Out In The Sticks

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Currently seeking funding investors. Budget is estimated to run $150,000.00 for the pre-production, production, and post-production phases of the project. The expected budget will be arrived at in an apportionment of thirty (30) $5000 shares, but the shares can be bought at lower amounts reflecting a different amount on the final expectation in share of profits from the sale of the film. The first $150,000.00 made from the sale of the film will immediately be used to return the investors' initial investment. Should the sales go beyond this amount, the investors will get the next $150,000.00 in profits to hopefully double their investment. Following that (and somewhat an outside expectation in the independent film business), each investor will be entitled to a 2.5% stake in the profits - to be apportioned in different amounts based on whether or not the investor has a full or fractional share in the budget.

It isn't uncommon for independent films to be picked up by a distributor for the "mid-six figure" range, which alone would recoup the investment and probably double the investors money.  The film would need to play the festival circuit for a period of time in an attempt to gain such a deal.

Sufficing a deal made through festival play, the film can be self-distributed through a variety of means.  The most basic of these would be an authoring of a DVD to be sold via mail order.  If sold at $20.00 each, a mere 7,500 would need to be sold to recoup the investors initial stake and the contract as stated above would still be in place.  This is definitely the filmmakers preferred outcome, but would be quite sufficient to see to it that the investors still have the potential to make their money back without a loss.

Additionally, based on whether or not the investor has a full share or not, they will have a right (which will be more fully explained in the limited partnership agreement) to ask that the festival run be ended in favor of self-distribution should the outcome from festival play not bring the anticipated distribution deal.  Optimally, festival play will run over a course of one year.

Out In The Sticks Productions

Out In The Sticks, Limited Partnership

Jason Steadmon
709 Yucca Street, Apt. A
Boulder City, NV  89005
702-293-7612
jasonsteadmon@hotmail.com
http://www.out-in-the-sticks.com

Out In The Sticks is a story about a small school in a small town in the middle of nowhere.  On what should be an ordinary day, something happens.  People are attacking outside the school and they want to get inside.  It’s up to a small group of teachers to see to it that they and their students can get out of the school alive.< xml="true" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" prefix="o" namespace="">

The story is in the vein of the original Assault On Precinct 13 with some supernatural elements in the form of a manufactured disease that has begun taking over the small town.  With luck, the film will be produced in Searchlight, < xml="true" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" prefix="st1" namespace="">Nevada, a small town approximately 60 miles outside Las Vegas.  What can’t be produced in Searchlight will be made up for in the production company’s home base of Boulder City, Nevada.

Out In The Sticks will be an extremely low- budgeted movie.  Tentatively, it will have at least a month of pre-production, the filming will attempt to be finished within two weeks (which should be able to be accomplished with intense planning and would normally be done within the pre-production period but has already begun minus the needed capital), and finally post-production of a month.  Following this, the film will need to be toured through the festival circuit.  As the film has a miniscule budget to begin with, there may be limited opportunity for the film-maker and other crew to attend the festivals, but whenever possible this would be done.

The festival run would likely take place over the course of a year.  This should be ample time for the film to gain some attention and/or a distribution deal.  If this hasn’t happened at that point, the production company will go about self-distribution.  This can be done through the placing of ads, word of mouth, mail order, and companies such as Netflix.  This would be the “plan b” obviously, but can be just as possible to turn a profit for the investors as a distribution deal.

If a distribution deal is gained, the profits can eventually be quite impressive.  A recent example of a movie with a similar budget would be 2007’s “Once.”  Released in the United States (yet produced in the UK) on June 16, 2007, the film cost an estimated 180,000 Euros to produce, which in the figures of that time was $150,000.  The distribution rights were bought by Fox Searchlight for a reported “just under $1 million.”  If these figures are taken into account all by themselves, the film was a tremendous success.

It must be said, too, that the production company that initially probably also shared in the revenue from the release.  In the United States alone, the film earned $9,445,857.  It also earned another $6,862,036 in the international gross.  This is a total worldwide gross of $16,307,893.

My plan as stated, if applied to the figures that I’ve shown from “Once,” would show the following.  The investors would have invested the original $150,000.  A distribution company pays $900,000 for the rights for distributing the film (I’m using this figure, since the sources have said “just under $1 million”).  My investors would get the first $150,000 to pay back their investment.  They would also get the next $150,000 to double their money.  This leaves $600,000 to figure the remainder 2.5% that each $5,000 share gets, each of those shares would get $15,000.

To put this a little more succinctly, if this were “Out In The Sticks,” an investor that contributes $5,000 would receive $25,000 on their investment.  If one investor were to contribute the whole $150,000, they would receive $750,000 for that initial investment (which would total 30 shares).  Granted, these are considered ideal conditions listed but they show the potential for income that can be derived from such an investment.

To take this a step further, a common scenario for share of profits for the production company from the actual worldwide gross is 35% of the total.  If we use the figures from “Once” as a rule of thumb and apply it to the potential for “Out In The Sticks,” 35% of $16,307,893 is $5,707,762.55 (to be exact).  A person with a single $5,000 share would recoup $142,694 in this situation – multiply this to see the higher levels from higher number of shares.  A single shareholder providing the whole $150,000 would get $4,280,821 for their investment.

The remaining amounts after the paying of the investors would be used for future development of scripts and motion pictures.  The investors, should they find the initial experience favorable, will definitely be contacted for future opportunities to be involved with the subsequent productions.