How to sell short films
This Is How I Made $15,000 From A Short Film - Antoine Allen
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Antoine Allen, Filmmaker: I made like around $15,000 for my first short.
Film Courage: Everyone always says learn the business side of the film industry.
What does that really mean and how do you learn it?
Antoine : We need business with any industry you're in. You have to understand that after
you make this beautiful picture (beautiful project) now it's the marketing side. It's
getting it distributed. Who's going to pay for it? That's the business out of it. A lot of times
we make this beautiful project and they are like Okay, it's beautiful. Who's going to pick it up?
You got to promote yourself. You’ve almost got to be a mayor, kiss hands and shake babies.
That's the business out of it because once you do a project, it needs to be out there and then get
out there so the business side is I'm done with this baby now time to fix it up and put out in
the world and that's what you got to do and if you don't have the business side get someone that have
your best interest to help you with it because a lot a lot it's all about delegation like in my
team I know I'm the quarterback I'm going to if you want a super bowl you're going to come over
here but I do need defensive line I mean a wide receiver it's a team effort the film industry is a
team effort so you want to get people in your best position that can help you but the business side
is learning the business of whatever you're doing if you're a singer if you're an artist if you're
a barber of your hairstyle you got to know the business but if not you will be taken advantage of
so speaking of being taken advantage of we know that film industry attracts all kinds and
people with all different intentions and you said something about if if you don't know the
business side then get someone how do we know who to trust especially in the beginning especially
when people know someone's new at something maybe in the film industry there tends to attract some
some flies how do we know is it really time for us to trust someone you research first
so I mean when I first started I needed a lawyer to do a contract for me but sent told me he was
shady I just you like the signs are there so I just researched the contract this contract he
gave me he tried to do a contract with me I didn't like it but I researched it went online if I don't
understand this word let me google the word a lot of times we get taken advantage of we don't take
the extra protection step so if you have a nice house take that extra step to get security cameras
a lot of times we just got to do that because at the end of the day you might get taken advantage
of it depends how bad you can take advantage of that's the engine like just life ain't fair
I got taken advantage of before but it's all about how how bad is the damage it's like prevention if
you have a security camera and someone's trying to break in your house your dog might just save
they might break in one entry but that dog might just save it could be really bad
so it's all about doing the research whoever you get just try to do the research and then a
lot of times the signs are there you just have got to listen a lot of times you wanna see the
good in people could be so hungry and ages but the signs are they just have got to pay attention but
do the research so if you hire in a producer and they say hey mad fat I give you a great example
I don't remember the guy name but right now in la this guy just sang
tons of people I'm sending you a guy's article but tons of people at a million dollars
no one did a research in 2021 he did a almost half a billion dollars sam
you tell me no one did no research nobody so after a while you just have got to do the research and
know who you're dealing with we you could google somebody could do background checks
do do that extra security because if not if you take advantage of first time I didn't
know second time third time then you just you got to do your you got to do delicious yes
okay so if someone doesn't have money though to pay for a pi firm or sometimes there's not
a lot of stuff on someone online you said you have got to sense those because sometimes someone's
intuition will tell you more than whether they look good on paper or not and so what was that
intuition that you got about this person in the beginning sometimes that intuition you
can't explain it you just know it you can't even describe it it just because everybody different
it could be someone that's really really nice and still take advantage of you so something you
got to trust your gut and the signs are there so it's hard to explain it but in my case the lawyer
was name-dropping too much to me there's always a red flag and we're having a conversation they keep
name-dropping and name-dropping and name-dropping it becomes a red flag especially when I ask
do you see me reference can you send me this and they just oh I got it I got it I get to it
reflects okay yeah so not following up and and yeah okay can you teach us more about
the money side of the film industry and how that money flows yes so yes make it simple
when I did my first short film girl smith decision be my boxing film after I did a
film I invested five dollars in the movie and I made all my money back and more in a weekend
I have a lot of friends I have associates I ran out of movie theater before covert and everybody
came out it's no different than if you have a baby shower you have a birthday party or a house party
you charge and I charge some tickets I bought some merch [merchandise] because I learned all this
from the business side when you're doing music you have merch you have this and that and I made
I made like around $15,000 for my first show this was in New York city before coffee okay
so may I ask how much was the theater rental the daily rich at the time was like nine hours
for like two hour window or the whole day the whole day wow that's really great that was a few
years ago not now and how many seats a hundred okay so what I did was I took over the whole
data for two days so I did Friday Saturday and since it was a whole day it was a short film I
got other short films the show before monster get they crowd to buy tickets and I had merchandise
there I sold food there I had a whole thing going on and that's how I was able to make some money so
did you make the food or you got outside vendors and split family made food oh your family okay wow
what did you serve chicken wings mac and cheese and yeah it was good okay and you were selling
merch for the short film yeah for the movie yep okay so I went to like you could go online and get
the print shirts and buy a few and and sell them yeah sure and so may ask how much were the tickets
tween twenty dollars okay and so that included how many films three films three films okay so
yeah and while I was showing it so each day I did like four showings oh yeah so I had a
whole day yeah so I had the whole day so I did multiple shows I did I did that with another
my first feature life's too short I brought the whole theater and I showed multiple times and then
what I also do to help the film I cast people that have a fallen so the film I had people knew they
had a lot of friends and oh my my daughter's in a movie my cousin in the movie they all come out
so you guys it's like little recipes you got to do when you especially when you're casting
so yeah sure okay wow yeah and so that was what 2019 2018 I know my first one my my short film
that was like eight nine years ago my feature film my life too short that was me four or five years
ago and I did it again with Lola movie the last year no last year the year before covet math at
the day New York shutdown in march the video I seen the video I sold out ticket sales and
everything and I was selling 30 tickets for that one an AMC movie theater so you guys screen the
day before the day of march shut it down okay in a while yeah so wow but yeah so it's like
once you do a project film festivals are great but film festivals is not really going to get you
a lot of money so do like little screenings now you can do drive tools do anything that you make
money get your friends to come out make it it's no different than back in the day I don't know about
y'all guys but I just do house parties you charge make some money back you know you you wouldn't
know your choose friends when you put a price tag on a product who your real supporters are well
I don't have kids but do people do babies they charge for baby showers no I'm just saying that
to get your friends and family come out treat like a baby cause they're going to give you gifts for
your babies I was like oh yeah it's treated like in your film it's your baby shower did your baby
come out about buy a ticket it was a gift okay right so instead of a rattler and a pink little
you paid for tickets yeah it's a baby you just made it okay have you ever had it where it hasn't
worked out no it's not and that's never happened okay only in the music business I remember I was
doing the showcases with the artists there was fights shootings it was because the the video the
music I was playing working with was aggressive music it was gang stuff so it never worked out
I thought I didn't make the money but the film business I've been good because I realized that
you got to control your emotions meaning don't do things on posts
like really pre-production so if you do predictions of your film do pre-protection
for your business make sure everything's right but yeah never then guard never had a problem.
What’s the most money you’ve made with your short film?
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