How Do I Monetise My Horror Film?

In one of the Facebook film groups the other day, someone was lamenting that they could get no one to take on the horror film they had produced.

To paraphrase, the question that was asked “how do I then monetise what I have done if no-one will take it on?”

My reply to this was succinct, but I’d like to expand on it a little here.

I have two things to say on this from where I sit.

First is that to me, it seems everyone is either making a horror / vampire / slasher film, or some derivation of an LTBQ etc etc movie.

In other words, those particular pools are full to overflowing.

This obviously dilutes the interest of those who might take it on as it is just more of the same being thrown at them, no matter how good – or bad – it may be.

Second, is that if you expect to simply “monetise” something in this way, you have NO idea of how it or commerce in general works.

No-one is going to take on your work, again no matter how good or bad it is, to make a quid for you out of the goodness of their heart. The magic word here is ‘business’. Businesses like film distributors – no I’ll rephrase that – ALL businesses, are there for one thing; to make money.

So, if there is no opportunity for whatever reason to make a dollar out of your film, it simply won’t get done. I refer back to point one above.

If you are making films to try and make a living, or at worst recoup costs, then you need to produce something that people want to see, not what you want to make – unless you are prepared to lose money and do all the hard slog yourself.

And you need to take the idea to a distributor with a firm business plan in place so they know you are serious about what you are doing.

Do you agree?

Whether you do, or don’t, or have any thoughts, please leave them in the comments section so others can join in.