How Do You Pitch Your Film and Find Financing? The First Feature: AMATEUR [Episode 4]
In this episode of our step-by-step podcast on how to get your first feature made, using my Netflix Film Amateur (out now on Netflix) as a case study, we dive into how to find a producer—and financing.
Click the play button on the Soundcloud player above to listen, or listen to our other deep-dive episodes of The First Feature.
This episode covers my experiences pitching Amateur eighty (!) times and eventually getting it to Netflix, including the following points:
- Making a pitch into a back-and-forth conversation as early as possible
- What goes into a pitch packet other than the script, including a rip-o-matic/multimedia lookbook
- Using CRM software to track producers and financiers (I used Streak)
- How rejection can be a development process unto itself
- Why "producer" is an amorphous term and how to identify producers with complementary skill sets
- Who my producers were (Jason Michael Berman, Chip Hourihan, and Mark Moran) and what their roles were
- How I got the film to Netflix
….and more.
The articles and podcasts we mention are:
- Running a Kickstarter Campaign? Here's What You Should Think About Before — and After
- The Mysteries of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, Explained
- Meet Netflix’s Indie Content Team, at Sundance and Beyond - Indiewire
If you have questions about the making of the Netflix Original Film Amateur — or about your own feature project — you can ask me at firstfeature@nofilmschool.com or find me on twitter @ryanbkoo.
Here's the trailer for the feature Amateur. Watch it now on Netflix!
This episode of The First Feature is sponsored by Music Bed. Get 20% off your next on-site license with coupon code "FirstFeature20."
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