Alex Ferrari - Rise of the Filmtrepreneur: How to Turn Your Independent Film into a Profitable Business

I would be asking the same question. My name is Alex Ferrari and I have been taking shrapnel in the film business for twenty-five years. Ive worn many different hats on my filmmaking journey; production assistant, office PA, assistant editor, film editor, colorist, post-production supervisor, online editor, television promo predator, movie trailer editor, visual effects supervisor, lighting guy (though I dont consider myself a cinematographer), screenwriter, producer, and finally director. There are probably another few dozen jobs I have done while following my filmmaking dream but directing has always been my passion.

Ive been lucky enough to work with some of the biggest companies and studios in the world and have directed music videos, commercials, television shows, streaming series, shorts and feature films. My award-winning films have been screened in close to six hundred international film festivals, sold internationally, and licensed to major streaming services like Hulu.

My first book Shooting for the Mob (www.shootingforthemob.com) chronicles my misadventures in Hollywood almost directing a $20 million feature film for a bi-polar ex-gangster. Yes, its a true story. During that long chapter of my life I met billion-dollar producers, studio heads, the biggest movie stars on the planet and I even got to meet Batman. Yes, that Batman. Youll have to read that book to find out how that happened.

During my time working in post-production I had a front-row seat to hundreds of film projects. I was able to see how those films were put together, how they failed or succeeded. Working in post-production, I spent hundreds of hours in a dark room with producers and directors. I would hear stories of film production dramas and distribution nightmares.

It didnt matter if they were seasoned filmmakers or fresh out of film school they all had torturous stories they were all too happy to share. I kept seeing my fellow independent filmmakers get eaten alive by the film business and I finally had enough. In 2015, I launched Indie Film Hustle (www.indiefilmhustle.com) as a real and raw resource to educate and inspire filmmakers on their filmmaking path. I set out to help filmmakers with some tough love and shared whatever experience and information I had gathered on my trek through Hollyweird.

Soon after, I launched the Indie Film Hustle Podcast , and within three months, it became the #1 filmmaking podcast on Apple Podcasts. The show has since been downloaded millions of times by filmmakers around the world.

I have had the pleasure of interviewing hundreds of the biggest and most successful filmmakers, craftsmen, film business gurus, industry giants, million-dollar screenwriters, inspirational leaders and everyday indie filmmakers on the show.

Ive always been drawn to the entrepreneurial side of the film business. As you will read in the upcoming chapters, it has been in my blood for as long as I can remember. While officially interviewing guests for my show, unofficially asking questions of filmmakers in my post-suite or working on set I began to notice patterns of success. What made one film project fly while another would come crashing down in a glowing ball of flame? I saw that the success stories would fall into three categories.

THE LOTTERY TICKET WINNERS, filmmakers being at the right place at the right time with the right product. Mythical stories like Robert Rodriguez with El Mariachi , Kevin Smith with Clerks , or Oren Peli with Paranormal Activity to name a few. This group went down the magical route.

THE SAVVY PRODUCER, filmmakers who understood the marketplace and built film product based on genre, domestic and international sales, attached star power and had an understanding of budget and marketing. This group went down the traditional route.

THE OUTSIDERS, filmmakers who took a holistic approach to creating not only films, but multiple revenue streams based off those film projects. These filmmakers were outsiders making up their own rules as they went along.

I was most interested in the third group. They seemed to be more entrepreneurial in nature. I coined the word FILMTREPRENEUR to describe this group of renegades. I studied the patterns, thought processes, failures, and successes of these filmmakers. This is the subject of the book you are about to dive into.

I believe that the future of independent film will be the Filmtrepreneur Method. Independent filmmakers need to think differently. They cant play by the rules that the rest of the film industry plays by. I identified with this group so much because I was using the Filmtrepreneur Method at the beginning of my career without even knowing it but Im getting ahead of myself.