Funding - Topics

What funding options exist for new entrepreneurs? What is bootstrapping and when does it make sense? How do you raise money from angel investors? What is a completion fund and when does a documentary suddenly need one? How do you build a budget that a grant panel will actually believe? Community foundation grants come with reporting rules that shape what you can even try What does an Oscar campaign for a documentary actually cost? Crowdfunding vs grant funding for a documentary: which one eats less of your time? Do public arts councils fund documentaries that might embarrass a government? Revenue-based financing repays as a share of monthly sales and costs more than a bank line What happens to a film's message after the impact campaign money runs out? How do women's NGOs survive on donor funding cycles? Venture debt is priced for companies that already have a fund on the cap table Flexible funding platforms let a project keep whatever it raises and backers know the risk How do you decide which film festivals are worth the submission fee? An all-or-nothing campaign that raises 80 percent of its goal delivers nothing to backers How much money do you actually need to make a feature documentary? Regulation A+ opens the raise to the public and the audited filings cost more than small raises allow Where do first-time documentary filmmakers find their very first chunk of money? A reserve held back from the raise covers the surprises that always arrive in the same quarter Regulation CF caps what a non-accredited backer can put into an equity campaign each year Why do film grants demand so much paperwork before handing over a single cent? Why do documentary budgets balloon way past what the actual shoot cost? What does a distributor actually take out of a documentary's revenue? Royalty financing takes a slice of sales for years and never appears on the cap table Friends and family money should be papered as a note with a rate rather than left as a handshake A syndicate lead pools other people's money and charges carry on top of the deal Choosing between a home equity line and a business credit card for the first eighteen months Community development lenders fund the businesses banks call too small and too new Accredited investor verification is now a document check and no longer a checkbox SBIR grant money arrives in phases and the reporting burden falls on the team still shipping the product A merchant cash advance against card receipts is the most expensive money a retailer can take