Liz Manashil: Platforms for an Indie Film
Matty Kerr is co-creator with John Brancaccio of The Working Experience. He is also a filmmaker and published author. Listen to our podcast on iTunes and Spotify and visit our website: theworkingexperience.com for videos, merchandise and more. You can also find us on Facebook, Linked In, Instagram, and Twitter.
“I had a producer say that he wanted to work with me because he knew the film would get out into the world. That was the main reason he jumped on board, because I had a track record.”
Liz Manashil is an independent filmmaker and consultant based in Los Angeles, CA, and from experience in the industry, she has some great insights into the process of raising funds for a film and getting it in front of an audience. She has written, produced and directed two feature films and wrote and produced a show for PBS and Hulu.
Many people want to make films but really don’t know how to go about it. You write a screenplay and then what? You need money. Where does that come from? How does anyone get to see the movie? Who distributes it and gets it into theaters or on a streaming platform? How does one make money from a film?
Liz has a theory one what draws people to films.
“We all fell in love with movies at our critical period. We saw movies at a vulnerable age in our lives, they touched us. It was a romantic notion, the things that helped us escape this horrid world and lifted us up, so you get into movies for all these wonderful, romantic reasons.”
People love movies. Many people want to make movies but really don’t know how to go about it. You write a screenplay and then what? You need money. Where does that come from? How does anyone get to see the movie? Who distributes it and gets it into theaters or on a streaming platform? How does one make money from a film?
The business of movie making is a whole different reality.
“When you actually make the film you realize it’s a lot of politics, a lot of diplomacy, a lot of fundraising, a lot of desperation…it’s not so romantic after all.”
Liz went to undergrad at USC for film studies and then to graduate school for film production. She was a film critic for some years and worked at the Sundance Institute and then got into distribution consulting as a side job while she made her own films, helping filmmakers with distribution, audience building, marketing, etc. It melds very well as a sort of side business with her main occupation as a filmmaker herself.
There is no manual with step by step instructions for writing a script, shooting a movie, and getting it in front of viewers. However, Liz shared her own experience from which as aspiring filmmaker can learn some valuable tips.
Maybe you have a great idea for a film. You will need to write a screenplay. This requires discipline. It is very easy to let things go if you don’t have a deadline. Many people start a script and it sits, maybe half completed, for years, and never gets finished. So how do you keep yourself on track?
Liz advocates manufacturing accountability. She will create what she calls “accountability groups” for script writing. If a member does not have a certain amount of pages completed by the deadline, there is a consequence. The person might have to pay a certain amount of money to the rest of the group, or donate to a charity, something that keeps everyone accountable.
Getting feedback on your work is crucial. You are not the best judge of your work; what makes sense and is clear to you may not be clear to others and, ultimately, you want an audience to buy in to your work. Host a table reading with actors and writers and filmmakers. Having people read your work out loud will give you an idea of how it will sound on the screen; it helps you work out the flow of the dialogue. Get meaningful feedback from people you trust; have them give you notes and pay attention to them. If you don’t have creatives in your circle, put an ad on Facebook and do something over Zoom. There are plenty of other writers and actors who will want to get involved, network and make connections. See what they have written or directed or films they have acted in.
Let’s say you have a script that is “locked”. How do you get it on the screen?
Liz believes in building momentum for a project. She will set a shooting date and start building a team, reaching out to Directors of Photography, Assistant Directors etc. She tells them that even if she does not have money at the moment, she wants to attach them to the project.
“I tell them, even when I can’t pay them, that they are my first choice. It’s all about building a train and then making sure the train keeps running steadily along the track until it’s off to the next station. It’s accountability and momentum and a little bit of faking.”
Of course, at some point, you need money to shoot. Getting funding tends to be the biggest hurdle for any filmmaker. The money for Liz’s films has come from an amalgamation of sources. The budget for her first film, Bread and Butter, was about $100,000.
“My first film I crowd funded and then I found two small investors who put money into genuinely because…they pitied me.”
Hey, I’ll take pity money any day. But I think there is more. Making money is boring; people want to be part of something creative.
It is possible for indie films to make money. Bread and Butter was distributed by a company called Orchard and they were able to get two airline deals, meaning it was shown on flights (I never knew that option existed). It also made money from streaming platforms such as Hulu, iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play. There are many options out there; it is almost overwhelming
Liz took the revenue from Bread and Butter and put that into her second feature film, Speed of Life, in addition to doing another crowd funding campaign and finding a couple of more investors, as well as going into some credit card debt (a true mark of an indie film. According to lore, Kevin Smith maxed out five credit cards to make Clerks). She said that Speed of Life didn’t make a huge splash but did well enough at several second tier film festivals to get a spot on Showtime.
Exposure at film festivals is great, as well as making some money on the streaming platforms, but in order to sustain a career in a very unstable business, Liz stresses that you need to build a reputation for finishing work. Establishing a track record of completing projects helps draw people in; they will want to work with you and invest in you. In an industry rife with empty promises, following through on what you say you are going to do is huge.
“I had a producer say that he wanted to work with me because he knew the film would get out into the world. That was the main reason he jumped on board, because I had a track record.”
There is no path to success in the film industry, or any other creative enterprise. There is no secret. Work hard and keep your word. Do what you say you are going to do. Set deadlines and keep them. Love it and have faith in yourself.
