Best Way To Make A Profit On A $20,000 Feature Film - Mark Harris

In this Film Courage video interview, Chicago-based filmmaker Mark Harris shares his ideas on making one's money back on a $20,000 independent film. He shares thoughts on renting out a theater to screen the film, using social media for advertising and NOT relying on family and friends to support the movie financially.

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[PaulKyriazi]

He's so right. That's the hard lesson to learn. "Don't be frustrated when other film-makers don't support you. Find your audience. "

[roblinnbailey]

The lady that asks the questions has such a lovely voice.

[eyeballbilly]

Mark is spot on, so many films are directed at other filmmakers and don’t have an audience beyond the festival circuit. It’s usually the filmmaker has this amazing vision she or he wants to show off to the filmmaking community. This makes it very difficult to make a return on.

[TheElectroFalcon]

Facts. I have recently been so let down by expecting friends and family to step up.

[daminshufford]

I definitely agree with Mark Harris advise. No matter what I was advertising or selling. Friends and family always wanted discounts or something free. I had to realize that that wasn't the type of support I wanted.

[FILMWORKSINC]

Thank you all for watching. Truly appreciate the comments.

[GetThisMovie]

I absolutely agree, by learning the hard way in the beginning.

[huddieentertainment]

Facts! Friends and family want the hookup. And the ones who do what u do, will want FREE info or want u to help them with their movies. Great advice

[AlexiOuzas]

Thanks for the video! Marketing to the right audience is super important to remember!

[WordsPictures]

Soooo good. Thank you so much for this guys. The narrative of focusing publicizing your work among friends and family has never sat well with me. Mark has just given language to that feeling for me. Yeah, those closest to you shouldn't have to be " forced " to support you. If the work is good it truly does make more sense to put energy into getting it to a wider audience

[JCPFILMS]

Facts! Stop trying to entertain the folks in the same industry. If anything they are the competition. The people are the ones who matter most.

[orio.swoosh]

wow this man has great advice in the hustle of getting ppl to know about what hes doing

[gnarthdarkanen]

Great video!
AND ABSOLUTELY, I agree...

Think about this as a "marketing question" for a moment... You have a product, even with no more to start with than a script. You still have a product... AND who do you "sell" this thing to???

Friends and family? Nope. They will already know about the product "by rote", simply for knowing you, they either already want to support this idea... seeing the script turn into a film for publication... or not. They also already have their own minds made up from the start of your process (before you finished writing this thing) whether or not they thought it was worth "buying in"... SO well before you've finished spit-shining and punctuation, they either "want in" on the product or not.

Fellow Film Makers... Um... no. It's simple. There are two camps in the "fellowship" of business. You have Colleagues, who can share and appreciate your ideas and efforts, and by similar "rote" of knowing your existence at all in this business, will already have their minds made up to "want in" or to be a part of your "project" or not...
AND you have "Competition"... All the rest of "The Business" around you who see every success in your career as a defeat in their own. Every butt put into a theater to see YOUR film is a but that "should be" in a different theater to watch one of their films... AND they won't support a damn thing for you. Simple as that... no need to dwell on this kind of business associate (and we ALL have them)... just move on.

SO those two basic groups identified and a clarification about WHY you don't want to target them with a "Feature Film Project" (regardless of budget concern)... Who then remains???
Well, pretty much anyone and everyone else who might have a few bucks to spare and could be convinced that you can make something "special" happen just because they were a part of it. It's only important at this point to figure out about "how wide to cast your nets" figuratively speaking, and "how many nets you want to cast".
Wide? I'd advise as wide as reasonably conceivable. You may not think there's such a thing as "too wide" but reckon with your own business savvy and how much you can take care of "in the bookkeeping". Too much information running through your ledgers at once can be worse than frustrating... It can be impossible. It's not your fault, especially early on, for having no relevant experience. You can learn a great deal about bookkeeping in school, but the actual process is tedious and painstaking, and even the slightest degree "in error" can lead to catastrophic failure in the longer run and bigger picture.
How many? Similar to width of nets... You'll want to keep it reasonably simple so you can keep up and keep track of everything. "Investors" will want some kind of return, so watch the "fine print" when you start making deals. "Product Placement" is a thing and does help get a lot of stuff "off the ground" but you don't necessarily want to sell out the soul and intention of your work before it gets a chance on its own merits. "Crowd Sourcing" is always helpful, but again, being careful with the bookkeeping is paramount. Even Gofundme, and Patreon and similar sites keep some accountability ongoing and if it's worth the effort to register for account(s), then it's worth the effort to see to it Carefully that everyone gets those perks and specials as they've intended when they came to "throw money at you".
Otherwise, go nuts... The harder charger will get the most audience. It's a numbers-game at that point. ;o)

[TumultFilm]

he got me. great advice from experience.

[twantlavish]

Great advice! Thanks for the this, so helpful.

[juanthyme]

That social media marketing is antiquated.

[VishnuAttiappan]

The truth. I went thru those disappointments as well.

[megoxman]

The movie theaters don’t make money off of the tickets but how can you sell tickets for your movie without some sort of license? What is necessary for this to be executed?

[currentphonograph]

I think theatrical release is A great 💡 idea

[themightyflog]

Mark. How would you do it now in the time of Covid?