Tip #9: Compare the pros and cons of self-financing

By Itsuka Yamasaki (Producer)

OK so you have exhausted almost all your options and still can’t find enough money. So what now? Well, basically you have two options: 1. Give up (and tell everyone else “we are putting the film on hold") or 2. Pay for it yourself.

Probably most indie filmmakers end up investing in part (if not all) of the budget. With Ambleton Delight, we had one executive producer on board, but we covered most of the budget ourselves - yes, at this time of economic crisis! So we stripped our budget down to the bare minimum of around £6,000 – a budget that is just enough to keep a project together but is still affordable for ordinary people like us. We then organised a business loan through the production company, Parkes Productions Ltd.

Now I’m not going to recommend organising a loan to pay for your film. But I would recommend writing down the pros and cons of self funding, such as:

Cons:
- Should the whole project crash and burn, you pay for the tragedy.
- You still need to earn a living and pay tax.
- Possibly no spending money for other fun (such as holidays!).
- You realise you are becoming and looking very stingy.

Pros:
- The film actually gets made.
- You have absolute control over your own film as you put up the money.
- You don’t have other obligations/pressures except for the bank.
- Should the film make money your initial investment will be returned and you may even receive profit.

Here are some links to free applications that can help you organise your finance:

Managing personal finance online:
https://www.kublax.com
http://www.mint.com/ (currently US only but might be coming to UK soon)
http://www.pocketsmith.com/

Free accounting/bookkeeping software:
http://www.msofficeaccounting.co.uk/
http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/free-accounting-software.jsp