Financing / Crowdfunding : If you had a completed screenplay but no budget, what would your next step be? by Bliss Ganza

Hey Bliss! Great question here. I think first and foremost, you need to build supplemental materials that help make the project exciting to producers and outside parties. A great script alone is a tough sell in today's market.

Elements like a pitch deck, marketing plan, and finance plan make your script a lot more exciting to producers. In today's market, a writer must be more producerial in nature and work to create these additional materials to support a script. While a producer can assist with these, expecting a producer to come aboard a "naked" script in this market is a legacy model.

Happy to chat more about this via DMs as well!

Thank you so much, Sean

This is incredibly valuable advice. I've been working on improving my pitch deck alongside rewriting the screenplay, but I hadn't thought as much about the marketing and finance side.

Your perspective really helps me understand how much more there is to preparing a project for the industry. I really appreciate your offer to chat, and I'd love to reach out. Thanks again!

I don’t know anything about the financing of movies/TV and wouldn’t begin to try to understand it. (Same with distribution ). It’s not my area - I just write and pitch. Demands in writers have increased significantly, asking them to be finance people would be a bridge too far for most. Teamwork is the answer - I wouldn’t ask an investor or a banker to write a screenplay, or a traffic warden to direct it.

HI

David Taylor,

I love this way of looking at it. As a young writer, I've been trying to learn a little about every part of filmmaking so I can communicate my vision better, but you're right—movies are built by teams. Everyone brings something different to the table, and that's what makes filmmaking so exciting.

I have a TV pilot script, (and a draft of the first 3 episodes), completed bible and pitch deck for a grounded sci-fi thriller, adapted from one of my published novels. My question is what is the next step for me, as the writer, to get my work in the hands of a producer? Will i need to put together a budget as well, for each episode and/or season?

I'd focus on finding the right producer. A great screenplay is only the starting point. Even with a complete package including a pitch deck, treatment, proof of concept, and attached cast or key creatives, nothing is guaranteed. It can feel like someone puts a huge wall in front of you and says, "If you can get over this, the rest is easy." Building the package is one challenge. Finding the right champion to help get over that wall is often the biggest one. KEEP PUSHING.

@blissganza Congratulations on writing your screenplay. The fundamental question before you seek financing is, how much do I need? What will the film cost to make? How much equity do I need? The answer to this process is you need a real film budget created by an experienced producer, line producer, or upm (unit production manager - I am all three of these, including an executive producer and consulting producer as well.) Engaging a line producer for a film budget is the first, most prudent step, to know what you are talking about. I create professional film budgeting for fellow filmmakers, so I am certainly biased in this regards. However, that's why I created www.FilmBudget.com Worldwide, seeing the hole in the roadmap to production for film and tv production. Please feel free to reach out via filmbudget.com/contact or here at Stage 32.

@kateporer Yes (as above.)

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this. I honestly hadn't realized that a professional budget is one of the first real steps before approaching financing. As someone who's still learning the filmmaking side of the industry, comments like yours help me understand how the process actually works.

I'm only 15 and still refining SAVAGE SMILE, so I'm trying to learn as much as I can before taking the next steps. I really appreciate you sharing your experience, and I'd love to stay connected and keep learning from your posts. Thanks again!

Agree with Jack. Hire a producer (line or PM) to do a board/budget. Usually, whomever does the work is given first right of refusal as Producer, if the the script goes into production. This is also a way to possibly negotiate a better deal. And BTW - I too am all three. :-)

Thank you!

I really appreciate the advice. It's interesting that both you and Jack mentioned starting with a professional board and budget before seeking financing.

Since I'm still learning, can I ask: at what point do you usually consider a screenplay "ready" for that budgeting stage? I'd love to hear your perspective.

Great question, Bliss.

As an independent screenwriter, I’ve realized there isn’t a single path forward. If I don’t have the budget to produce a feature myself, my focus shifts to building relationships, strengthening the screenplay, and getting it in front of the right people.

I’ve found that networking, pitch opportunities, screenplay competitions, and development programs can all create momentum. Over time, I’ve had scripts requested by producers and selected for industry opportunities, and each project has opened a different conversation.

Rather than waiting until I have financing, I keep writing the next screenplay while continuing to build my portfolio and professional relationships. For me, every completed script is both a story and a calling card, and sometimes the script itself becomes the bridge to the people who can help bring it to the screen.

From a Producer side of the fence I find that the main problem is that screenwriters who write screenplays treat them like their own children (which I guess they are in a way) and do want to have the screenplay changed significantly in any way. They seem to not understand if someone is going to put their hard earn money and the hard earned money of any investors in the project they are going to have to take critics of their work and significant changes may be necessary to the screenplay itself. I understand the feelings of creatives however they have to understand the concerns of the people who put in the money for the project. Unless you are rich enough to produce the screenplay yourself (and who is, even a rich person cannot afford this risky venture or he will not be rich for long) you are going to have to take the advise of others who want changes to your baby, I mean screenplay.

Thank you, Elena. I really appreciate hearing the producer's perspective. As a writer, it's easy to become attached to every scene, but I'm learning that filmmaking is a collaborative process. If changes genuinely make the story stronger and help it connect with audiences, I think it's important to stay open-minded. I'm still learning, so insights like yours really help me understand the bigger picture. Thank you!

I have a tv pilot script complete, and I am looking to produce it. Here is my humble opinion. I believe that the most important thing about film making is understanding what the audience wants and doesn't want. You should steer clear of what they don't want, but you can't give them exactly what they want for two reasons. 1. Figuring it out is impossible because every viewer is slightly different and 2. If you did, it wouldn't be accepted because it was too expected and not a surprise. Therefore, you given them something close, you hope for the best, and gather data to see what to do different next time. However, that creates a problem, because films become meals filled with sugar with every attractor that the marketing team and producers can cram in to MAKE IT SELL as sweat as possible. Then the viewers have sugar crashes, and all the films are the same, because even though you change the food coloring, the fake flavoring, and the texture it is still filled with sugar. We need more integrity in film making. That means being responsible as custodians for the creative work that the writer makes, if for no other reason, then to know what we are going to get, instead of hoping that at the end of the gauntlet of changes from everyone one with some pull, that it is not a different movie. Then the data just doesn't line up. Apples to Oranges. I know, you compare the final film with the data, but what is the final film? Who knows? Everyone has their own ideas. So, in my researched opinion, don't invest in a script if you require changes. Don't turn it into a desperate path of constant fixes to make something work. Just walk away. I would rather my script never be made than have it gutted for a processed-food, sugar-filled place on the candy isle. Give someone their creative space and either trust them, move on, or write your own. Only then will writers grow from their actual creative mistakes or successes instead of trying to figure out where in the maelstrom of supposed expert changes along the way it turned for good or bad. That's just my humble opinion. Empower, don't sour. I would love for someone to break this down for me and explain why this not the disciplined approach taken. Please don't say ideal. It's only ideal and not real, because we give up. Ready to learn! I can take the burn!

Michael,

I really enjoyed reading this because it made me think.

As someone writing my first feature screenplay, one of my biggest questions has been how to balance protecting the heart of the story while still being open to changes that genuinely make it stronger.

I agree that stories can lose their identity if every decision is driven only by what seems "marketable." At the same time, I also know collaboration is a huge part of filmmaking.

I guess the challenge is finding people who improve the story without replacing its soul.

Thank you for sharing your perspective—it gave me a lot to think about.

Bliss,

You're welcome! Thank you for taking the time to read it. Yes, you should not go into film making without the will and desire for collaboration. I am all for that, but the final decision needs to be by someone that understands the heart of the film and will respect the origin of it. When the decisions become a powerplay, conflict of wills, and careful consideration to the work cannot be given, then something started off wrong. Most likely people thought they liked the script enough to get it to where they loved it. I would warn against that and make sure everyone signs on we are agreeing to make the film in the script and if no one agrees then the script is what gets made. That agreement will cause the wrong partners to walk, and the right ones stay around. But hey, I am crazy like that, lol

Michael,

I really like that perspective. I think "understanding the heart of the film" is probably one of the most important jobs on any project. Collaboration should make the story clearer and stronger, not change it into something unrecognizable.

I also like your point about finding the right partners early. It seems like having people who believe in the story from the beginning would avoid a lot of unnecessary conflict later on.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. As someone still learning the industry, conversations like this help me understand not just how films get made, but how they're protected along the way.

Michael, I really enjoyed reading your perspective because it raises an important question about creative integrity. I agree that constantly chasing trends or trying to please everyone can lead to stories that lose their unique voice.

At the same time, I don’t think collaboration and creative integrity have to be opposites. Some of cinema’s greatest films evolved through thoughtful collaboration between writers, producers, directors, and actors. For me, the key isn’t whether a screenplay changes, but whether every change serves the heart of the story rather than simply making it feel more marketable.

I think audiences ultimately connect with stories that feel honest. They may come because of the marketing, but they return—and recommend a film to others—because the characters and emotions stay with them. Finding collaborators who protect that emotional truth is just as important as finding financing.

I really like your phrase, “Empower, don’t sour.” I think that’s a philosophy both writers and producers can learn from.

I ran into exactly this probolem. I had a Shakespeare adaptation and tried to gather talent (I didn't have any stars). I got told I was disorganized because I didn't have a budget, and it kind of fell apart. I had one particular community theatre actor in mind for a prominenet role who was a dentist, but he also had six kids and couldn't help finance it (he was the uncle of Kevin Darbro, who made The Wicked Witch Project, one of the many Blair Witch Project spoofs, that one absed on The Wzard of Oz)..I've been writing sc ripts and trying to find producers and funding for 25 years without success and spent eight years living in homeless shelters because Social Security told me I couldn't have Disability because there is no physical mreason I can't do desk work, so....