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MUMBAI:
Indian films will need to scale up revenues if they
are to attract investors to a high-risk business.
Independent
filmmakers will also have to think of themselves as
entrepreneurs and present viable projects.
“I
don’t think funding is a problem as there are enough
people out there to finance film projects. But the filmmakers
should think of themselves as entrepreneurs, come up
with a solid business plan and then approach investors,”
said Banknet Group chairman and MD Anurag Khanna.
Khanna
cautioned that filmmakers should do their homework properly
before approaching investors as it is the first impression
that counts.
“We
at Six Sigma Films get five to six applications every
month and some of the applications that come to us
are general stating they want to make a film, the
budget is Rs 100 million and the film will be a super-hit.
The point is that independent filmmakers should treat
a project as a startup,” he elaborated.
The
Indian filmmakers need to learn from Hollywood. “If
you look at Hollywood, they are very structured. The
Indian filmmakers need to become more professional
in order to attract investors,” Khanna said,
while speaking at the International Conference on
Film Financing, organised by Banknet Group.
Khanna
admitted that film finance is still considered a risky
investment by most investors, despite the Indian film
industry coming of age.
Technicolor
India country head Biren Ghose bemoaned the fact that
the Indian film industry had not caught the fancy
of the investors.
“The
Indian film industry needs to have a growth of at
least 2.5 x 3X in order to become a viable proposition.
The issue that we need to figure out is how do we
create business out of films. If you look at growth
projections for the film industry, in the best case
scenario it is a CAGR of 10 per cent which means that
after adjusting for inflation we are pretty much treading
on the same path as we were in 2006,” he contended.
The
film industry has also not been able to create iconic
brands. “Why we have not being able to create
brands? The television industry has done a much better
job of creating brands and franchises. Nothing new
happens around the brand Sholay or Don. I also don’t
see any IP creation in the way we make movies,”
Ghose averred.
According
to Reliance Entertainment CFO Shibasish Sarkar, corporates
are willing to put money into a venture only if there
is an assurance of earning profits. He also said that
fiscal discipline is of paramount importance for the
success of a film.
Sarkar
sees growth opportunities in the regional space as
well. While creativity and passion is important in
film making, the film planning process from scripting
to casting and budgeting is also important. The budgeting
stage of a movie decides the viability of the project,”
he said.
Flick
the Switch Founder/CEO Sheena Morjaria said that digitalisation
and Internet are changing the structure of finance,
marketing and distribution.
She
also pointed out that crowd funding (collective funding
by a network of individuals) is becoming a popular
form of capital raising vehicle outside traditional
domains like soft money, pre-sales, deferred payments,
equity and debt financing.
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