An Independent film or “Indie” is a motion picture that is not produced, financed, or distributed by one of the 8 major film studios: Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros.  These films are typically financed in any and/or all of the following ways: (1) By “pre-sales” contracts from distributors that are discounted and cash flowed by a bank, (2) Supplemented or completely financed by private investors, (3) And if they qualify, from subsidies and tax incentives.  The vast majority of Indie budgets are between $200,000 and $10,000,000.

Due to the outstanding Return on Investment (ROI) that these Indies have seen at the box office in recent years, (e.g., Crash grossing over $98M worldwide with an estimated budget of $6.5M, Napoleon Dynamite grossing over $44M in the US with an estimated budget of $400K, The Blair Witch Project grossing over $240M worldwide with an estimated budget of $60K) each of the major film Studios have created their own Indie divisions.  Lionsgate (The Weinstein Company), Paramount Vantage, Sony Pictures Classics, and Focus Features (Universal) all benefit from the advantages of greatly reduced budgets, lower financial risk and greater potential for a sizeable ROI.  Indie production companies have also been making quite a splash.  In 2008 a British production company called Celador Films partnered with Film4 and Pathé Pictures International to make the film Slumdog Millionaire. This film won the Best Picture Oscar as well as 7 more Oscars receiving both critical and commercial success.  The film was produced for an estimated 15M and has earned over $362M in worldwide box office revenues to date.

The growing commercial successes of these films have proven the Indie’s ability to contend in the global motion picture marketplace.  Since 2003 independent films have accounted for over 15% of the total domestic box office.  The typical risks undertaken by the specialty divisions on smaller films (budgets 5M-10M) are far less than the potential losses that one big budget film can incur.  (e.g., in 2005 The Great Raid cost $80M and earned only $10M worldwide and in 2008 Mike Myers’s The Love Guru was produced for an estimated $62M and has grossed only $38M worldwide.)

The Indie film, especially a commercially viable one now has an ever-increasing global market.  These films, produced for considerably less than a major studio release can negotiate more competitive deals for after market distribution.  They find incredible life in Pay TV, Video on Demand, the home video/DVD/Blue-Ray market as well as in online distribution channels.  A successful Indie feature film has incredible longevity, develops strong core audiences and is well positioned for financial recoupment and profit. For more information contact the producers.