How I Raised $225,000 to Fund My First Independent Feature Film
How did I convince investors to give me $225,000 to make my first feature film?
The answer isn't that I had connections.
Or wealthy parents.
Or Hollywood insiders opening doors for me.
I had none of those.
What I did have was an unhealthy amount of stubbornness.
"Have an unhealthy amount of stubbornness."
If you've ever wondered how independent films actually get financed, here's exactly how I approached it.
I didn't go to film school. I went to business school. Looking back, that may have been one of the greatest advantages I never realized I had.
While many of my classmates were launching startups, I watched them raise money with nothing more than an idea, a pitch deck, and the ability to convince someone to believe in them. They weren't selling products yet. They were selling a vision.
So I asked myself:
If they can raise money for a tech startup, why can't I raise money for a film?
That single question changed everything.
My first pitch deck looked nothing like the polished film decks you see today. It wasn't filled with mood boards and cinematic references. It looked more like something you'd present to a venture capitalist than a producer.
At the time, I thought I was doing it wrong.
Now? I'm not so sure.
Want to reference our ERZULIE pitch deck that helped us raise $225K?
We hope that this will help you in your fundraising process! There's no right or wrong answer, but knowing where to start can help reduce the confusion and "where to start" questions. Feel free to reply back if you have any specific questions. We are happy to help.
investors don't just invest in stories. They invest in people
Because here's the reality: investors don't just invest in stories. They invest in people. They invest in confidence. They invest in execution.
The next challenge was finding someone—anyone—to hear the pitch.
I'd never pitched investors before. But I remembered something I learned years earlier selling Cutco knives in high school.
Control what you can control.
I couldn't control whether someone invested.
I could control how many conversations I had.
So I became obsessed with one metric:
Get people in the room.
That's it.
Every meeting wasn't about closing a deal. It was about getting better.
Then came the deadline.
If I didn't raise the money by April 1, 2020, the production would collapse. The crew was ready. The locations were lined up. Everything hinged on one thing:
Funding.
So I went all in.
Some days I pitched eight investors.
Some days even more.
Something unexpected happened after enough meetings.
The desperation disappeared.
When you're talking to that many people, you stop treating each meeting like your only chance. Your energy shifts from "Please say yes" to "You're either in... or you're not."
Oddly enough, that's magnetic.
The entire process, the key takeaways are this:
If you truly believe in it and are willing to work hard with a lot of discipline and sheer will, you will get there.
Do what you can control. Forget the rest
Abundance mindset, always wins the game.
I’ll detail more in the next blog. SIGN UP FOR MORE or watch the Erzulie Season of the Get Reelisms Podcast and hear it in real-time.