Selling a Screenplay Online – Funding a Film
Selling a screenplay online and funding a film can be achieved with crowd funding and social media. Crowd funding is done online and is viewed as a form of self publishing. Some critics say that crowd funded films are not real films because they are too low budget and often made with substandard computer effects. However, this is simply not true. These are merely independent films that still contain all the attributes of a real film. They have a screenplay, actors, a director, cameramen, and all the other crew members who work on a film.
Selling a screenplay online and funding an entire film on a low budget can and has been done successfully. The amount of money spent to make a film does not determine if it is a real film or not. Just look at “The Blair Witch Project.” The initial investment to produce that movie was only $35,000. It later ended up grossing almost a quarter billion dollars at the box office. Yes, that is billion with a “b” or 250 million dollars. So never let a low budget deter you from making the best film possible. Once you complete your film, all you have to do is find one distributor who likes your film and is willing to promote it. That is why you should bring your movie to film festivals and other locations where distributors are located.
The Internet contains many different crowd funding websites. The three most popular ones are Kickstarter, PleaseFundUs and Indiegogo. In order to be successful on these websites, you need to have an effective communication strategy. Your number one communication source should be social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. This will be the most effective way in getting traffic to your crowd funding page. Do not count on the website alone to bring you the traffic. You have to bring your own traffic to the website. This could include making a video trailer for the project and putting it up on YouTube.
When funding a film, you should also create your own website dedicated to the project and then include a link to the crowd funding page on it. The website should also contain your social media links, and vice versa. Just remember the more you advertise the better chances you’ll have of getting the attention of people who are willing to donate towards your film project. The cost to perform all of this online advertising will be minimal. You can easily create an attractive website with Wix.com for just $12.95 per month. It has a simple drag and drop interface with no programming skills required.
