How to Raise Money for your First Movie w/ Mark Freiburger

Jan 24th - Jan 31st

Session 1: Funding Foundations (2 hours)

  • Understanding the indie film financing landscape

  • The different types of investors: private equity, grants, crowdfunding, tax incentives

  • Budgeting for credibility — how much should your first feature really cost?

  • Building a financial strategy that matches your story and resources

  • Homework: Start outlining your film’s budget & potential investor targets

Session 2: Building Your Investor Package (2 hours)

  • What goes into a strong pitch deck: logline, synopsis, tone, visuals, team, comps, financials

  • How to position your film for investors (creative vision + business case)

  • Case studies: successful indie pitch decks and why they worked

  • Workshop: Begin creating your own pitch deck with provided templates

  • Homework: Finish your draft pitch deck to present next week

 

    • Independent filmmakers ready to move beyond shorts and want to understand the financing process.

    • Film school graduates or students finishing school who have strong creative skills but little knowledge of raising money.

    • Writers/Directors with a script in hand and the ambition to make it happen.

    • Producers in the making who want to learn the business side of film and how to talk to investors.

    • Anyone with a feature project in early development (script, idea, or treatment) who needs practical tools to attract funding.

Mark Freiburger is an award-winning filmmaker, director, and screenwriter with a rich background spanning indie features, major commercials, and branded content. He first gained industry recognition when his “Fashionista Daddy” Doritos commercial—made on a shoestring budget—won “Crash the Super Bowl” in 2013 and was named the #1 Super Bowl ad by USA Today, earning over 4.2 billion social impressions.

Early in his career, he wrote and directed indie features like Dog Days of Summer (Sony Home Entertainment) and The Trial (20th Century Fox), and later honed his craft under director Michael Bay on Transformers: Age of Extinction.

More recently, he co-wrote the feature Ordinary Angels, which grossed $20 million at the U.S. box office in 2024, and served as writer, director, and producer of the feature Between Borders, released in early 2025 and now streaming widely

8am - 10am PST (10am - 12pm CST)

4.9 (2 reviews)

$ 199

Level
Open
Duration
Lessons
Two Sessions
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