IT’S SHOWTIME: Sales process for William Shatner doc kicks off!
The next couple weeks have the potential to be some of the most impactful in the history of Legion M. That’s because our film, You Can Call Me Bill, will be premiering at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival and starting the sales process. This has ramifications for all investors in Legion M, as well as those that invested directly in the film.
FAN-FIRST FINANCING
If you aren’t familiar, one of the things that makes You Can Call Me Bill unique amongst Legion M projects is the fact it was entirely financed by fans. This was the first time we ever offered fans the ability to invest directly in a Legion M title, and participate in any revenue generated by the film right alongside Legion M (and William Shatner).
When you invest in Legion M, you are investing in the company. Your ROI is based on how the company does over time -- if we succeed you can win, if we fail you lose. The ROI of an investment in You Can Call Me Bill is solely based on the success of the film -- if it does well investors can win, if it flops they can lose.
Investors were given the chance to invest directly in “You Can Call Me Bill”
We created the offering with fan-first financing terms intended to provide transparency and simplicity for investors. Hollywood has a reputation for complex accounting that can lead to sucker bets and bum deals. As a company OWNED BY FANS, we’re trying to change with terms that put fans first, and are designed to let you know exactly where you stand.
Like most things Legion M attempts for the first time, we treated this as an experiment. So far, the results have been a resounding success – the $750,000 offering was fully subscribed in less than 4 days. It was fully subscribed before we even got a chance to issue our press release, announce the film was accepted into SXSW, or have Bill tweet it to his 2.5MM Twitter followers.
THE SALES PROCESS
While the financing of the film was an unequivocal success, the REAL TEST comes as we go through the sales process. This kicks-off next week when buyers (i.e. streamers, distributors, etc.) have a chance to see the film for the very first time. Director Alexandre O. Philippe, Producer Kerry Deignan Roy, and the Exhibit A team have been working around the clock to put on all the finishing touches - the final package was just turned over a day or two ago for mastering of the final DCP (“Digital Cinema Package”) that will play at the premiere Austin for South By Southwest.
The goal of the sales process is to find a good home for the film with one or more distributors around the world. The results of these sales will determine how much money, if any, the film makes, which in turn will determine the ROI for all the individual investors who financed the film, along with how much money Legion M makes as the producer of the film.
To assist with the sale we’ve partnered with XYZ Films as our sales agent for You Can Call Me Bill. If you aren’t familiar with what a sales agent is, they are kind of like a real-estate agent. They help us sell the film and earn a commission on the sales price. Here's what Pip Ngo, Senior Vice President of Sales & Acquisitions at XYZ Films, had to say about this project:
“William Shatner is an icon and a legend, and XYZ Films couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with Legion M on this special film that celebrates his exceptional life and career. The support of Legion M’s community will be crucial to the success of this movie and we’re excited to bring this to audiences together.”
We believe we’ve done everything we possibly can to set the film up for success. XYZ is one of the best in the business. That said, the sale of a film is always a crapshoot. Unlike a realtor selling a house, the value of a movie is HIGHLY subjective (this is art, after all). The fact our film features a worldwide icon and was accepted into a prestigious film festival works heavily in our favor, but at the end of the day the price we receive will depend entirely on how this film fits into the worldwide marketplace. This is dictated not just by the quality of the film, but also by macroeconomic factors like supply and demand of similar films, the state of the industry and even the worldwide economy.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
This is an exciting time for Legion M. And while we don’t yet know the financial impact of You Can Call Me Bill, we feel like we’ve already won:
We’ve demonstrated that the Legion M community can finance a feature film (by fully subscribing the offering in just 4 days!)
We’ve demonstrated that Legion M can take a film from inception through release (and get into one of the largest film festivals in the world!)
We’ve demonstrated that FAN-FIRST FINANCING can work – especially if we get a good sale. This not only puts us in the driver seat when it comes to choosing new projects, it’s also an extremely capital efficient business model. That, however, is a different topic for a future update…
WISH US LUCK!!
As we mentioned at the outset, the next few weeks are really important for Legion M and everyone associated with You Can Call Me Bill. So if you have ANY pull when it comes to manifesting destiny – whether it’s crossing your fingers, saying a prayer, or sacrificing a chicken – please do it now. We’ll take all the help we can get!!
Onward and Upward!!