My Secrets to Successful Fundraising with Private Equity
 Hands down, the most common question I get from filmmakers after I speak at a film festival is how to raise money.I’ve had a ton of experience raising money many different ways across a variety of projects and have developed a refined approach that really works. Fundraising with Private Equity is one of my favorite methods and a key tool for any indie filmmaker to be successful.  Let’s go under the hood on “Ricky”, a short film project that I raised money for using Private Equity. Fundraising for shorts is specific, but many of the insights I’ve developed can be applied to features as well. Let’s go through best practices and proven tactics I’ve found to successfully raise money for your film using private equity.Use Diverse Funding Sources First, I want to note that there are many approaches to fundraise for shorts and I find it best to diversify how you’re seeking to raise your budget rather than putting all your eggs in one basket. This was the case for “Ricky” where we received 3 different grants in addition to the private equity money raised. Grants are great because they are considered “soft money” and have no expectation of being paid back. It also helps your private equity investors to see that part of your budget has already been raised. In my next email, I’ll share more about using Fiscal Sponsorship to provide tax-deductible options for investors, but for now, we’ll just focus on how to raise private equity money for your film.Build Your Investor Network As a filmmaker, I have worked hard to develop a deep network of investors that I can call upon when I need to raise money for a project like “Ricky.” Even if you’re not really passionate about producing, I still recommend you make it a priority to connect with investors because one thing that we’ll always need as filmmakers is money to fund our projects. Rather than going to meetups or film markets like AFM to meet investors, I suggest going to places where investors hang out. Events like art shows or golf tournaments are great venues to connect with high net worth investors who might be interested to back your next film.Develop Meaningful Relationships with Investors Many filmmakers look at investors in a transactional way and just seek out those relationships when they are fundraising for a project. This isn’t the best approach and instead, I’ve found that building relationships with investors before you need to raise money is much easier. You can instead focus on your vision as a filmmaker and how they can align with the types of projects an investor might want to support.For “Ricky,” I was able to finance the project through working with relationships I’ve nurtured with investors and I approached them from a place of trust that we’ve established over time. Remember: investors invest in people, not projects! We shared history and they knew who they were dealing with. Even if you’ve never actually worked with an investor, if you’ve spent time to connect with them prior to asking them to contribute to your project, it will go a long way.There’s so much more to share about raising money with private equity, but it’s too much to cover in this email. If you want more of my insights about how I’ve successfully fundraised for projects like “Ricky” then be sure to register for my upcoming free training. And be sure to keep an eye out for my next email, which is all about using Fiscal Sponsorship for fundraising. It’s a very powerful tool when used alongside private equity and one of my favorite strategies I’ve used a number of times.If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you check out the trailer for “Ricky.” It’s an amazing short that catapulted director, Rashad Frett’s career into the stratosphere getting into Sundance, helped him sign with WME, and greenlit the feature.  Just another example of why I love shorts and will continue to work on them!WATCH THE TRAILER FOR “RICKY” |
