Today is a big day for me! I’ll know in a few hours—or certainly within 24—whether my plan of raising investment to make my own film company will work...or not!
Because this is my professional dream—well, yeah, it’s kind of nerve-wracking. But this is just how you do it. Fun!
My “pre-announcement” on Friday got a lot of traffic. And the supplemental column on Monday got some, too. People have reached out to me via email and social, which is nice.
But it all comes down to this: Will you (as in YOU) actually put in some money?
You can invest as little as $100—but I don’t want anybody to do this who can’t afford it. (In truth, I’ll need a lot more than that!)
Important legal disclaimer:
We are “testing the waters” to gauge investor interest in an offering under Regulation Crowdfunding. No money or other consideration is being solicited. If sent, it will not be accepted. No offer to buy securities will be accepted. No part of the purchase price will be received until a Form C is filed and only through Wefunder’s platform. Any indication of interest involves no obligation or commitment of any kind.
What does that mean? Really, it’s a fancy way of saying we are doing this all “by the book, Mr. Saavik.”
Right now is PHASE ONE: You are not actually parting with your money. Your contribution, at this time, is considered a “reservation.” It’s like a pre-authorization on a credit card. The goal is to get $25K in reservations, just from my own friends, fans and network, to show WeFunder that I’m a viable company.
Given that I raised $31K on Indiegogo to make the Sky Fighter short, this seems realistic. But in that case, I had all sorts of film score-related perks. This is the opposite: no perks. On the flip side, this is NOT a donation—it’s a prospective investment with the very real possibility of generating a return.
PHASE TWO: If I can do this, then WeFunder steps in with the legal and business advice to file the paperwork with the SEC (the “Form C”). After that, they would contact you asking you to formalize your investment—which is to say, put in the actual money.
For me, this would lead to PHASE THREE: I’m not going to spend people’s money without knowing there’s a PLAN to make this successful.
This means, seriously, if I get professional feedback that my projects won’t work financially—I’ll pull the plug and return the money. I have zero interest in making bomb projects that lose people’s money!
And I’ll find this out pretty quickly—because the scripts are written, and I’m going to need feedback on them to play “the inside game” with real name actors.
For me, as a movie producer, I’m going to be having to raise way more money than is possible on WeFunder—and I’ll be working with producers, agents, film funds, banks, etc. to do it.
To that end, my real goal is NOT to raise a ton of money via WeFunder. That might be surprising to hear, but it’s the truth!
My real goal is to raise a ton of HEAT—attention and buzz—so that when I reach out to the aforementioned producers, agents, film funds, banks, etc., they can look me up and say, “Oh, this guy is real.” And then they’ll take my projects seriously. (Otherwise, there are so many people shopping projects, you get blown off.)
To that end, having several hundred people invest “only” $100 is very valuable. It’s a sign of a following with breadth and depth—so when I approach people and companies with the resources to put in larger sums, they can see that there’s already an endorsement from the public.
The truth is, there is a TON of money out there looking to invest in film projects. The trick is convincing people that you’re the person they should trust!
So...why should you trust me?
I know how to make movies that are good! Check out my sci-fi short film, SKY FIGHTER, on YouTube, where it’s garnered 1.7M views and has a really high “watchthrough” rate—people tend to watch it in its entirety, because it’s interesting! (Just roll your cursor over the timeline—you’ll see it’s almost entirely “flat.” That means people watch the whole thing—they’re not skimming it. This is incredibly rare for YouTube—just check other videos, where the timeline will have lots of bumps for the flashy parts, from people skipping ahead. I’m not joking!)
You know me from 30 years of Film Score Monthly. I make good stuff, on time, with responsible customer service.
This is not a hobby!
Seriously...this is a business. It’s a calling—artistically, professionally, relationally (with other people)—but it has to work financially.
And I’m determined to make it financially.
So, this is your chance to own equity in a film company that will hopefully be around making cool films and television series, and will account to you, and will be fun to be a part of.
At best, it might actually be very successful and make a lot of money!
And at worst, well—it could lose the money and bomb.
But I’m going to do everything I can do vet my projects and, if it looks like they won’t make sense financially, I won’t go forward.
So...that’s the pitch, folks. Thanks for your kind consideration and support.
I am truly a very lucky man and I have waited a long time to do something like this publicly, to make sure I was ready.
Any questions or feedback, by all means, leave it here, on the FSM Message Board, or email me personally: Lukas@filmscoremonthly.com
Thanks!
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