I'm sure no one here ever worries about money. We're above that, right?
I hope I've given you a quick laugh and not a hurtful tear. (Or maybe my joke didn't land at all, so I'll get right to the down and dirty.)
Getting any production off the ground requires money, whether it's a hundred (name your currency) for lunch with a few mates who help you shoot something off your mobile phone, or 20K for a quality short, or millions and gazillions for that dream project.
Even the screenwriter who lands a strong producer will be talking sources of finance very early. And many projects just don't resonate with "traditional film investors," even though we believe they should.
I, myself, am looking for funding on a project with rare, terminal disease and euthanasia at its core. (I find light in dark places. The ending is uplifting.) An accomplished producer wants to do this.
So outside of the traditional film investor route, we're also kicking around the "death with dignity" crowd. (They are passionate about their cause!) Although it's never "a quick call and a deal," we are finding enthusiastic supporters who open doors, or at least lead us to doors to knock on.
So I ask my Stage 32 amigos, what types of creative funding have left you with dead ends (no pun intended) and, of course, what types of doors are opening far off the "traditional" beaten path?
How do you build support even when a contact who loves your concept is clearly not the one who will sign the payment order?
Or even, does this post get you thinking along these lines? How?
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Great thought-provoking post, Jack. Finding non-traditional backers who connect with the core themes (rather than just 'film investors') is huge, especially for dark or complex narratives. Building relationships with advocates who open doors has been a far better strategy for us than cold pitching traditional avenues.
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I think cause-aligned communities can be valuable even when they aren’t the ones writing the check. The right supporter can bring credibility, introductions, access to organizations, or eventually lead you to someone who can finance the project. Sometimes the most valuable contact is the person who opens the next door.
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If you want to know what is really going on with someone who has a "terminal" disease you have to interview extensively someone who is in that position and who can actually speak your language because they are either not too old or not too far gone.
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Elena Schumann Indeed. One would be remiss not to do that.
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Zoltán Varga I agree. This goes beyond filmmaking, as well. One lead leads to the next
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László Vass Nice!… and I’m betting that until one reaches a certain level or breaks through to connected producers, the traditional route can be too much of a long shot.
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Agreed, Jack! Building the right connections is key, which is why focus and direct outreach to the right partners matter so much. Onward!
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I think my comment deserves more discussion. When you are talk about "terminal diseases" you are talking about a wide variety of diseases or conditions with a wide variety of outcomes. I for years had the mistaken impression that a "terminal" illness would go a certain way as described in all the tearjerker movies about this issue. However, having developed a medical condition myself that is uncurable and will kill me (if something else does not get me first) I realize that these movies in the interest of telling a complete story in a finite amount of time do NOT do the subject REAL justice. Many people (like me) have an illness that is not curable (but perhaps treatable) but they have absolutely no idea how much time they have left. I could live 5 or more years from now and on the otherhand I could get very sick and not last more than a couple of weeks FROM NOW. I have no idea and neither do the doctors, that is the rub so they say, the medical profession often cannot tell you how long you have especially if your condition is in its infancy, medical advances that could help your condition are happening all the time. You just do not know, of course you could get hit by a truck and die tomorrow, it happens, the uncertainty of anyone's life is the key issue and if you are able to explore that in a properly crafted story you will make a good film.
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Elena Schumann That's very deep, Elena. Thank you for sharing it. I can only imagine what it must be like living with your condition.
I like the point you build to in your comment, about the uncertainty.. I believe it was William Archer who said, about storytelling, "Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty."
If uncertainty is about life and death, it really touches the core of the human condition.
I lost my closest brother to Lewy Body Disease. During the last year, he wanted to euthanize. The best they could do was hospice at the very end. It was torture for all. I also lost a very close friend to ALS. He did euthanize, and it was not easy but not draining to everyone down to the end... and his last days were deep but also grateful and joyous.
As I develop my project, I think it would be beneficial to tap into your wisdom and feelings on this. Perhaps we could have a conversation about it?
Thank you again for your vulnerability and sharing these deep thoughts.
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Jack Vincent this is such a genuinely useful thread to open!
What you're describing with the death with dignity community is one of the most underused financing paths in independent film. Money that follows a cause behaves differently than money that follows a return. A traditional film investor is asking whether they'll get paid back. A mission-aligned funder is asking whether your film will move the needle on something they already care deeply about. Those are completely different pitches, and most filmmakers only know how to make the first one.
On your question about the contact who loves the concept but isn't signing the check, I'd argue those people are often more valuable than the ones who are. Someone inside a cause community knows who funds what, which foundations have money moving this cycle, and which conversations are worth your time. Treating them as a dead end wastes the most useful thing they have, which is their map. The ask isn't "will you fund this," it's "who should I be talking to, and would you be willing to make the introduction?" That's a much easier yes, and it's how those doors actually open.
Also worth knowing- Stage 32 has a class in our on-demand library built for exactly this. How to Tap Into Donor-Advised Funds to Help Finance Your Film. There's over $250 billion sitting in U.S. Donor Advised Funds and private family foundations, and it's money that's specifically looking for socially impactful work, which describes your project precisely. Most producers never touch it simply because nobody taught them how to go after it. The webinar covers how to approach philanthropic funding and how to use it to de-risk a project so traditional investors become easier to attract afterward: https://www.stage32.com/education/products/alternative-fundraising-strat...
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Love your perspective, Ashley Renée Smith, and I'm definitely going to check out the Tap Into Donor-Advise Funds webinar. Thanks for pointing that out :)
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Ashley Renée Smith, that’s great advice. I didn’t know about this webinar, and since DAFs can be such an important path for raising money for films in the US, I’m definitely going to take a look too, like Jack Vincent .
In Europe, DAFs aren’t really part of the cultural funding landscape in the same way, so I always find it interesting to learn more about how filmmakers in the US use them as part of their financing strategy.
Thank you for sharing this!