Filmmakers, are you ready for an investor’s money?

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Alexandra Boylan(Editor’s note: originally published on Feb 17th, 2014 – additions have been made)

Are you ready for an investor’s money?

So I hear you have a great idea, but you’re wondering how do I pay for that great idea? Which leads you to looking for investors to fund that amazing idea of yours. But here comes the really BIG question we have all heard a million times, “What have you done?”

This question used to drive me crazy. I kept thinking I know I can execute my incredible concept if someone would just believe in me and hand me over a pile of cash to bring my vision to life. How do you make something without money? But now, after years of funding my own projects, I fully understand the significance of this question. Everyone has a great idea, but not everyone can or will follow through from conception to completion. In fact I have discovered it is better to practice on your own ideas with your own money first. I grasp the magnitude of needing to witness an artist execute a project from begin to end before someone is willing to invest in his or her work.

The money will come, trust me, but first you must prove your abilities and skills. The process of making a feature film is intense, mind boggling, and straight up HARD WORK! When we began the journey of making “Home Sweet Home” I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Just when you think your job is done, boom, there are a million more things to do. And the entire process took over two and half years. Creating is no easy task, and I’m thankful I didn’t have the pressure of outsider’s money on my shoulders along with all the other demands looming over me. We were really just learning how to figure it all out!

Trailer for “Home Sweet Home”

Now that we have established ourselves as a filmmaking team with great ideas, capable of executing them, and then go on to sell them; the opportunities have started to arise where people feel confident to invest in us. In fact people who said they would never invest in projects, now, three years later with a feature film on the shelves of major stores and an App Game available on the App store, those same people have come out of the woodwork ready to invest in our projects.

Because when someone invests in an idea, they are really investing in the promise of the people who make that idea a reality.

I just completed a second feature film titled “Catching Faith,” funded by investors, and the pressure is heavy. You can’t make mistakes; there is no room for that when you have other people’s money. So make all your mistakes with your own money, so that when those checks come in from investors, you know how to use it, and you know your team can deliver the goods.

“Catching Faith” is a faith-based family film staring Lorena Segura York and Bill Engvall.

Go out there and make your calling card, which demonstrates your talent, abilities and determination. Learn, fail, fall down, get up, and learn again, all on your own accord. Find a group of like-minded friends (preferably with different skills than you), buy a camera (or use your phone camera) and get out there on the streets and start doing it! Only then are you ready to take other parties’ hard earned money, because the worst thing that could happen is to not be ready, and ruin your chance of future investments. You can only make a first impression once!

Don’t road block yourself with all the excuses- I don’t have the perfect camera, I don’t have the right lights (or any at all), I don’t have enough crew members; if you prove you have what it takes to complete a marvelous project, then you have something to show for yourself when the question arises, “What have you done?” And a smart savvy investor will know that with their funding you will be able to make something even better.

You will then feel confident and comfortable bringing in that investor, because you know how the entire process works from the brilliant idea, to shooting it, editing it, marketing it, selling it and so much more that goes into the completion of a Great Idea!

Don’t waste your precious time waiting for funding, because no one wants to get involved in something until they see “what you have done”. And honestly that’s a good thing! You don’t want the responsibility of other people’s money until you know you CAN see the project to the finish line! Prove yourself first and everything will follow!