Filmmakers and Financing: Business Plans for Independents (Paperback)

by Louise Levison (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
This book presents the information in a concise, informative and unique format - with this book, the class section on financing films practically teaches itself. I find the advantages/disadvantages sections very helpful. -- Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"Thank you so much for all your help from the business plan to the emails and introductions. You have helped this film become what it is today." Robin Cowie, Producer, The Blair Witch Project

"Levison's book gives filmmakers an inspiring and coherent merger of plain English, film lingo, and traditional business-speak. It helped me create a straightforward and thorough business plan that ultimately raised $2 million for my new project." --- Stu Pollard, Producer/Director,
Keep Your Distance

"Buying this book is the first step to becoming a successful, independent filmmaker. It helped me launch my company."
- Rick Pamplin, The Pamplin film Company

"If Louise Levison's Filmmakers & Financing were only about business plans it would be worth more than its cover price. In addition, Levison gives sage, savvy and clear introductions to every important aspect of film business - marketing, distribution, varieties of investors, financing options - it's all here, including a sample business plan. This book is a "must have" for any filmmaker's
bookshelf." --Morrie Warshawski, Consultant, and author of Shaking the Money Tree: How to Get Grants and Donations for Film and Video-2nd Edition

"A 'must have' educational and reference tool to help you conquer current industry practices regarding finance, production and distribution. Louise has consistently delivered a plethora of information that is easy for a beginning filmmaker to understand, while at the same time very useful to the entertainment veteran. No filmmaker's library would be complete without it. -J. David Williams, Distributor, Shiloh and The Omega Code

"Need money for a movie? Here's the road map every indie filmmaker needs to find it. It worked for me!" -Paul Sirmons, Director/Producer, The First of May and Forevermore Films

"Why is this film financing book different than all other film financing books? It's pretty simple. No one tackles the dilemma of screenwriters who design to turn their script into independent features as succinctly and logically as Levison does. If you want to make an independent feature you need money, which means you need a business plan, which means you need Levison." - Jeffrey M. Freedman, Script Magazine --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Focal Pr; 2nd edition (January 31, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240803000
• ISBN-13: 978-0240803005
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,439,019 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a must have for any and all independent filmmakers!!, August 31, 1999

By	[e-mail] "m-christian" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

I found the book to be perfect in describing how to set up an independent film company. The Sample Business Plan for a Fictional Company (in the Appendix) is written in plain english which made it easy to see how one could put together their own thorough business plan. I definetely enjoyed the book and am working on my business plan for my independent film company as I type this.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars better than basic/could be more specific, August 16, 2006

By	film book reader "Eddie" (Alameda, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Filmmakers and Financing: Business Plans for Independents, Fourth Edition (Paperback)

"Filmmakers and Financing..." is pretty good at helping you piece together a business plan for making a film (or creating a production company) and is better than a lot of the material on the web related to general business plans because it deals with issues specific to films and the filmmaking business. On the other hand, another reviewer has suggested that the book wasn't specific enough and that the example "fictional" business plan didn't seem to have enough substance. I agree with that comment. The author, who helped the "The Blair Witch Project" folks with their business plan, could have suggested some real-life examples (tough to walk the fine line drawn by naturally protected "proprietary information"). It's nice to see what a multi-million dollar production company business might look like, but I have to say that if I'm going to handle that kind of money, I'm probably going to retain a consultant to help prepare my business plan--maybe even the author! It's a good review of things you should know. Glad I read it. I think I'll pass it along to the next person.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I expected more...., September 25, 2006

By	Ernesto Alcantara - See all my reviews

This review is from: Filmmakers and Financing: Business Plans for Independents, Fourth Edition (Paperback)

I bought this book to get detailed information about how to build a business plan for my start up Film Company. I was very excited when I saw the overview of this title and the fact that it now included a CD-ROM.

After going through the entire book in just a few days (I must admit it's a quick read) I found that the explanations were just slightly above basic knowledge and the CD contains only a few forms and worksheets to fill out. The best chapter (Chapter 10), which has a sample business plan, is NOT included in the CD-ROM! This was a complete disappointment since I expected to use this as digital blue print to fill in the blanks for my own business plan.

All things considered I did learn some useful principles on how to prepare and present information to potential investors and how to analyze some number (getting them boils down to research and a lot of work, which the Levison herself will admit to) but I really expected more out of the author of the business plan for the Blair Witch Project.