Noted international film journalist Colin Brown has just joined the senior team at Slated in the newly created position of Editorial Director. 

Colin will oversee the creation of informational tools and resources designed to help investors navigate the business intricacies of the global film industry. In addition, Colin will act as a strategic advisor in Slated’s international expansion plans.

Prior to joining us, Colin was an award-winning editor and journalist who was most closely identified with Screen International. As Editor-in-Chief, a title he held for a decade, he has overseen the publication of daily printed newspapers at all the leading film markets including the American Film Market and the film festivals of Cannes, Berlin and Toronto. 

Colin led the publication's push into conferences targeted specifically at the film industry's global deal-making community. He launched, programmed and chaired several annual events, including both the European Film Finance Summit held at the Berlin Film Festival and the UK Film Finance Conference in London.  

He continues to moderate industry events including those at the Cannes Film Festival, the Asian Film Market in South Korea and Hong Kong’s FilmMart. He also serves as an ongoing industry consultant for the Dubai International Film Festival.

We're extremely fortunate to have Colin join us. Our goal at Slated is to shepherd in a new era of financiers that have previously not had access to the quality of viable independent films listed on our site. Education and expansion are key parts of that mission. We feel Colin's experience, objectivity as a journalist, and clarity in thought and writing can bridge the communication gap between the investment community and filmmakers closing deals. 

Colin kindly said to us: “As someone who has spent years chronicling the financial challenges faced by filmmakers across the globe, I immediately recognized Slated’s fantastic potential for unlocking new sources of film money and for serving as a communal laboratory for transparent business models that will help fuel the world’s content explosion. The genius of Slated’s new platform is that it harnesses the same social technologies that have revolutionized the funding of Silicon Valley start-ups, but does so in a way that plays to the discretion, trust mechanics and relationship-based peculiarities of this wonderfully crazy business called cinema.”

So look out for Colin’s exclusive op-ed pieces coming shortly. Welcome Colin!

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We're midway through Cannes Film Festival, so in step with the deal making on a rainy Croisette this week, we thought it timely to highlight a few international films listed on Slated, a handful of which are represented at the market now.

Sunrise is an international co-production helmed by Partho Sen-Gupta and is showcasing in Cannes at Marche du Film from May 15-24.  Producer Rakesh Mehra can be found at the India Pavillion during the market.  Sunrise’s European co-producers Bero Beyer (Netherlands) and Fabian Massah (Germany) are in Cannes for those same dates.

Shoplifters of the World, directed by Stephen Kijak will also have representation at Cannes by way of producer Olivier Aknin.  The project will be a UK/US co-production, produced by Lorainne Hall.

Javier Fuentes Leon’s The Vanished Elephant (El Elefante Desaparecido), with plans to shoot in Peru, will be repped by producer Rodrigo Guerrero.  Rodrigo is producing with Michel Ruben.  The award-winning Colombian film Undertow was this team’s last production together and garnered international critical acclaim. Undertow won the World Cinema Audience Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Eugene Nomura and Yoko Narahashi, producers on Ross Katz’s Japan/Europe/US co-production 29 Days are attending.  29 Days is written by Rob Travalino, and also produced by Chris Bongirne.  
 
Amongst other international projects, is the Irish/Canadian hybrid Fairytale, starring Kate Bosworth and Keifer Sutherland, with Lisa Katselas producing via her banner Katselas Films and executive producing with Rob Montrone.  
 
Notable as well is the Untitled Diego Maradona Project, written by Mark Monroe and to be directed by Paul Crowder, with Paul Martin and Morgan Sackett producing.  
 
So look out for more updates on these and other international projects, as this is the time of the year that highlights the talented filmmaking and hybrid production opportunities there are around the world. We are proud to have listed this strong selection of promising projects, some of which may very well be at next year’s Cannes. 

And if anyone would like to meet up regarding Slated, Susan Wrubel is currently representing us at Cannes.

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Hello all,

It is my utmost pleasure to announce very first films for which Slated secured financing.  My sincerest congratulations go out to filmmakers Christian Camargo and Marina Zenovich and their entire teams for successfully using Slated to attract the finance needed for their films.

Christian’s currently Untitled retelling of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull and Marina’s Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out, a follow-up to the award-winning theatrical documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired, have officially become the first two feature film projects to raise significant portions of their production funding through our site.  

The film marks Christian’s directorial debut and has attracted a stellar cast that also includes Allison Janney, (Juno, The Help) who is set to play the role of a movie actress, the modern-day incarnation of Irina Arkadina in The Seagull.  Academy Award-winner William Hurt (Into The Wild, History Of Violence) will play her ailing brother, and Katie Holmes will play the temperamental daughter of the estate's caretaker.  Also in talks to join this ensemble are Russell Means (The Last of The Mohicans), Jean Reno (The Professional), Mark Rylance (Anonymous, The Other Boleyn Girl) and Juliet Rylance (Sinister).

Juliet is producing with Barbara Romer, the founder and CEO of New Globe Theater, and with Co-producer Ed Vassallo.

Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out is produced by Lila Yacoub, Odd Man Out explores the recent legal wrangling involved in trying to bring Mr. Polanski back to the United States after more than 30 years of exile.  A saga that plays out over two continents, Odd Man Out re-teams the original film’s executive producers Steven Soderbergh and Randy Wooten.

Christian’s Untitled film grabbed the attention of Mark Stewart, a film investor on Slated, who promptly began discussions with the creative team. As Mark kindly said, “Slated is a fantastic and much needed innovation in independent film finance. As a private investor it provides me the opportunity to be involved in high caliber films and such is the quality of the projects, I invested within a week of joining.”

In the case of Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out, the documentary gained traction with several investors almost immediately after it was listed.

Lila, producer of Odd Man Out gave us an amazing quote saying, “Slated investors were a great fit with the rest of our financing, and came together to support the project at a perfect time for us.  The ease in which Slated is able to match investors with the appropriate project is a testament to how well the Slated team understands the process of financing a film". Thanks Lila.

I once again extend our warmest congratulations to these teams.  This is the reason we exist and we are thrilled that Slated has helped unlock film financing for these films as they have all the values we believe in and have made it our mission to support: talented creative teams that develop and package viable projects for today’s market.

Duncan Cork

CEO, Slated, Inc.

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We often get asked about our listing process - how long it takes and how does it work so to let you know...

To apply to list your film you will need:

• Title, synopsis, budget, where the project is being developed
• A profile image to represent the project
• Names and email addresses of the producer and two other crew members

Films that are successfully listed generally are:

• Narrative feature budgets of $500K-$15M+
• Documentary budgets of $250K-$2M (feature length docs only)
• "Packaged" with the some or all of the following:

- producers and/or directors with a proven track record
- bankable or known cast members
- partial financing secured
- sales agent attached
- other noteworthy elements in place

A few more points to note are:

• The more of the above you enter, the more likely it will be published to the Slated community.
• Projects that do not meet the criteria can take several weeks to be approved.
• Most of the films we publish require production capital, but some are complete or near completion, and are seeking finishing funds and/or distribution financing.
• We currently do not list shorts, or other companies and services looking for finance.
• Slated is an introductory service and should be used in addition to your current fundraising efforts.
• Listing your film on Slated does not guarantee financing.
• Slated reserves the right to only list films that are appropriate for the investment community.

So how are projects published?

Before your project is published to the community, it will be vetted by the Slated Team and measured against the list of predetermined criteria mentioned above. Slated receives many applications to list films on the site, and, unless the profile is fully filled out (or "packaged"), the vetting process may take several weeks. Occasionally, we may ask you to enter more details before publishing your profile to the community. This will only happen if we feel that the added info will help you achieve your goals.

How long will it take to get our film listing published?

If all of the elements are in place, you will hear from us, usually, within one week of your initial application.

For those that have not heard from us, we have had thousands of films apply to be listed on Slated. Most of them are not ‘packaged’ enough to be listed on the site. If you have not heard back from us, it is likely that you are missing some of the above criteria.

Our process is getting faster as we grow as a company though. If you have questions on your project, email at team@slated.com.

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This is a busy season for Slated. Not only are three films showing in Tribeca Film Festival right now, but we have some great news from our growing community.

Firstly, two incredible actors have signed on for Jim Rash and Nat Faxon's directorial debut, The Way, Way Back. Congrats to Jim and Nat for corralling Steve Carrell and Toni Collette, who join an already stellar cast including Sam Rockwell, Allison Janney and AnnaSophia Robb. 

Seasoned industry leader Peter Newman, whose films have appeared in all the most competitive festivals worldwide, has just joined the community. Newman is currently working on a film based on the life of Janis Joplin.  Also newly welcomed is producer Grace Loh, whose instant teenage cult classic “Hot Tub Time Machine” (2010) highlighted her aptitude with comedy. Loh also produced the 2008 political satire "War, Inc." and the 2007 drama "Grace is Gone” with her producing partner John Cusack.  The same knack for both comedy and heartfelt drama can be found in Lucy Donnelly, who most recently produced "That's What She Said." Donnelly is also known for Academy Award-nominated "Pieces of April" (2003).  
 
New member Nick Morton, whose most recent “Fat Kid Rules the World” received an audience award at this year’s SXSW, and best known for “Ray,” starring Jamie Foxx as the legendary Ray Charles (2004).  We also welcome Hunter Gray, Producer of the 2011 Sundance award winner “Another Earth” (starring none other than Slated co-founder William Mapother).
 
In addition we are pleased to welcome actor/producer/director Adrian Grenier, perhaps best known for his starring role in the popular HBO series “Entourage” as well as his roles in “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006) and “Drive Me Crazy” (1999).

Thank you for your continued participation in Slated, and we hope this update has helped inspire you to pursue new projects and partnerships.

Team Slated

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Scott Macauley, one of the most tracked individuals on Slated, wrote an extensive review on Slated after speaking to us. Scott, who holds a series of titles that include producer, executive, writer, editor and journalist, and co-president of Forensic Films, with credits including “Raising Victor Vargas,” “Gummo,” “The Chateau” and “Idlewild", is the editor-in-chief of Filmmaker Magazine. 

Slated has a simple, clean interface that will be familiar to anyone with a social network account. Two existing members must vouch for new users. According to the site’s FAQ, Slated is aimed at “eligible individual and institutional investors both new to, and experienced in, film investing; experienced producers and directors with proven track records; and industry professionals such as sales agents, distributors, talent agents and notable talent.” Prospective investors must prove “financial sophistication” and accredited status.

After creating a profile, Slated members have the option of tracking both films and other people. New developments or announcements about those people and films appear in a user’s activity stream. For more direct communication, like LinkedIn one must request an introduction to another user through a mutual connection. Projects can be searched through tags that progressively filter by genre, budget, country of origin, language or stage of production. [Slated Chairman, Stephan Paternot], says even more tags are coming. “We’ve asked [our users] to give us the tags they are most interested in, and soon you’ll be able to search with them too. And if you are an accredited investor, you can compare financials on films. You can easily do ‘apples to apples’ comparison.” 

Uploaded projects must be approved and, for fiction features, have budgets of at least $500,000. They must also be packaged with “known” or “bankable” actors, be partially financed, or have a sales agent or other notable elements attached. These requirements are intended to establish Slated as “a platinum service,” says Paternot. We’re seeking the best-quality independent filmmakers and want to see some transactions occur before we decide to go further down the long tail [by opening up the service to a broader user base].” 

Appealing to established producers is the “granularity” that Paternot says is built into Slated’s privacy settings. “The filmmaker has the control,” he states. Actor attachments can be revealed confidentially to select other users, as can financiers. Updates can be streamed to your Facebook or LinkedIn communities or remain private on Slated. 

Among others, Slated has so far attracted producer Lawrence Bender (Inglourious Basterds), IM Global’s David Jourdan and actress/director Shannyn Sossamon to its community. (I also joined Slated and can attest to the site’s promise and ease of use.) Director Marina Zenovich is currently [listed] on Slated for Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out, a sequel to her Emmy Award-winning Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. She says, “As a working parent, who is either in the edit room or at school functions, it’s another way to meet people. It’s a lot like Facebook. If it wasn’t pleasing, and if it was complicated, I wouldn’t be as positive about it. But it feels like it’s becoming something. I think in the end, we will get something from it.” 

In its current 1.0 phase, Slated, says Paternot, “is focusing on its most valuable component, the network.” Accordingly, “all deals happen offline,” and users should vet Slated financiers just as they’d vet anyone else. The next version will expand Slated’s range of [financial] services.

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David Zax from Fast Company spoke with us to talk about crowd investors, walled gardens, and black swans. Here's the edited interview. 

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Another fortnight has passed, which means it's once again time to single out some of the new members who have come aboard this fantastic project of ours, and welcome them to the community.

As we've mentioned previously, though, it's not just producers we love to see (although, there is another notable producer-director Marina Zenovich, who gave us "Roman Polanksi: Wanted & Desired"), but anyone involved in the making of movies. To wit, hardy tidings are offered to casting director Heidi Levitt ("JFK," "Nixon," "Natural Born Killers," "The Artist") and distribution and new media focused agent Liesl Copland, of WME Global Finance and Distribution Group.

While we are not highlighting new projects this time around, it doesn't mean they aren't any new ones on the site. We're just waiting for you to tell us more about them. You have two weeks until the next report to feature you and your latest magnum opus!

Until then, this is the Slated team, signing off. See you in two weeks!

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Hello all,

You may have noticed that your TRACKING notifications have been a little quite over the past few days. Well, we've been hard at work, crafting what we feel is a more effective way to get you the information you need to stay informed and in touch with your network in the film industry - plus to communicate the Slated community activity, developments, and trending films in a tailored way to suit you. 

Introducing Slated Email Digests:

We are also extremely mindful of your inbox. If it looks like ours, you really don't need more ineffective, irrelevant emails. So to help better manage it all, we have upgraded (and simplified) the old email settings. Now, if you wanted to get your digests DAILY instead of WEEKLY, you can. We also offer you the chance to get your TRACKER notifications instantly in case you want to stay completely on top of your activity.

Some of the more obvious changes are that we eliminated a lot of the choices and grouped a few of them together:

PLEASE NOTE: Email Digests are only available to approved members

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The chill of winter has faded and spring is here. Another two weeks have passed and we are proud to announce more members of esteem and prestige that have joined our ranks on Slated 
 
The beginning of spring means the anticipated arrival of the Tribeca Film Festival - the annual beacon of independent film that takes over lower Manhattan for 10 days every April. Slated is proud that a trio of films featured on our site have been honored with selection at the 2012 Fest: “High Tech, Low Life," “Future Weather” and “Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey." We congratulate these three films on this incredible achievement. 

We were also thrilled to welcome Mark Ordesky to the rolls, the founding partner in Amber Entertainment and Court Five Productions. Speaking of esteem, during Mark's tenure at New Line Cinema, he acquired or executive produced over 60 films, including the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Along with Mark, we welcome award-winning producer and founding partner of Protozoa Pictures, Eric Watson, who produced “Pi” and “Requiem for a Dream,” and is attached to direct “The Savage,” “Diesel” (with Kenny Wormald and Taryn Manning) and “Anika,” as well as Tommy Pallotta — who produced Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly” and “Waking Life,” and directed the Emmy-nominated transmedia thriller “Collapsus” — and Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell’s partner at Electric City and producer of “Blue Valentine” and “Half Nelson.” Likewise, it’s nice to have another renaissance man on the team, Scott Macauley, who holds a series of titles that include producer, executive, writer, editor and journalist, editor-in-chief of Filmmaker Magazine and co-president of Forensic Films, with credits including “Raising Victor Vargas,” “Gummo,” “The Chateau” and “Idlewild.” We welcome all to the Slated community. 

Which brings us to the end of another update. It goes by so quickly, doesn’t it? If you want to see yourself or your film featured in one of these bi-weekly messages, keep updating your profile to alert the fantastic and growing community of creative people that we are. 

See you in two weeks!

The Slated Team

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Slated, a site that connects independent film producers with investors, has raised $2 million in a Series B round of funding.

The site first launched at the Sundance film festival this year, and it sounds like the idea is catching on with independent film veterans — the company says producers such as Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte (The Kids Are All Right, Thirteen, Laurel Canyon), Lesley Chilcott (Waiting For Superman, An Inconvenient Truth), Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, An Inconvenient Truth, Inglourious Basterds) have already signed up. Before the launch, more than 2,000 films applied to be listed, and 44 have been approved so far.

When it comes to new financing models for creativity, a lot of the excitement nowadays revolves around Kickstarter, where people can donate to projects (including films) in exchange for credit, early access, and other rewards. However, Slated co-founder and chairman Stephan Paternot (who founded production company PalmStar Entertainment and seed investor Actarus Funds, as well as co-founding theGlobe.com, one of the legendary late-90s IPOs) is emphatic about the differences between the two models.

Paternot says Slated is closer to AngelList than Kickstarter. It’s about debt and equity financing, not donations. And it’s meant to be an exclusive community — investors have to be accredited, and you need the recommendations of at least two members to join. The films listed in Slated usually have budgets in the $1 million to $15 million range, and some have already enlisted stars like William H. Macy, Katie Holmes, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

In other words, this is about finding new sources of capital for the existing indie film market, something that Paternot says is complementary to the crowdfunding model of Kickstarter and Indiegogo. In fact, he’s also an Indiegogo investor, and that’s where he points first-time filmmakers or people working on something more experimental.

The new funding comes from Paternot, SecondMarket founder and CEO Barry Silbert, Logitech founder Daniel Borel, and other. Given its model, it’s probably not surprising that Slated found some of its investors on AngelList.

To read the article on TechCrunch click here. 

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Has it been two weeks already? It seems like no time has passed since our late update, and yet so much has happened in that time! 

We also wanted to congratulate Nat Faxon and Jim Rash for their Oscar win for "The Descendants" - best adapted screenplay. One of our favorite Oscar moments was, while director Alexander Payne was accepting on behalf of his co-writers, Rash (who is so brilliant on "Community") stuck out his leg in a spot-on impression of Angelina Jolie. The duo of Faxon and Rash are working as writer-directors on "The Way, Way Back," and produced by Kevin Walsh ("War of the Worlds," "The Hours," "The Royal Tenenbaums"). We're proud to have their film on our site. 

The expanding list of executives who have joined the roster includes Mike Elliot, a partner and producer at Capital Arts Entertainment, producer and founder of Cine Mosaic Lydia Pilcher ("The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Amelia," "The Darjeeling Limited") co-president of Film Independent Josh Welsh, co-president of Bold Films Gary Michael Walters ("Drive," "Legion"), EVP of finance at IM Global Michael Roban, and Dana Harris, who only happens to be the editor-in-chief of Indiewire. When you look at the list of films and TV shows for which these people and companies are responsible, the mind reels.

As if all that weren't enough, veteran film journalist Colin Brown wrote a fantastic piece about Slated this past week - featured here in CNBC Business.

Which brings us to the end of another update. As always, our goal with our updates is to alert the Slated community to the new arrivals, freshly listed projects, and new features. So until the next one...

The Slated Team

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Renowned film and finance journalist Colin Brown speaks about our strategy to connect movie insiders to big-name investors. 

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For starters, David Jourdan, the SVP of international sales for IM Global, has joined, along with Audrey Delaney, VP of acquisitions for Lightning Entertainment, and Laura Rister, head of production and packaging at Untitled Entertainment and Waterfall Media (the folks behind the Oscar-nominated "Margin Call"). These are some serious titles for some serious industry veterans - shining examples of our community.

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Stephan Paternot, co-founder of Slated, talks about plans for our online film investment venture and speaks with Stephanie Ruhle on Bloomberg: "There's a massive increase in demand for specialized content, and a complete lack of capital going in to it. The Oscars is just a reminder, that with the 60 nominations they've garnered, people want those films. They're winning awards, but they just need more money to make those films."

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We love FilmNewsBriefs, and were excited to read about us in this morning's newsletter. Read on:

FNB EDITORIAL ...The Future Might Just Be Slated February 13, 2012

We’ve been hearing a lot about Kickstarter lo, these past couple years, and have always found it an interesting diversion for smaller projects and flights of fancy. Not to diminish the site, it clearly does a lot of good for people, but it’s always struck us as a bit limited, with a defined ceiling for the size of the projects the site is designed to help. We thought there was room for something bigger, but we never actually got around to doing anything about it. Luckily, a couple guys named Stephan Paternot and Duncan Cork did, and the result is the terrific Slated.

The very purpose of the site is to match accredited investors with developing projects, allowing people to monitor the progress of casting and hiring, maintain buzz, it’s … it’s … intoxicating, really.

Seriously, creating a site where filmmakers, distributors, investors and sales agents can interact with each other and track projects in an online environment protected and vetted by the community’s own members? Genius. On top of that (and, truthfully, the best part for us, as we are noted snobs), it’s kind of an exclusive club. You have to be approved by two existing members to get in. Again, seriously. It’s like being a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, only without the bombast and boring ceremony.

All kidding aside, what took everyone so long? This site is exactly what the internet was made for, as far as the entertainment industry is concerned. It’s eHarmony, J-Date and Match all rolled into one, but instead of trying to score a mate, you can score a sweet deal for your project (or, on the other side, score a sweet project to deal. It really does work both ways!). Already signed up are reps of IM Global, WME, Participant Media, Weinstein Co, FilmDistrict, as well as high profile indie producers like Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte, Lesley Chilcott, MaryJane Skalski and Rene Bastian. Fairly elite company.

One of the reasons why we’ve never really investigated Kickstarter is because it always felt too small. Getting a few bucks apiece from a couple hundred people was great in theory, but didn’t necessarily serve the purposes of anything on which we might have been working. But this? Even Chairman and co-founder Paternot admits, “all our investors are accredited investors, about 50 percent of our investor community represent institutions, distributors and sales companies.” That’s some serious juice right there, and most definitely the kind aimed at bigger fish.

It’s amazing, really, that some of the best ideas are the ones you look at and say, “How come no one thought of this sooner?” This is one of those times. 

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Five tips on how to make the most of your networking experience at Slated.

1. Track films you like

If you track someone, they can get in touch with you. If you are an investor, you can always ‘Get An Intro’ to a filmmaker through their film profile. That is your privilege. However, if you track a film you’re interested in, the filmmaker can get in touch with you too.

By tracking a film, you will also be alerted to any updates the filmmaker adds to their profile. For instance, if they secure a high-profile actor or add financing to their project, you will get notified.

2. Click ‘Get An Intro’ 

If you’re visit film profile page that you like, clicking Get An Intro is the first step in investing in a film and starting a dialogue with the filmmaker. All filmmakers are at a stage where they are ready to talk to investors. They will have more material to send you...simply reach out to them and start the dialogue. 

3. Check investment range and 'I'm Interest In' criteria

Make sure that you’re investment range and ‘I’m interested in’ criteria are accurate. At Slated, we don’t want to send you anything you won’t be interested in, so we only alert you to deals that match your criteria. The more accurate your profile is, the smarter we can be.

4. List films you invested in or been involved with

Top-quality filmmakers are attracted to experienced film investors. We know that the better the filmmaker, the more likely they are to work with you on a film if you have invested in, or been involved with, the industry before. So list some of the films you’ve helped produce or finance.

If you are new to the film industry, be open and honest when you reach out to a filmmaker. Tell them about your interest in the film, it’s subject matter, or the team behind it. Build a rapport as you may soon be working with some of the smartest filmmakers and talented story-tellers the film industry has to offer.

5. Check back in regularly

We are adding the highest quality independent films every week, and adding award-winning filmmakers, sales agents and distributors every day. We are also constantly launching more features to help you find projects you like, quickly and easily. So keep checking in.

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Reach the most investors, sales agents and distributors on Slated by following these ten tips.

1. Keep adding to your film profile

This is the number one way to get in front of the community. If you raise additional finance, sign a high-profile actor, add a trailer, or get press, click edit and add it to your profile. This way, everyone that is tracking you or your film get an alert.

We will be launching a new feature that allows the Slated community, including investors, to get digests of what is happening on Slated. Adding to your profile will help promote user activity and highlight the momentum behind your project in our digests and on the activity feed of those tracking you.

2. Add all of your principle cast and crew

At Slated we believe that promoting your film begins with the team you're building. Get them to sign up, fill out their profiles, add their networks, and connect with the community.

Everyone attached to your project becomes a marketable element to get your film financed, sold or distributed, so we are constantly adding tools to promote the team you're building.

The more people that are connected to other people, the more buzz you can generate. Investors, sales agents and distributors will want to know who is behind the project before they get in touch with you. For example, if you have an award-winning DP, add them to the film page. An investor may be a fan of a film they worked on.

3. Act on investors tracking you

When someone tracks you, you can contact them. It's that simple.

We've designed the site this way so that once an investor tracks you or your film we assume they are interested in what you're up to and you can message them. We let you know every time someone tracks you or your project so that you can reach out, and open up a dialogue.

Verified Slated investors don't need to track you before they can message you though. We ensure that investors can always contact you through your film profile. That's a feature for investors only.

4. Fill out all your financial information and add investors

List every investor you already have. The money that you’ve raised looks great to prospective investors.

We know that negotiations with film investors are sensitive, but our goal at Slated is to build a trusted and sustainable investment community. So we encourage you to be transparent with your fundraising efforts. Transparency builds trust.

If you want to add financing to your project and demonstrate momentum, we ask your investors to verify that they are atttached. This way, Slated investors can feel confident and trust that other investors are already involved.

But if you are still unsure, you can always make your investor confidential. This means that they will not show up on your film profile.

5. Make your high-profile actors visible

Your profile is a way to communicate to the Slated community that you are making progress and have talent interested in the project.

While the confidentiality feature is great for those not yet ready to be associated with your film, the more attachments you can name and share, the more exciting it will be to investors.

6. Add a trailer or promotional video

Film profiles with videos are far more likely to gain attention from the community at large. This is your opportunity to pitch your vision in a simple promo, giving sales agents, distributors and investors an idea of what the film is about.

More attention will generate more trackers which means climbing the rankings in our search feature. 

7. Update your personal and film status each week

This alerts everyone to the what’s happening with you and your film and acts as a log of all the progress you’re making. Use this to demonstrate momentum, and broadcast breaking news to those that are tracking you.

BE CAREFUL THOUGH. Please don't publish any sensitive financial info as it's against our User Agreement and SEC regulations. If you would like some guidance on updating your status, contact team@slated.com. 

8. Publish 3rd party sales estimates from top sales companies

Sales projections always help investors gather whether this is a good investment or not. But ensure a third party verifies the figures before adding them to the profile. If you have a sales agent attached to the project, add them to your profile, link to their website.  

9. Use the Share feature

To increase your reach and potential for fundraising, it is vital to share your film with your trackers and personal network by clicking the share button located on the profile page you wish to share. Share allows you to send your film profile to all of your trackers on Slated, plus anyone via email. On Slated, if someone tracks you, we assume that they are interested in what you are up to. So we built this feature with that in mind.

10. Check back in regularly

Slated only succeeds if we build the sales, distribution and investment community. We are adding people every day and launching more features to help you raise awareness, increase buzz and connect to the community. So check back in regularly.  

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Slated, a next generation marketplace which aims to increase efficiency, transparency and capital flow for the independent film industry, just successfully completed a two month private beta period with its first customers, signing on some of today’s most prolific film producers such as Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte (The Kids Are All Right, Thirteen, Laurel Canyon), Lesley Chilcott (Waiting For Superman, An Inconvenient Truth), MaryJane Skalski (Win Win, The Visitor, The Station Agent) and Rene Bastian (Transamerica, A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints).

Chilcott said of Slated: “Every once in awhile an idea comes along that when you first hear about it, you find it hard to believe that it hasn't been done before, it just makes that much sense. Slated brings crowd funding to a new level.  By actively trying to connect established filmmakers with serious investors that would normally not meet one another, entire new financing models are going to emerge. When I joined Slated last month, I immediately received emails from individuals tracking my next documentary film, "Privacy.””

Kusama-Hinte said of Slated: "Slated is the most inspired innovation in independent film financing that I have seen in years.  It is clearly built upon a profound knowledge of finance, filmmaking, and social networking and provides investors and filmmakers the perfect marketplace in which to bring capital to film production.  It is more than a website or a company, it is the first shot of a coming independent film revolution!”

Already listed on the site, are notable new projects such as TRUST ME (William H Macy, Felicity Huffman), THE WAY, WAY BACK (Sam Rockwell, AnnaSophia Robb), THE MOURNING PORTRAIT (Melissa Leo, Wenthworth Miller), Sally Potter’s BOMB (Elle Fanning, Alessandro Nivola), Marina Zenovich’s ROMAN POLANSKI: ODD MAN OUT and Amy Redford’s PHOENIX (Liv Tyler, Benedict Cumberbatch).

Slated, which exclusively caters to seasoned filmmakers, and award-winning break-out directors, received over 2000 feature film submissions for the private beta, of which 30 were approved, and has signed on accredited investors, including some well known executive producers, production companies, sales companies and distributor, with a combined capital interest of over $100,000,000.

Conceptualized and built to facilitate exclusive access and interactivity between top filmmakers who are looking to introduce their film projects to sophisticated investors, Slated has begun to prove its ability to create a trusted community of industry veterans where producers and production companies can benefit from an exclusive and organized private investment network. Investors and distributors can find the films by tracking those they’re interested in uploaded from validated sources, and a vetted marketplace allows newer investors to begin building relationships with trusted industry leaders and filmmakers.

To maintain strict controls over the quality of the community Slated incorporates a “social proof” mechanism that requires any new applicant to be approved by two existing members they already know. This ensures that the community has a sense of control and responsibility for maintaining a high standard of quality.

Slated’s co-founder and Chairman Stephan Paternot said: “The acute economic downturn has resulted in a severe shortage of investment capital across all industry sectors, including film, making financing independent films increasingly challenging. To a limited extent online “crowd-funding” has begun filling the void for micro budget projects, using donations from fans, however, we decided from the get go to be an equity investment platform only, catering to established filmmakers and financiers looking to raise tens of millions for their films. As such all our investors are accredited investors, about 50% of our investor community represent institutions, distributors and sales companies.”

Slated’s co-founder and CEO Duncan Cork said: “Through Slated’s range of initiatives being developed in its first years of operations and in partnership with the industry, we know that we can strengthen the chances for high-end film material to be more efficiently financed and produced. Slated is about building a sustainable community of trusted film financiers and filmmakers by being the ideal blend of community, commerce and convenience. We supplement existing fundraising efforts by aggregating and educating a ‘new’ investor, and increase fundraising efficiencies through standardization and transparency. This will expand reach beyond what any individual is capable of doing by being on the phone, attending festivals and knocking on the same doors.”

Developed over the course of the last year, Slated has been privately financed by a number of notable technology investors including Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO of SecondMarket, Daniel Borel, Founder of Logitech, and by Stephan Paternot, General Partner of the Actarus Funds (and co-founder of theglobe.com).

Functions available for filmmakers and investors

• List projects for a growing network of high net worth investors interested in financing film.
• Facilitate introductions in order to raise capital from accredited investors, film funds and distributors.
• Maintain the buzz and promote momentum for a growing community of distributors, sales agents, talent agents and other industry professionals.
• Track members of the community to get alerts on cast and crew attachments and to be the first to know when they’re raising funds for their next films.
• Use a tagging system to get films in front of the right investors allowing investors to manage their own deal flow. 
• Update existing investors on your project's progress to demonstrate momentum and generate more interest from the investment community. 

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Read The Hollywood Reporter's exclusive article.

As an addition to this fantastic piece by THR, I'd like to add that this would not have been possible without the collaboration of co-founders William Mapother, Gavan Gravesen and Stephan Paternot, or all the hard work and dedication of Jennifer Anderson, Mark Chackerian, Matt Semanyshyn, Susan Wrubel, Christin Roman and the guys at Type/Code. 

We will continue to strive to increase efficiency and capital in independent film. See you online.

Duncan Cork, CEO

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