Website FAQs
If your question isn't listed, please email info@ownafilmcompany.com
- Is it possible to make a successful film with just £2.5m?
- Will members make a profit?
- It could take a long time to get 100,000 members. Does that mean the money is sitting in someone else's bank account earning interest?
- What if they don’t all pay?
- What if the film goes over budget, will members be asked to pay more?
- Can I cancel my membership?
- Will members have their name on the credits?
- How do I know this isn't a scam to get my money?
- Who is in charge of the film? Who is the producer of the film?
- Why is £500,000 needed for administration and website costs?
Is it possible to make a successful film with just £2.5m?
Yes. £2.5m GBP is approximately $5m USD at today's exchange rate. The Blair With Project cost just $35,000 and grossed over $500m, according to
http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/allbudgets.php.
Movies With Lowest Budgets to Earn $1 Million at US Box Office
| Release | Movie | Distributor | Budget | US Gross | Worldwide Gross |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2/26/1993 | El Mariachi | Columbia | $7,000 | $2,040,920 | Unknown |
| 2 | 8/1/1991 | Slacker Orion | Classics | $23,000 | $1,227,508 | Unknown |
| 3 | 8/9/1995 | Brothers McMullen, The | Fox Searchlight | $25,000 | $10,426,506 | Unknown |
| 4 | 6/30/1972 | Deep Throat | Damiano | $25,000 | $45,000,000 | Unknown |
| 5 | 10/19/1994 | Clerks | Miramax | $27,000 | $3,073,428 | Unknown |
| 6 | 7/14/1999 | Blair Witch Project, The | Artisan | $35,000 | $140,539,099 | $248,300,000 |
| 7 | 1/30/2004 | Osama | United Artists | $46,000 | $1,127,331 | $1,971,479 |
| 8 | 3/16/2001 | Gabriela | Power Point | $50,000 | $2,335,352 | Unknown |
| 9 | 5/7/2004 | Super Size Me | IDP/Sam Goldwyn | $65,000 | $11,529,368 | $29,529,368 |
| 10 | 7/10/1998 | Pi | Artisan | $68,000 | $3,221,152 | $4,678,513 |
| 11 | 8/30/1972 | Last House on the Left | $87,000 | $3,100,000 | Unknown | |
| 12 | 3/1/1987 | Hollywood Shuffle | Samuel Goldwyn | $100,000 | $5,228,617 | Unknown |
| 13 | 1/1/1977 | Eraserhead | $100,000 | $7,000,000 | Unknown | |
| 14 | 9/17/1920 | Over the Hill to the Poorhouse | $100,000 | $3,000,000 | Unknown | |
| 15 | 2/8/1915 | Birth of a Nation, The | $110,000 | $10,000,000 | $11,000,000 | |
| 16 | 11/16/1942 | Cat People | $134,000 | $4,000,000 | $8,000,000 | |
| 17 | 12/20/1989 | Roger & Me | Warner Bros. | $140,000 | $6,706,368 | Unknown |
| 18 | 7/19/2002 | Tadpole | Miramax | $150,000 | $2,882,062 | $3,191,015 |
| 19 | 1/1/1971 | Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song | $150,000 | $15,200,000 | Unknown | |
| 20 | 2/22/2002 | Monsoon Wedding | USA Films | $160,000 | $13,876,974 | Unknown |
Most Profitable Movies, Based on Return on Investment
| Release | Movie | Distributor | Budget | Worldwide Gross |
Percentage Return |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7/14/1999 | Blair Witch Project, The | Artisan | $35,000 | $248,300,000 | 354,614.29% |
| 2 | 10/6/2004 | Tarnation | WellSpring | $218 | $662,014 | 151,738.07% |
| 3 | 3/21/1980 | Mad Max | Filmways | $200,000 | $99,750,000 | 24,837.50% |
| 4 | 5/7/2004 | Super Size Me | IDP/Sam Goldwyn | $65,000 | $29,529,368 | 22,614.90% |
| 5 | 11/21/1976 | Rocky | $1,000,000 | $225,000,000 | 11,150.00% | |
| 6 | 8/11/1973 | American Graffiti | $777,000 | $140,000,000 | 8,909.01% | |
| 7 | 7/25/1969 | Stewardesses, The | $200,000 | $25,000,000 | 6,150.00% | |
| 8 | 6/11/2004 | Napoleon Dynamite | Fox Searchlight | $400,000 | $45,658,577 | 5,607.32% |
| 9 | 5/9/1980 | Friday the 13th | Paramount Pictures | $550,000 | $59,754,601 | 5,332.24% |
| 10 | 8/6/2004 | Open Water | Lion's Gate | $500,000 | $52,100,882 | 5,110.09% |
| 11 | 12/15/1939 | Gone with the Wind | MGM/UA | $3,900,000 | $390,525,192 | 4,906.73% |
| 12 | 2/8/1915 | Birth of a Nation, The | $110,000 | $11,000,000 | 4,900.00% | |
| 13 | 1/1/1925 | Big Parade, The | $245,000 | $22,000,000 | 4,389.80% | |
| 14 | 10/29/2004 | Saw | Lion's Gate | $1,200,000 | $103,185,045 | 4,199.38% |
| 15 | 10/8/2004 | Primer | ThinkFilm | $7,000 | $565,846 | 3,941.76% |
| 16 | 6/11/1982 | ET: The Extra-Terrestrial | Universal | $10,500,000 | $792,910,554 | 3,675.76% |
| 17 | 8/13/1997 | Full Monty, The | Fox Searchlight | $3,500,000 | $256,900,000 | 3,570.00% |
| 18 | 5/25/1977 | Star Wars | 20th Century Fox | $11,000,000 | $797,900,000 | 3,526.82% |
| 19 | 4/19/2002 | My Big Fat Greek Wedding | IFC Films | $5,000,000 | $353,900,000 | 3,439.00% |
| 20 | 7/10/1998 | Pi | Artisan | $68,000 | $4,678,513 | 3,340.08% |
Note: The profit and loss figures are very rough estimates based on the assumption that 50% of box office receipts were returned to the studio. They don't include ancillary (video, TV etc.) earnings, and serve only as a guide. (http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.php)
Will members make a profit?
It is possible, but in reality, probably not. If the film makes a profit, 50% will be reinvested into future films and 50% will be split between all members. This means that for all members to get their £30 back, the film will need to make £6m profit. As mentioned earlier, The Blair With Project grossed £250m, which is about £75m profit (http://david_l_mills.tripod.com/tbwp/faq.html). If our film made £75m, £37.5m would be invested back into the company for future films, the other £37.5m would be returned to members, giving them £375 each. Of course the film inductry is very competetive and our film might not make anywhere near that, if it makes a profit at all.
This is meant to be a bit of fun, not an investment.
It could take a long time to get 100,000 members. Does that mean the money is sitting in someone else's bank account earning interest?
No, no-one pays at first. People register for free - they just give us their name and email address and we email them updates, like how many people have registered so far etc. No-one is asked for any money until 100,000 have registered for free.
Once 100,000 have registered for free, we email them and ask them to pay their £30, which makes them members.
What if they don’t all pay?
Once 100,000 have registered, we will open up a waiting list for more people to register. We will email the original 100,000 and give them one month in which to pay. After this, any unpaid members will have their membership cancelled and we will open membership up to the waiting list.
What if the film goes over budget, will members be asked to pay more?
No, we will set up a Limited Liability Company, with all members owning 1 ordinary share. If the company goes bankrupt, members will not be liable for any debts. All they will lose is their membership fee.
Can I cancel my membership?
As a free member, you can cancel at anytime. Once paid membership starts, membership is annual and once you have paid, you will not receive a refund, if you cancel. You are under no obligation to renew your membership the following year though.
Will members have their name on the credits?
It will be impossible to list all 100,000 members in the credits. You can have your name listed on our website though. There will be a limited number of unpaid positions, like runners and production assistants, that only members can apply for. Anyone that works on the film, even in one of these unpaid positions, will have their name on the credits.
How do I know this isn't a scam and you won't run off with my money?
Initial registration is free, so there is no money for us to run off with. Once we have our 100,000 registered users, we will register our Company, with Companies House, and invite the members to become shareholders. This means we will be subject to money laundering checks and have to submit regular accounts etc. We will also use Google checkout to process the credit cards, which offers buyer protection. If we run off with the money (which we won't), members will be able to claim it back from either Google or their credit card company.
Who is in charge of the film? Who is the producer of the film?
We will hire a producer and members will vote on which producer we hire. Obviously members can't vote on every little detail, but they will vote for the main crew - Producer, Director etc. As soon as the script is voted for, the next step will be to find a producer.
Why is £500,000 needed for administration and website costs?
Well the short answer is “hopefully it isn’t.” We have deliberately over budgeted to make sure we don’t get into the situation where the film can’t continue (or at least can’t continue with the democratic voting process) because the website has gone bankrupt. It is much better to have too much money that not enough.
Obviously we cannot tell you the full details of our business plan, but the £5 from each membership fee (£500k in total) is to cover all administration costs associated with this, so the full £25 from each membership (£2.5m) goes to the film. For example, the credit card processing fee alone will be 68p per membership fee. That immediately brings the £5 (£500,000) down to £4.32 (£432,000), before we’ve even spent a penny.
When the film goes into production, we will have to hire extra full time staff to take photos and video of the set, and put them on the website, so members can see what their money is being spent on. The £4.32 (£432,000) is going to have to pay for their salaries, as well as the salaries of the people involved in setting up this project and the other fees associated with having employees (Company NI, insurance premiums etc), accounting fees, legal fees, corporation tax, advertising and marketing this website so we get our 100,000 members, website hosting and domain registration. The cost of building the second website, where users can vote, also has to come out of this £4.32 (£432,000).
