If you’re an active investor in the crowdfunding space (and other alternative asset classes), you may have noticed the occasional film deal on various portals. In fact, we recently published a profile on the Producer and Writer/Director of the crowdfunded film Where’s Rose.
Investing in film is a wonderful way to support artists who are making their dreams and ideas become a reality. From an investment standpoint, however, the analytics can be a bit different than your traditional tech startup.
For this reason, KingsCrowd rarely features films. But that doesn’t mean they can’t make investors impressive returns. And similar to the real estate space (another alternative asset class within equity crowdfunding), we want you to be aware of what’s out there and how to make smart investment decisions.
If you are looking for films to invest in, Wefunder is a good platform to start with. Wefunder frequently hosts film deals of all genres.
So what should you look for when investing in a film? We sat down with the previously mentioned crew of Wefunder’s Where’s Rose to get an insider’s opinion.
Producer Justin Boswick suggests, “The biggest thing an investor should look for when putting money into a film is whether it’s a marketable product. What genre is it? Who’s in it? What’s the market? What’s the budget? If the budget is too big then you’ll have a serious downturn in an ROI. If the market for that genre of movie is small then you’ll have difficulty making a good ROI. And if there’s nobody recognizable at all in the film it can hurt the ROI. But it’s also important to get to know the filmmakers behind the project, try to communicate with them, and learn more about the film itself so you know what you’re getting into. You want to make sure it’s a good film after all!”
As with any investment, putting money into a film is risky. It is also a great way to support artists early in the creative process. As always, we encourage you to invest in what you know and to do your research.
Of note, crowdfunded films typically use — though not exclusively — revenue share agreements. That means investors will be entitled to recoupment of a certain percentage of their investment (as well as additional profit participation) only after priority debts are repaid.
Wall Street has Morningstar, S&P, and Bloomberg
The equity crowdfunding market has KingsCrowd.
About: Olivia Strobl
Olivia comes to KingsCrowd with a background in venture capital and technology. She spent time at Glasswing Ventures, an AI-focused venture fund in Boston, before joining the KingsCrowd team. There she helped develop machine learning algorithms for the opportunity qualification of preseed and seed-stage startup companies. Prior to her time at Glasswing, Olivia worked in a lab studying the neural correlates of attention. She holds a degree in Neuroscience from Wellesley College.
