How Do I Write a Film Business Plan?

A Film Business Plan will generally include an Executive Summary (written last), The Company, The Project, The Film Industry, The Market, The Investment Opportunity, Distribution Plan & Confidentiality Notice. Download a sample successful Film Business Plan right now.

How Do I Start a Film Business?

After consulting legal counsel, you'll find the best region in which to set up your film production company. Do your research or hire a professional, as there are investment and tax implications associated with your choice. You'll then choose the company type: LLC, DBA, C-Corp, S-Corp or other. Next steps include company name, hiring, raising capital and starting film production.

#1 Film Business Plan Template | Sample, Financials, Investors

Film Business Plan Template

Our Feature Film Business Plan template has been evolving since 2002 and successfully used by hundreds of filmmakers around the world to raise their film financing. We have consistently worked with filmmakers and investors and updated our template after every film investor interaction to add all the best practices we come across. After every meeting, we adjust our Film Business Plan Template based directly on film investor feedback. Our Film Plan allows you to present your film business case using only the VERY BEST of the best information accumulated by film investors and filmmakers after 20+ years in the film industry.

This Film Business Plan Template is professionally formatted and includes all the key business plan sections, with dozens of real-world examples in each. Our business plan was created by film investors and top industry producers, with the specific goal of helping filmmakers find film investors and secure funding. The business plan template is fully customizable to suit most any indie film project.

Professional Presentation - The template is key to finding and attracting financing, as it walks you through the nuts and bolts of your project so you present the investment opportunity in the best light possible, without compromising your creativity.
Business Plan Outline - Includes all key sections of a professional Business Plan, including Company, Project, Industry, Market, Investment and Financial Opportunity.
Real World Examples - Examples from other successful business plans are included in every key section of the film business plan template.
Return on Investment (ROI) - make your compelling case for why a potential investor should invest in your film
Latest Research - we constantly scour the industry's leading resources for release patterns, streaming deals, festival acquisitions and more.

This easy-to-use Film Business Plan Template is included all of our Film Financing Packages and Bundles, along with our Film Proposals and Financing Manual, Film Projections Templates, Indie Film Pitch Deck, Latest Industry Statistics and much more. All of our products are available for immediate download and come with a 60-day full 100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE!

NEW! Documentary Business Plan & Documentary Pitch Deck

FilmProposals is thrilled to offer help to documentary producers looking for investors, by enhancing our Film Fundraising toolkits to address the specific needs of documentarians. The highlight is a unique Documentary Business Plan Template included in all of our Film Financing Toolkits and Bundles. Much of the Documentary Business Plan is just like that of our narrative Film Business Plan Template, however, we've also done some major custom work to specifically highlight why documentaries are a great investment and how to best showcase your documentary to investors:

Documentary Business Plan Template - this new template is completely redone to focus only on documentary films. Recent successes, emerging documentary trends, streaming and studio deals, distribution patterns, audience statistics, revenue generated for sample films and much more. When did Docs become profitable and start selling for $5M or $10M at festivals? We lay it all out for you...
Documentary Pitch Deck - while our pitch deck template can be used for any type of film, you will use your business plan research to ensure the deck showcases your documentary as a worthy investment opportunity
Financial Projections/ Comparable Films - our custom database and custom financial projections flow seamlessly for both documentaries and narrative films

The new Documentary Business Plan Template is included in ALL of our Film Financing Toolkits and Bundles, so you can purchase any of them and be well on your way to funding any part of your documentary with private investments.

Film Business Plan Template Screenshots

The film plan template is consistently updated (including 2023). Screenshots may be dated, but our Film Business Plan template is not.

Film Business Plan Template Screenshots

Film Business Plan Template Download

Feature Film Business Plan Template

The film business plan template is a step-by-step guide so you understand your film as a business proposition to film investors. We walk you through the nuts and bolts of your project, and the business side of the film industry, so you present the investment opportunity in the best light possible, without compromising your creativity. We have done all the heavy lifting and all you need is to focus on your film, target audience and marketing/distribution plan.

Film Business Plan Sections

Examples from other successful business plans are included in every key section of the film business plan template.

Executive Summary

You write this section last. It is the one page overview of everything that follows. Just wait until you see your plan all put together and you get to read through how good your investment opportunity sounds out loud, with proven industry statistics, real world examples and well-crafted language. This is always the highlight for every filmmaker - when they get to say, "Wow! I would totally invest in this film and here's why..."
Company Section

This is where you discuss the type of company you've set up and why, highlight all the successes of your management team and producers, describe what you're all about and highlight the competitive advantages your team has over any others.
The Project

This is where you get to tell your story, describe your project, use your log-line, compare briefly to other films, development highlights to date, talent attached and more.
The Industry

This is where your business plan gets good! Filmproposals has fine-tuned this section with dozens of known film investors. We highlight all the latest industry trends and awards using references to elite sources, describe how the film industry works, use the latest box office and other film industry statistics and describe the overview of the movie industry simply and clearly. This section is updated multiple times per year so it always has the most current information available.
The Market

Here is where you want to discuss your specific target markets and audience: who are they, how many, their demographics, how you will target them, what are their past habits, etc. We provide a few examples, but leave you plenty of room to get creative with your marketing strategy. Read More: Film Marketing Plan & Distribution Plan Expert Advice
The Investment Opportunity

Ahhh...this is where we really shine! First, we put all the mandatory disclaimers (film investment is inherently risky....) and then we talk about all the ways you have mitigated these risks! You add on exactly how your investment opportunity is structured (Distribution Waterfall, Recoupment Schedule options are included in our Financing Manual) and how you plan to pay your investors back. You then use all the included full explanations and detailed notes and charts for every line item, to explain how you arrived at all your calculations.
Distribution Plan

Here we emphasize how crucial the distribution strategy is to any type of film. We walk through film festivals, theatrical release, digital release (streaming and VOD), TV, other ancillary markets and why independent films have more opportunities and advantages than ever before. You just pick and choose which sections are right for your project and customize them based on your distribution strategy
Confidentiality Notice

Basic legal info to protect you, your project and any potential investors.

You then add on any other relevant documentation, such as your budget (template included in our Film Financing Packages), official agreements, letters of intent and more. Not ready to buy the full template? Try our How to Write a Film Business Plan Free Course.

As it turned out, the business plan WAS the hardest thing I've ever done, but with the tools in the package, it made it much less stressful and the more I got into it, I thought to myself - YES!!! - thank god someone knows what they're doing...

Melissa, I was extremely hesitant in purchasing even your lowest priced package. It all sounded to good to be true. I spent 2 months last year writing a business plan from scratch for a different medium. So I just couldn't imagine getting anything worth while for the prices you were offering. But I have an investor that requested a detailed plan with financial projections within 2 weeks, so I pulled the trigger on your Gold + Financials Filmmaker Bundle.

It was the best money I've ever spent! Can't even begin to tell you what a difference it makes. So concise and on point. Makes putting the plan together so fluid and easy. Not having to worry about what to cover, only how to best state it for my film project. Amazing. Thank you so much. Worth every dollar!
- Michael

How a Script Turns Into Film Financing

A Business Plan is a tool that helps you turn your film ideas or scripts into an investment opportunity. Saying “I have a script about XYZ and need $100 to make my film” is exactly like saying “I made this pasta dish and need $100 to open my restaurant”

Being a great chef and being a great restaurant manager are two entirely different skillsets. Can one person be both? Of course. Can you have a successful restaurant without both? No. Would you give someone money to open a restaurant because they made you a great dinner? (We hope not!)

A great chef alone is not enough to get investors. You must have a plan for how you are going build, run and maintain the restaurant. Physical build, marketing, branding, ordering, making menus, publicity, systems, hiring staff and on and on. These are the things that will cost money, and hence they are the investment.

A script is not an investment vehicle. A script may attach top level talent, but film investors don't look for scripts - they look for investment opportunities that will provide them a potential profit on the money they invest (ROI - return on investment). A completed script does not require any money. If you want to sell your script and be done, option it to a studio. If you are looking for film financing, because you want to make your own film, then you want to focus on your business, which is film production.

If any of these sound like you, now is the time to put together your Film Business Plan:

I have a great script and am looking for film investors
Where do I find film investors?
You are searching online for "film investor database" or "film investors seeking scripts" or "investors for filmmakers," or worse, posting on social media for the same

The FASTEST Way to Write Your Film Business Plan

We've been helping filmmakers raise their film financing for over 20 years. One way we do this is by providing a variety of ways for filmmakers to write their Film Business Plans. The different ways have a wide range in terms of budget, time and level of expertise backing. By working directly with filmmakers, we've learned some love the business and money side of the industry, and others, not so much. This is why we've crafted different approaches based on a time/value/skillset formula to suit every type of filmmaker.

Fastest Business Plan With The Most Industry Expertise

If you want to impress your investors in the most professional way, our Platinum Plus Financing Package is for you. You'll be bringing in the combined expertise of Nash Info Services (the movie data gurus behind the-numbers.com) and FilmProposals, as well as entertainment attorneys and prior successful filmmakers. You will also have your plan done in less than two weeks. NIS will be running your 20 Comparable Films (much more impressive than 10 films, since you get to choose from 20,000+ films), while FilmProposals has done all the heavy lifting in our Film Business Plan Template - the industry (including the latest streaming & festival deals, award winners and industry stats), the market, and the financial (how the film business works and how a movie earns money) section.

You simply write up your management bios, your target audience and your distribution plan. There is also the option outsource your Marketing Plan, with our Business Plan Sections - Done For You, but we have already given you the roadmap on exactly how to approach your Marketing and Distribution Plan using an analytical and proven approach. You'll have a Film Investor Agreement, a real PPM (private placement memorandum), most of the legal docs that prove you're ready to maintain your Chain of Title and a Pitch Deck template. This is our most impressive package, we have seen it work time and again, and is best for those with a high end, professional mindset targeting the same with their investors.

Fastest Business Plan With Some Industry Expertise

You can scale the Platinum Plus back to our Gold Toolkit + Financials Bundle - you get a lot of the above. Key differences are 10 Comparable Films, chosen from our scaled down database of 400+ indie films, no PPM and the Legal Pack (Chain of Title) is an optional add-on. You'll still have the Business Plan Template, Film Investor Agreement and Pitch Deck Template. This package has helped dozens of filmmakers secure investors over the years and is a solid option for those with a lighter budget. A higher time investment on your end, a bit less expertise behind you, but a lower financial investment.

DIY Business Plan With Some Industry Expertise

The Gold Toolkit is best for those who want to really dive in to the film business and do the heavy lifting themselves. You still get a ton of Filmproposals expertise and templates, but you'll get into the nitty gritty of financial projections, comparable films, marketing plan, distribution plan and finding film investors. Just like our other bundles and toolkits, filmmakers have raised millions of dollars of film funding with this package.

FREE Sample Business Plan Template

Our actual Business Plan Template in Microsoft Word is always up to date (this sample is older), fully editable and contains far more detail and text than this short excerpt. You can either share the template below or subscribe to our FREE Business Plan Course and have it delivered to your inbox.

Click to download the FREE Movie Business Plan Sample.

(Share to Download Sample Movie Business Plan)

FREE Movie Business Plan Sample

Attract Investors with Your Film Business Plan & Pitch Deck

These film business plan tips will help you to attract investors and present the offer that gets their attention. The research process inherent to preparing a business plan forces you to look at the financing of other films and refine your precise film investor offer. This process will lead you straight to finding and securing the right investors for your movie.

Whether you use a business plan, private placement memorandum, or other fundraising vehicle, we want you to stand out from the crowd and pitch your project in a way that compels investors to write you a check now.