Getting the Money – It’s All in How You Ask: A Plan for Writing Business Plans

Jeremy Juuso’s Getting the Money is a step-by-step instruction booklet to writing a film business plan.  The book reads largely like an instruction manual, but in a sense that is exactly what it is.  Juuso puts things into perspective while at the same time encouraging the reader.  It is a competitive world out there and the odds are not necessarily with you.  But your odds are so much better with a sound understanding of the market and a solid business plan to put in front of investors.

Getting the Money spells out in detail how to come up with a business plan.  Juuso explains up front what the plan is, why it is needed, the pitfalls of working with an incomplete plan (or none at all), and points out that this process is neither easy nor is it free.  At no point does Juuso suggest that getting your film made is anything but a crap shoot, but also reminds the reader that you dramatically increase your odds by showing investors that you are going to treat their money seriously.

After a brief introduction the book is mostly a detailed step-by-step instruction manual.  Juuso recommends you get a friend gifted in using Excel as he goes through the steps of setting up the various tables.  The book is replete with examples to make sure the tables are set up correctly and accurately represent your project.  He also uses running examples of films throughout the book.  In this way the reader can get a solid grasp of how to approach and finalize each step along the way, including the apprpriate wording for each section of your presentation.

Getting the Money is both an introduction to business plans and a handy reference manual for use with future plans.  Juuso’s approach is one of caution (“Get a good lawyer” and “Depict the ugly truth about residuals”), but he is encouraging as well, making constant reminders that you are doing yourself a favor in the long run taking these extra steps and ensuring that your overall chances of success are improved.

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