Fake Me a Celebrity – Financial Plan

I’m pleased to announce that SBS Utopia have come on-board with this production and have agreed to put up 50% of the money required to ensure the success of the Film.

A large high end and high return project such as this one requires a large initial investment – The outline production cost of FMaC is £300,000. As I’ve already mentioned half of the overall production cost is being met by SBS Utopia, the remaining sum will be met through Co-production with a large Broadcaster, The BBC being the chosen partner.

Below I have outlined the thought process behind my decision to go into co-production with a broadcaster.

Route 1 – Co-Production

This funding route would require a large broadcaster from outside Utopia (domestic funder) to join forces in production, with funding and in ownership of the final product. The theme of this documentary is very much universal and so would appeal to a great number of broadcasters across the world. However, as this is a high end production with costs to match only a select few broadcasters would be able to meet our financial requirements. Here are some of the possible co-funders;

The BBC and Channel 4 in the UK, ZDF/ARTE in France and Germany, SBS in Australia and PBS in the US.

This would be the preferred route of funding as the money would only be coming from two sources and therefore collaboration would be simple, as would the ownership of rights and the services available to make the film would be of a very high standard. My first film would also be guaranteed to be broadcast to two large captive audiences.

The downside to this apporoach would be when large broadcasters become involved they want to see a strong return on their investment (quite a big investment in this case) and my position in the project as an inexperienced director/producer might be compromised and I may become pushed down the pecking order. The pay packet that I would receive could also be limited – I would have to agree terms that suited me – 10% of the initial commission and a good percentage of the sale of secondary rights or of the overall profit.

Route 2 – Pre-Sales

This approach would involve myself and SBS Utopia approaching other Broadcasters and pitching the of FMaC concept with the opportunity of them buying the secondary rights to the film in their country. A high end populist documentary such as this one would hopefully be attractive to buyers and with a well known and respected broadcaster behind it in, SBS Utopia, the sum total required would be reachable.

This method would allow myself and SBS Utopia to retain the primary rights to the film and therefore I might make more money through secondary sales and retain my role as Producer/Director. Also it may mean that the film is more affordable to smaller broadcasters in more places as they can buy the film at a price affordable to them and not at a price inflated by additional large broadcasters wanting a large return.

The downsides would be that obtaining funding in this way could take a long time and the film might miss its ideal window for broadcast. In addition to this an eagerness to obtain funding and commence with production could result in the film being sold at an undervalued rate thus reducing potential for profit. If funding was secured by co-production the film would have a large shop window by which to create a buzz, demand would follow and then the secondary rights would be sold for a greater value than achievable through pre-sales.

Route 3 – Other avenues…

Crowd sourcing has recently been used to great effect – building a strong fan base well before broadcast and in doing so retaining most of the rights and editorial control. This method has worked well in funding docs based around strong emotive issues that anger, rally and unite people and change the world for the better – such as The Age Of Stupid. Fake Me a Celebrity, is not that type of doc and wouldn’t make people put there hands in there pockets to ensure that it is made.

Funding from a Film Council such as BritDoc or the UK Film Council could be achieved but they are unlikely to fill a void of £100,000 and so additional sources of funding with be required.

Corporate sponsorship could be attained and a large company would be able to put up a large amount of funding. However the company would have to portray the right image for the film and the right sort of package would have to be arranged so that product placement rules would not be compromised.

Decision…

After weighing up the available funding options I chose to go down the co-production route with this film. Working with two large broadcasters would put my film in a very large shop window and go some way to securing its success and its production in a relatively speedy time scale. Because this would my first film I may be asked to step down from the producer/director role but working with these broadcasters would be a great opportunity for me personally to learn the ropes and get my film seen by as many people as possible.