Raising Money to Make Films in English Speaking Africa|
Raising money to make films in English speaking Africa by John Riber (Producer/Director YELLOW CARD) One of the topics that I am supposed to talk about budgeting, but this is difficult, without putting the subject in the context of a specific film. I am not shy about providing anyone information about the costs of our films. Yellow Card, shot on 35mm cost about US $800,000 to make. My latest feature documentary film, shot on DVCAM will cost about US $45,000 to make. With regard to budgets, I have had to learn that what I WANT is probably different than the budget I NEED. I have always considered film making to be a priviledge, so what becomes most important is not HOW MUCH as much as HOW the budget is spent to insure that the best film possible is made. Because, at all costs, as an independent film maker, you want to be sure that your work helps you get your next film budget. Getting money to make a film is a great responsibility, not only to your career, but to development of the industry. One important piece of advise on budgets, is that, whenever possible, budget as much for distribution as you can, and do it up front, because the success of a film is determined as much by how it is promoted and marketed, as it is by it’s production values. Now about raising money to make films in Africa for Africa. The greatest challenge facing African filmmakers, is finding a way to industrialize filmmaking; that is making African film production and distribution a profitable means of employment and income generation in Africa. From what I hear, what is happening here in Nigeria (and Ghana) is perhaps the birth of the first real African Film Industry. We in East Africa, certainly have a lot to learn from this experience here in West Africa. Media For Development Trust (MFD) has made some important films. Our productions have placed Zimbabwe firmly on the filmmaking map, reaching tens of millions; maybe hundreds of millions of audiences across Africa, as well as winning international acclaim. However, having said this, I can state categorically that none of our feature films have come close to recovering their production costs. I am sorry to say that in spite of our successes, we cannot justify our productions by the standard commercial measures of income generation from paying audiences, which is what drives the prolific film industries of North America and Asia, where films are made and profitably marketed and profits invested in making more films, which is the model of a real film industry. MFD has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1989. We have produced four feature films and many shorter films, videos and television programs during the past decade. While known primarily as a production company, MFD’s core business is actually distribution, and therein lies our success. Tomorrow we will go into more detail on distribution, but I can’t talk about MFD productions outside of the context of distribution. In simple terms, there are three main obstacles which challenge the establishment of a film industry in Africa (elaborate). 1. Virtually no cinema infrastructure 2. Poor national broadcasters 3. Video piracy So the question is, how do those of us who NEED to make films here in Africa, justify the production of films? The answer lies in the audiences. Even though we cannot justify our productions in commercial terms, we can reach wide audiences here in Africa. Films are made for audiences and, for practical purposes, we measure the success or failure of a film by the audience. A film is as good as the number of people who see it. Whether I think a film is good, bad or somewhere in between, is a personal point of view. How the public receives a film, in terms of box office revenues, broadcast opportunities and numbers of videos made, is an objective reality. A blockbuster is a blockbuster, whether the film is good or bad. Usually, big audiences translate into big profits for the filmmakers. But because of the distribution problems outlined above, here in Africa, this is not the case. I am not aware of any film made in Africa, which has made a profit from the African market. So, under these circumstances, how do African filmmakers find the money to make films? The only way that we have found our way is through the obstacles is with sponsorship. Sponsorship is a form of investment, which does not need or expect a financial return. However, sponsorship does require a return in terms of audiences. The bigger the audiences that the film can reach, the more sponsorship the filmmaker can and should receive. So, who is interested in audiences who cannot afford to pay for the films they are watching? Our sponsorship comes from donors, such as foundations and aid organizations or from corporations with an interest to be associated with the arts, or culture or development. Almost all feature films produced in Africa have been financed through sponsorship. Whether it is French or European Union cultural funds for West African productions, or Norwegian or Ford Foundation funds in East Africa, it is all the same. What has emerged in Africa, from the circumstances in which film has found itself, is a genre of sponsor dependent cinema, funded through grants, where the investors objectives are to attain some form of social impact or value; be it the preservation and/or exploration of historical and cultural subjects (predominant in West African cinema) or the kinds of films which we produce, which focus on social issues such as the empowerment of women (NERIA) or the challenges of sexually responsibility facing Africa’s youth in light of the AIDS pandemic (YELLOW CARD). We call our’s “social message films” because their investment is based on exploring and dealing with recognized social problems. In English speaking East Africa, there is no history of cultural funds being made available for filmmaking, as there has in Francophone Africa. In fact, many donor agencies have policies that they will not fund films, because filmmaking is an expensive and high-risk investment, and furthermore without proper distribution in place to reach intended audiences. What we have done is developed a model whereby we offer our sponsors a well considered and researched film with high production values, focusing on a social subject in a provocative and entertaining way. We have a very rigorous script development process that shows our clients that we are serious about what we are doing. But perhaps more important, because of our focus on distribution, we can now guarantee that our films will reach tens of millions of viewers across Africa, through existing cinema, television and video networks. Furthermore, we develop support materials designed to engage specific target audiences, in discussion and debate around the issues that the film raises. Our target for YELLOW CARD is to reach 50 million viewers in Africa, within two years of the films release. Just one year after it’s release, there is no doubt that we will achieve and surpass this target. These are the kinds of figures that can attract million dollar budgets from potential sponsors, whether they are donor agencies or corporations. With YELLOW CARD not only did we raise the full production and distribution budgets from donors, but we were able to add value by raising corporate sponsorship in cash and kind from BP Oil Company, Western Union Money Transfer, United Parcel Services and Air Zimbabwe. For the past 15 year, it has been our focused commitment to reaching African audiences, which has got us to where we are now. Each success makes it easier for us to be more selective in what we want to do in the future. Two of our films, NERIA and YELLOW CARD, are examples of our “social message films”, financed with sponsorship, which are among the most commercially successful films in East Africa. And it is only through experience of making films that we learn how to become more marketable filmmakers. So, in conclusion, I want to suggest that there, at all costs, there is nothing more important than your audiences. |
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