The full costs and income of a £1million indie film
"It’s rare for filmmakers to get a candid look at the books of someone else’s film but, thanks to the generosity of Marcus Markou, that’s exactly what you’ll get to read in Stephen Follows' article.
Here is a snippet -
The budget
The film took 24 days to shoot in and around London. The largest costs were art department (they had to build a chip shop in an empty shop!), cast and production staff. The Above The Line costs came to £91,821 (11% of the budget), production was £584,800 (71%), post-production £109,436 (13%) with other costs coming to £39,165 (5%).
£ 775 Story, Rights & Continuity
£91,046 Cast
£19,014 Supporting Artists
£90,332 Production Staff
£93,245 Art Department
£32,070 Wardrobe
£16,782 Make-up / Hair
£53,371 Electrical
£58,580 Camera
£16,882 Sound
£77,918 Travel / Transportation
£28,670 Hotel / Living
£70,111 Location
£27,343 Overtime / 2nd Camera
£ 482 Digital Stock & Transfers
£25,507 Music
£83,929 Post-Production
£ 9,307 Insurance
£ 2,556 Legal & Clearances
£ 7,705 General Expenses
£ 2,900 Publicity
£ 750 PACT & Training Levy
£ 15,947 Fringes
£825,222 Total
Getting the film distributed
Marcus made the film without any industry support and without any distribution deals in place. This meant that once it was complete he had to figure out how he was going to get it to the public and recoup his investment.
At one point, he was close to signing a deal with YouTube to premiere the film online via a ‘pay what you want’ recoupment model. The idea seemed to be well-received at google but in the end the deal stalled when YouTube insisted that Google Wallet was used to collect the donations, despite the fact it was only active in 8 countries at the time.
Marcus turned to self-distribution in the UK and collaborating with a producer’s rep for the international rights. He signed up with producer reps 7&7 who would take 20% of any deal they negotiated but they wouldn’t ever control the distribution of the film, as a traditional sales agent would. Marcus was on the hook for the sales costs (such as attending Cannes and other film markets) but this would be recouped first from income.
Soon after taking the film to the Cannes Marche du Film (the film market where the rights to films are bought and sold), 7&7 secured distribution deals for Greece, Germany and an airline distribution deal.
The film festival circuit
Many independent films rely on the festival circuit to get noticed, however Papadopoulos & Sons wasn’t shortlisted at a major film festival. Marcus puts this down to the film not being “an edgy, film festival kind of film”.
However, some festivals did take it, including…
Dinard British Film Festival. It was screened ‘out of competition’, although a second screening was put on to satisfy audience demand.
Thessaloniki Film Festival where it won the Michael Cacoyannis Audience Award.
Palm Springs Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
Reflecting on his festival experience Marcus said “The film isn’t arthouse; it is too commercial. But it isn’t a big studio film with celebrities in it, so it is arthouse. It is stuck between those worlds, commercial arthouse. In the UK, those worlds don’t really mix.”.
One of the more surreal screenings was in the European Parliament. A member of the film’s cast knew the programmer of cultural events and told him it was a film about the Greek banking crisis (it’s not). The resulting screening took place at the same moment that the Greek Prime Minister was on the floor negotiating Greece’s bailout deal.
Want More?
In the full article you will be taken through the down-and-dirty low-down in an intimate reveal of the facts in numbers for a real-life Indi movie. This is rare and valuable insight and hopefully other filmmakers will be inspired to follow suite.
Marcus Markou's Papadopoulos & Sons tells the tale of an Anglo-Greek self-made millionaire who loses everything in the banking crisis and is forced to turn to his estranged brother to re-open the fish and chip shop they shared in their youth. It’s a fun family film starring Stephen Dillane, George Corraface and Georgia Groome.
Markus reveals in glittering detail the film's journey in:
Securing a UK cinema release
The costs of the UK theatrical release
How the film performed in UK cinemas
Dividing up the UK theatrical box office income
UK TV deal
UK Film Tax Credit
German income; Greek income
Video on Demand income
Other Income
Totalling the income
Totalling the costs
Future income
And, imprtantly-
Lessons for independent filmmakers