The most romanticized view of independent films is that of a bunch of scrappy young filmmakers pulling together to make a movie with just a camera and a dream. The reality of it is presented in Rick Pamplin’s Movie Money Confidential, a documentary/information session based on Louise Levison’s book Filmmakers & Financing, that attempts to shed light on the work that goes into financing an independent film in the first place.
Movie Money Confidential hovers somewhere between a straightforward look into how independent films get funding, and a how-to infomercial for aspiring filmmakers. The film focuses especially on its director Rick Pamplin, Louise Levison (who created a business plan for The Blair Witch Project, among others), and producer Scott Dupont, as they discuss the realities of raising money to fund independent projects.
At its best, Movie Money Confidential sends us into the not-always attractive world of film finance, including a stark reminder that much of filmmaking success is about who you know and how good you are at convincing those people to invest. Despite the hype surrounding The Blair Witch Project as a low-budget film, it was heavily financed, very far from a group of students wandering around the woods with a camera.
This is an aspect of filmmaking that most of us don’t discuss or even consider—even the most fiercely independent of films must get financing from somewhere, and much of that is about navigating a world where pitching the film to everyone you know is practically a must. And Pamplin et al do a good job at laying that out, using interviews with other filmmakers, producers, actors (including a final screen appearance from Burt Reynolds), film studies teachers, and aspiring filmmakers at Saint Andrews School. Being good at schmoozing, or having a good schmoozer on your team, does seem to be a believably essential part of the business of filmmaking.
And that’s what it comes down to—film, however much we wish it otherwise, is a business. There’s a starry-eyed quality to Pamplin and Dupont, both of whom give the impression of being exceptionally good at getting what they want—though whether that translates to attractive screen presences is another question. Behind those starry eyes is a seediness that might very well make us uncomfortable, even if we realize just how essential it is.
Movie Money Confidential is being billed as an essential look into film financing, and there’s little doubt that the advice and insight it provides is pretty accurate and clearly delineated. But it isn’t a straight documentary, and there’s a quality to it that seems like Pamplin is trying to sell us something—though perhaps that’s the point. Movie Money Confidential does give needed insight into a world that many of us who see film primarily as art should probably pay greater attention to: behind every work of cinematic art is a producer looking at spreadsheets, formulating business plans, and passing out cash.
