Film Fund-amentals: So Many People Want to Produce Your Movie

 First published December 8, 2011

There are lots of people out there who want to produce your movie. Almost every social networking site has a growing army of folks who can’t wait to assist you with your movie. They are all very friendly, extremely enthusiastic and exceptionally gung ho about getting your film made.

Oh my, if only this were true — there would be lots of happy filmmakers out there. Instead, there is a strange and wide range of scams, sort-of scams, bait-and-switch operations, and many forms of almost legal but not exactly ethical operators. The results run all over the map from identity fraud to “service” charges to phony loan operations and boiler room “investment” companies. Thanks to the current economic mess, there has been an upsurge in businesses that troll the Internet in search of truly desperate people with major wants and needs. They’re kind of like vampires, except garlic does no good.

Dubious producers with sleazy financial tactics are not exactly new to the business (heck, Federico Fellini once swore he had a producer who blew the money for a movie at the race track). Often, producers are expected to perform singular feats of magic as they juggle the figures for investors while simultaneously pulling more money and production time like rabbits out of a hat. It is a peculiar job with only a few clear rules.

So there has always been plenty of room for “creative” operators who could make Max Bialystock look legit. But the indie film scam operators who got busted last summer by the Feds were taking this type of fleecing to a new low. The main effect of the scam was on investors more than filmmakers, as they used a boiler room call center and commercial phone list to pitch loony deals to potential chumps (by the way, no one can promise you a 1,000 percent return on a movie investment). Their technique was old-fashioned, but it has rarely been adapted into the indie movie trade. Phony gold mines yes, but not indie pictures.

More recently, several types of dubious wheeler-dealers have been plowing their way through various social network sites. One is the bogus Mideast oil billionaire sheik. Much like the boiler room racket, this is one of the oldest scams in the book, but it has been updated to the digital age. Increasingly, scammers are co-opting the identities of real Mideast businessmen, setting up bogus phone numbers and email addresses that look almost valid, and working hard at looking almost legitimate.

I know of one indie filmmaker who was almost taken in by such operators. When she was first contacted by this “businessman” (by email), she took time to run a basic check on the contact. It looked as if it could be OK. But as she continued her communication with this person, it became obvious that she was expected to pony up some “fees” to cover the various costs of arranging a financial deal. Fortunately, she proceeded to use the social network site as a means of asking other people about these “fees.” Better still, one of the people on the site was an employee of the real businessman and stepped in to tell her that no such contact had been made. She had a close call but deflected it well.

This brings up one of the most basic rules of the business. There are various wealthy business people out there who are looking to get into the movies. For some, it’s a type of investment. For others, it’s a poorly-defined passion that could involve anything from some concept of artistic endeavor to simply meeting starlets. But as a general rule, these folks are not out there looking for filmmakers. They want the filmmakers to come looking for them. Of course, they will also normally not take your calls, answer your letters or anything else — heck, they often behave like the snotty but hot-looking cheerleader back in high school. They like to be sought and they don’t go seeking. I’m sure there are exceptions, but they’re extremely rare.

Which brings up another phenomenon that is increasingly popping up on social network sites. There is a growing list of companies announcing that they have funds for making movies and are seeking filmmakers in need of a producer with money. Sounds pretty straightforward. They want to produce movies, so just send them your pitch.

There are a couple of oddities about this stuff. First, most companies that have managed to put together any kind of production arrangement have done so through various financial investors. They have been able to do this because they already have a slate of potential projects (in most cases, around four to six titles), and the investment package is focused on producing these movies. So they shouldn’t be in the strange position of roaming the Internet highways in search of movies. At best, these online postings sound a bit like a drunk with 20 dollar bills hanging out of his pocket staggering down a dark ally.

But more important, any company seeking additional titles for their investment package will normally already know various people whom they will be contacting. Nobody in their right mind would be posting blind ads. From any real business prospective, it doesn’t make any sense.

Unless they have a different motive. In his report a few months ago on the 11^th Annual New York International Film and TV Summit, Gary Baddeley heard from some financial people about a new racket in the business: “…apparently there are numerous scams being attempted with supposed financiers telling producers that they can access a $100 million financial instrument and give the producer $5 million for his or her film … if only the producer can come up with $2.5 million now.”

OK, it isn’t really a new racket, but it appears to be back with a vengeance. Basically, the company will produce your movie if you come up with the money for it. At best, you will be paying them money to let them let you produce your own movie. At worse, you will raise that money and never see it again. The latter is outright fraud. The former is an odd gray zone that you are strongly advised not to enter. After all, the only producer you need is the kind that can raise money. Otherwise, why bother?

Which is another reminder that the job of the producer is to produce the movie, period. If the filmmaker has to pay various “fees” to the producer, then you’re not dealing with a producer. There are no ifs, no ands, no buts.

This is the most basic (even primal) rule to keep in mind when dealing with any “producers.”