The blog for aspiring & established filmmakers of independent films. by ted hope.

Can The Harvard Business School Find The Solution To The Indie Film Dilemma?

By  Kavita Pullapilly

Going into their next feature film, BLUE POTATO, award-winning filmmakers (and past contributors to this blog with a great series of posts “The DIY Chronicles“) Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly wanted to answer a question that all independent filmmakers want to know:  How can independent filmmakers and studios collaborate in a more profitable and cost-effective way to get quality films into the marketplace?

Working with a team from the Harvard Business School, Gaudet and Pullapilly created a strategy to minimize risk, increase audience reach and maximize profit potential for potential distributors for BLUE POTATO. Read about how they developed key strategies for marketing and distribution that makes their film attractive to studio buyers. And find out how they evaluated their film so that they could reduce their financial risk while still accomplishing their goals in production.

“You have to find out what your movie is capable of going out there and making and then make your film for less than that. Set your budget at that level and be firm about it. The HBS team really helped us identify the cut off point for what we could spend on the film and why it was so important to know that value. If you know that number, no matter what happens in production, you are forced to come up with creative ideas to stay at that number. And by doing that, you know you are not spending more than what your house is worth, when it comes time to sell it,” said writer, producer, director Aron Gaudet.

http://bluepotatomovie.com/featured/harvard-business-school-2/

 

 Kavita Pullapilly serves as the chief operating officer for the award-winning film production company, Sunny Side Up Films, Inc. and oversees the finance, marketing and distribution divisions.  She is currently co-producing Sunny Side Up Films’ second feature film, Blue Potato as well as co-producing a national multi-platform project for PBS called Lifecasters.

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