Making Movies Without Losing Money

A review of a new book on financing independent films by Daniel Harlow

Filmmaking is an expensive endeavor, and unless you happen to be extremely wealthy or know someone incredibly generous offering to fund your film, your hopes of making a film and launching a career making multiple films are dependent upon your ability to find investors for your project. The problem, however, according to Daniel Harlow, author of Making Movies Without Losing Money, is an alarming trend of budding filmmakers getting investors for their first film only to find themselves having to find new investors for their next film because they weren’t able to generate the revenue to repay the investors behind their earlier film.

And, unfortunately, if you lose money once, you lose credibility with future investors because who would want to give money to someone who has already developed a track record of losing investor money?

A Hero’s Journey for Filmmakers

If you’re a filmmaker, you’re likely familiar with the concept of the Hero’s Journey, popularized by George Lucas with his 1977 film Star Wars, which borrowed the idea of the Hero’s Journey from Joseph Campbell’s exploration of the universal way stories are structured across cultures throughout history in his book…