🎬 Never Do This When Asking Investors for Money 🎬

Published: Tue, 03/05/24

Hi ,

Are you taking the time to REALLY customize all your contact emails for every person you contact? If you are not customizing every outreach to the specific individual or company, you can just as easily do nothing and save yourself the time.

We Receive Messages Like This Multiple Times a Day:

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Does your company provide the financing? If so, how does one go about applying and getting approved?

What are the general amounts you offer?

Perhaps we can talk on the phone?

Thank you! Gary

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Here are at least the 4 things Gary did wrong, the results he will get AND the better way to do this.

1) The contact form where Gary submitted his email clearly has text and links covering, "Looking for Film Investors?" AND "Frequently Asked Questions" - he ignored them both.

Strike 1 for Gary - he can't/won't read, has shown NO interest in who he is emailing, has demonstrated he is both lazy and not seriously trying to finance his movie, and has just advertised he has no contacts in the film industry.

In this instance, there isn't much Gary could do correctly, because his answer was provided before he ever sent the email. However, should he want to engage in ANY type of dialogue with someone who he thinks could help him at some point in his fundraising, his email could have started with something like, "Hi Melissa. We are long time followers and fans of FilmProposals and really appreciate all you do for Indie Filmmakers trying to raise money to produce their films. We especially enjoyed the article, 10 Things You MUST Do To Attract Film Investors, and we have tried to implement the first 6 things your recommend. However, we are stuck on item # 7 and are hoping you could provide us some advice about....."

2) "What are the general amounts you offer?" and "Perhaps we can talk on the phone?"

Strike 2 for Gary - here's what he basically just emailed, "what can you do for me and will you donate your valuable time to me for free while I ask more about what you can do for me? I don't know you normally charge $95 for a 30 minute consult because I really could care less about you or your business, I only care about my film"

This is arrogance at it's worst. The only time there's room for arrogance in the entertainment industry is when you never need anyone's help. As that doesn't happen for anyone, at any level, no matter how famous and successful, there is no room for this level of ask. We've all seen the most popular and lucrative talent taken totally out of the game by being arrogant and not treating their colleagues well. It can happen to anyone! Humble yourselves and show some appreciation for the people you think have money to loan or invest with your project. People don't generally donate their time AND money to total strangers who send them unsolicited emails.

3) No introduction in his email

Strike 3 for Gary - it would have taken Gary 4 seconds to click on the About Page of FilmProposals and see my name is Melissa.

He's emailing complete strangers without bothering to take 1 minute of time to familiarize himself with the person or company he's contacting. Ultimately, there is no machine or automated process deciding if you are going to get money. There will be HUMAN decision makers involved, so treat them as such. It doesn't matter how small or large the company or individual is. The bare minimum you need to do is learn about them as people and as a company. You are not swiping an ATM card, you are asking people to trust you with their money. The minute someone gets an email like this, it reads like the author is randomly sending emails to strangers hoping something will stick - rather than actually learning about financing. What would it take for you to trust someone with YOUR money? I get soooo many emails that start with "Dear Sir" - would you even reply, much less hand over money to someone who couldn't take 30 seconds to learn your name?

4) No Offer

Strike 4 for Gary - he's demanding, not offering (I want your time and to know how much money you will give me). We cover this too many times in our business to bore you with it here. You must have an offer, period.

The very first emails you should send about your movie should be to your contacts. LONG before you ever email strangers. Marty Hardin sent an AMAZING email to his contacts: https://www.filmproposals.com/devouring-venus-movie-trailer.html. It not only raised over $20K, but people offered to help him in ways he hadn't even thought about.

I offer you this challenge - have you asked EVERYONE you know in your own contact list for support? Too many filmmakers feel more comfortable sending cold emails to strangers than they do asking their own contact list - this shows a total lack of confidence in their project and their filmmaking abilities. If you aren't comfortable asking those who already trust you to help fund your film, that will come through in your pitch to other financiers.

It is important to get financial backing from people you know first. Even if they don't have money, they do have the power of social media, and that is worth a lot of cash. If your own network isn't willing to go to bat for you, then it's certain strangers won't either.

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Melissa
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