You may have been noticing, that I am on a mission to create a sustainable investor class. It can be done. Part one is creating a new infrastructure — and that will come through Institutionalized Staged Financing. Part two is an educated investor base. And this, the third part in this blog series of what an investor must have, is part of that second part.
I admit though, I am tempted to derail the whole thing right here and digress into why our industry and support structures have not tried to do this before. It is an important question, one that reveals a lot about the real world we live in, but let’s save that for another post…
Okay, so let’s say you have half a brain and STILL want to invest in the film business. Let’s take it a couple steps forwards and say you have cracked the code and are adopting a portfolio approach to film investment and you have found a way to get access to quality content. Those were our two prior posts and you have read them, adopted them, and employ them in your practice. It ain’t rocket science.
If you have made money investing in things other than film, you probably recognize that you know need access to at least one more thing than what I have already blogged about: consistent deal flow. You can’t adopt a portfolio approach if you aren’t exposed to multiple projects. And it can’t just be just any multiple projects, right? You need exposure to the type of projects that is in the wheelhouse that you’ve selected. If 50,000 feature films are generated globally a year, I have to estimate at least 10 times that amount are competing for that funding. Surely there are enough commonalities among some of them to fit the criteria you determine is best for you.
But will it be enough for you to put up a bat signal and proclaim yourself a safe haven for all the films about one-legged wooden boat builders committed to social change (or whatever it is you determine will be your focus, um brand? I don’t think so. You make all the trips to the agencies, telling them you are looking for the next blockbuster micro budget hit and I don’t think it will yield a steady flow of such gems. If you find the great producer to align yourself with, pick a name and a logo, open an office, and invest three years of proving yourself you might succeed in find the song that sings to those you seek, but good luck with that and I hope you have truly deep pockets.
There is a better way. Like most things I think a community-minded approach can solve much of what ills us. If we look at what we need and stop stopping at what we already have, we can build it better together.
Consistent deal flow would in my book probably be 15 -25 projects a year that meets the criteria of what you are looking for. That is if you want to be involved in 2 or more projects a year. And I think if you want to be in the business you want to at least have that sort of output. Personally, for many reasons I would recommend you shoot for five films a year, but that, again, is best saved for another post…
You need consistent deal flow to get to the point that you can regularly state: “couldawouldashoulda”. You want to live through — and rejoice in — missed opportunity so you can have the power of reflection and make better informed choices. You need consistent deal flow so you don’t rush in by impulse and only act in passion; if you miss this bus there is another one coming. You need consistent deal flow to recognize that yes you are here for the long haul. You need consistent deal flow to help you formulate what it is you are looking for. And you need consistent deal flow to open yourself to other ideas and practices so that you don’t get stuck in the rut of a dinosaur’s footprint.
And unless this is all you do, your sole focus in life, you want that deal flow to be limited. You want it to come generally at specific times so that you can be sure to focus when it arrives. You want to have confidence that it is what you requested or signed up for. You don’t want to feel because it is limited, you may be missing out.
All of this can be done. You can not build anything until you know what you want. Well, you can, but …. I don’t want to live in a house that is upside down.
Read also:
Towards A Sustainable Investor Class For Film Culture And Business
Staged Financing MUST Become Film BIz’s Immediate Goal
Towards A Sustainable Investor Class: A Portfolio Approach
TASIC: Accessing Quality Projects
