We’ll closely guide and support your babysteps (as opposed to teach you how and then send you on your way… maybe more aftercare?)” Obviously this is a reflection of my personality, and I think I need more of an arm around the shoulder, and to be better understood, and to be helped through the barriers I come across (my skeptisism of people and life, naiveity as to the nature of the task, self-pity at rejections, fear and shame, etc…) Thanks Raindance, I recommend…
PS. Yes, I’m in therapy!
Øyvind Aamli –
Like a lot of Raindance courses this Producers Foundation Course is not over-complicated and helped me to have a very practical approach to film production. I’ve enrolled on a few Raindance courses and each lecture has an expert tutor who actually works in the field they are teaching in and are realistic yet inspirational. 6 months later I’m being paid to produce two films and I find myself looking back over the notes and handouts I acquired on this course. I guess that’s speaks for itself. Thank you Raindance!
Richard Haywood –
I attended this course in preparation for setting up a small production company, Ashton House Films, and I have to agree that it’s been invaluable. Each speaker is an expert in their field, offering a comprehensive overview of each critical part of the production process. Well presented, informative and filled with lots of entertaining anecdotes along the way. If you’re thinking about production, moving into production, or indeed working in ANY filmmaking discipline, I’d recommend this programme, so gain a better understanding of the complexity of film production.
Petra Majek (verified owner) –
Very comprehensive course
James –
I had just completed a debut low budget feature film before I started the course however I still found the course invaluable especially when it came to the selling and distribution and legal side. I wish I had completed the course before we started the film. I made some great contacts and it was interesting, entertaining and informative with a different expert in their field every week. My only criticism would be that the printed handouts did not always match the slides exactly. It would be great to have an up to date digital copy of the slides before the class as well.
Miguel Garrido (verified owner) –
I highly recommend this course. It is probably the best course of its nature in London. You will learn from film industry experts how to organise your strategy to develop and market your film. This is your blueprint also on how to raise finance to make it, and which necessary contracts you need to put in place within your limited company. In my opinion Raindance has designed an incredible five weeks intensive course full of ideas and content on film production that will give you an invaluable insight into how the film industry really operates.
Mark Brome (verified owner) –
Great session with specialist tutors for each of the individual workshops. Despite having to deliver the majority of the sessions via video conferencing, this worked really well. I would definitely recommend this foundation course to anyone considering making their first feature.
Jaye Nolan –
I feel much more confident about taking a project forward, with a better understanding of who and what I need now.
Neil Mulholland (verified owner) –
I got myself on the Producers Foundation Cert and it was totally excellent.
It was so much better than I expected. The speakers were top notch. I doubt there is a better course of this type in Europe. I will absolutely be utilising so much of the stuff I learned on this course. It would be wrong not to when the guys giving you their knowledge and experience are clearly seasoned professionals with tons of credits to back them up.
I’m already looking at the next course I can do with Raindance.
I would totally recommend this course to anyone who either wishes to produce or even just those who want to learn about the complex nature of getting a film made and distributed.
Andrea S (verified owner) –
I attendend the certificate online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was totally worth it: getting the most out of the classes may be even harder than usual but everything was very well prepared and organized (shout-out to you, Denise!).
5 classes, highly qualified experts for each one, lots of practical infos given.
I feel it really helped me getting to know all the fundamentals of producing
(and some more) and has given me the clues on where to go next in my filmmaking journey.
Totally recommended if you want to get to know producing and distributing.
mark playle (verified owner) –
Thoroughly enjoyed the 5 weekly two & half hour sessions which were very useful and the varied content and speakers made for interesting and informative times.
I would say that the course is worth while to anyone wanting a career in the business or even anyone with an interest in how films get financed.
The enormous amount of work that goes in to structuring a project from scripts to festivals cast & crew all of which need to be accounted for and the course does cover so much more in a fun and interesting way.
To be recommended.
José Zavala (verified owner) –
I did the full course. My main goal was to learn about film production in order to make a decision on a long-term commitment with several projects or just one-off. Definitely, it convinced me to carry for the long term. In the coming days, I will revise all lectures again to clarify some aspects. Highly recommendable, it helps to have a deep inside on the matter.
Marcus Kenmir (verified owner) –
Thoroughly enjoyable and highly informative thank you Raindance!
janetrsmith (verified owner) –
Really great bunch of courses! Available in person or online with 30 days to catch up or re watch each course. with approachable tutors with many years of experience in each of their fields. Now feel I’m ready to get moving on my projects.
Robbi Stevens –
I did Deborah Sheppard’s Marketing and Selling Your Film this week with Raindance and it was brilliant. Really informative and moved at a great pace. Even though I’ve been film making for ages, it was good to refresh and look at things from a different perspective. We are always learning and I really loved the environment at Raindance and Deborah’s no frills approach to do that.
Gary Hudson (verified owner) –
The Raindance people really know what they’re talking about and are enthusiastic enough to give hope to an old (former) cynic like me. If you have any intention of making films, long or short, this course is for you. A great chance to meet other enthusiastic film producers, too.
Aaron James (verified owner) –
I took the full Producers’ Foundation Certificate and found it extremely helpful, mainly Legal Requirements which will help protect you. The tutors were fantastic and did their best to answer all the questions, even those online. The course is a good refresher for those who have been in film and perfect for those looking to start their journey. Highly recommend!
Igor Ismail (verified owner) –
I really loved the course! thanks a lot! Raindance!
nicoloriboni (verified owner) –
Really, really useful. Great course, great tutors. Thanks a lot!
Shakeel Ahmed (verified owner) –
A brilliant course: thorough and detailed, with great hints and tips along the way, and delivered by industry experts. Very beneficial.
Si Skinner (verified owner) –
What a great start to the Producer’s course. Two hours straight, packed with info and insiders tips on how to build a business plan for your film, not to mention some great stories from the real world of film making from Elliot who is not only charming, but also an extremely good tutor. You can see how much he loves the subject and how he is willing the room to get stuck in. I came away feeling very positive and inspired and can’t wait for the next class. This course was a real find and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Thank very much Elliott and Raindance.
Rebecca Colby (verified owner) –
A comprehensive course! Every session—from business plans to marketing—broke down these often complex topics into useful lessons. I left feeling far more confident about navigating both the creative and the business sides of filmmaking.