Sunday, February 9, 2014

Before you decide on selling that great movie idea to investors...


When it comes to writing business plans, everyone has their own way of what they think makes the most successful business plan. In the entertainment industry business plans include pitches for movie ideas and for start ups such as production companies.

Kevin Geiger has been in the film industry for over 10 years as a visual effects artist for films including Chicken Little, Fantasia 2000 and Reign of Fire. The industry expert suggests that the most important thing in writing your business plan is conducting research and keeping it organized. He stated simply that if you can’t pitch your movie in 10 slides or less, you don’t know what you are doing. What Geiger is trying to say here is your business plan must be concise and to the point. He also suggests to include a cash flow projection to show investors how there are going to make their money back. That is probably the most important part of the plan as the investors won’t be interested if the pitch can’t articulate or show them how they will receive a return.

Another expert on business plans is angel investor, GarryMoltz. He is an established entrepreneur, author and speaker on the topic of starting up your own business and what to look for in business plans. Garry explains that there are certain statements that should NOT be included in business plans including generalities such as “Customers really need out product”, “our numbers are conservative” and “we have no competition”. Those statements may or may not be true but as a potential investor reading these statements, they may deter them from buying into your idea because those statements are not interpreted as they may be intended to be and are often very misleading.

While it’s important to know what components make a successful business plan such as research and organization which Geiger suggests, it is just as important to be sure what not to include to make your business plan equally as successful.

Sources:
VC Experts https://vcexperts.com/buzz_articles/1189
IMDB.com http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1819623/
http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com