Has it been your dream to have one of your films being distributed in theaters? This can be a grueling process. You start planning your film, then you produce it and then there’s no assurance that your film will make it to the theaters or not. I asked people in the industry who know better than I do, and they say that 99% of all movies produced will NOT make it to theaters. That’s quite disheartening. But wait… there is hope. And it wouldn’t be EntreFilmmaker if we would just walk away and accept this discomforting truth.
Today I share with you an interview with a feature film director who just closed a deal to get his film distributed here in the U.S. and internationally. It’s also his first film, and therefore it makes it even more interesting for me how he actually did it. His name is Eric Bugbee, and his film is an awesome BMX film called “Heroes of Dirt”.
I think this episode is so crucial because we get an insight into the life of someone who just broke into the big world of movie making. He is not one of those 20-year veterans who have already forgotten how they got where they are today. Not so with Eric. It was an over 7-year journey for him, and in this interview he gets into the nitty gritty of difficult path of becoming a full-fledged filmmaker.
Interestingly enough, he started out producing promos and commercials and then made the leap towards becoming a feature film director. A dream that many of us have, right?
Here are some of the topics we will be talking about:
Why you need to become a business pro in order to get your film sold.
How to sell a movie to distributors.
How to test a film idea before you go out and shoot the film.
How to pitch your movie to investors.
How to shoot a film in a city that doesn’t cost you anything.
Should you produce a PG or an R rated film? Which sells more?
How faith has helped him get through the toughest times of making a feature film.
Which distribution platform yields the most profits?
How to write a business plan for getting big investors.
What are the three most important steps for a starting filmmaker?
What movie genres are the bestselling at the moment and for what types of audiences?