A great script.
A name actor.
A name director.
A realistic budget.
A producer.
Distribution.
Someone willing to give you money.
Seems pretty simple on paper, right?
It is, until you realize how difficult each step is.
You think you have a great script. But do you? How have you validated it? What actors have signed on to your film because of it?
You may say you don’t need a name actor or director. But not having those things makes financing exponentially harder. That “$3-5 million dollar script” you have now just became a $350-500k feature that you’re funding with friends and family money.
Those quotes around “$3-5 million dollars” is pointing out the unrealistic-ness. That’s a MASSIVE range. $3.2-$3.5M – that’s a range. $3-5M is a pipe dream and is revealing your lack of knowledge.
A producer is the one that looks at everything you have package wise and decides the path you’re going to take to get into production. They have the connections to financing, cast, and distribution that you need to make everything work.
Oh, the last thing you need? The ability to take a step back, look at your situation, and realize where you need help. Failing that, you end up spending years treading water and making no progress, because you don’t have the perspective to know what you don’t know. That’s a scary–and ineffective–place to be.