Curiosity Kills

Idea

Introduction

We are a SEIS-compliant Special Purpose Vehicle set up to produce the psychological thriller ‘Welcome to Curiosity’ (formerly called 'Curiosity Kills').

The feature stars Cristian Solimeno ('Rush'), Amrita Acharia ('Game of Thrones'), Richard Blackwood ('Anuvahood') and Kacey Barnfield ('The InBetweeners') alongside an ensemble of emerging British acting talent.

In June 2014, we successfully raised over £50,000 through a Seedrs first round. These monies - combined with outside SEIS investment - funded 27 days of filming wrapping on 1st August, completing 65% of the film.

We are returning to Seedrs to seek a further £20,000 to not only fully finance the remaining production costs of 'Welcome to Curiosity' but also to allow us to market the film as the first feature to be fully equity crowd-funded in the world. This is a unique status that we believe will give the film a promotional edge over rivals and contemporaries alike and act as a trailblazer for financing films in the future.

Intended impact

We are specialists in making very high quality, commercially viable films for less than our contemporaries.

With our last feature ‘Two Days in the Smoke’ (due for release in the UK in November 2014, starring 'EastEnders' Matt di'Angelo, 'Battlestar Galactica's Lili Bordan, 'Lock Stock's Stephen Marcus and 'Snatch's Alan Ford) we delivered a slick crime thriller, featuring a known cast, set across two countries with a soundtrack including Grammy-nominated artists.

We feel that it punches well above its weight in terms of its modest budget, and we have channelled that experience into making ‘Welcome to Curiosity’ even more ambitious.

With an ensemble cast of British and international actors that we feel are on a par or greater than ‘Two Days in the Smoke’, we are certain that we have a commercial winner in ‘Welcome to Curiosity’.

With our no-nonsense approach to filmmaking and an overwhelming commercial perspective, coupled with the experience of the rest of our team including co-producer and ex-film distributor executive Tom Kelly (former Sales and Marketing Director for 20th Century Fox UK), with 65% of the film already shot we are aiming to get ‘Welcome to Curiosity’ to market in time for the European Film Market in Berlin in February 2015 and generate sales income within 12 months of the close of this offer.

We are also taking advantage of the UK Government’s Film Tax Credit, which rebates 20-25% of a film's production costs. We have used those funds to finance production costs to date, reducing our need for investment and avoiding the need to bring in expensive third party funding deals that are widely used in the film industry.

By using solely private investment, Curiosity Kills Limited will also retain the IP in the film, only licensing the rights to distributors and sharing in any profits made by them - increasing not only our control but also widening our opportunities for generating revenue compared with other films.

Substantial accomplishments to date

We have already completed 65% of the film. This took place over 27 days on location in Cornwall and Kent during the summer of 2014. A final leg of 15 days of filming is due to take place in Cornwall in September 2014.

We also have in place within our team a wealth of experience in development, production and sales, all key aspects to delivering a great, commercially viable film. These include director-producer Ben Pickering, writer-producer Darren Ripley and Director of Photography Bruce Melhuish. Bruce’s experience in delivering high quality product on a modest budget, as he did with his own feature 'The Glass Man' starring 'Kick-Ass 2's Andy Nyman and 'Wild Things's Neve Campbell, is proving invaluable.

We also have Tom Kelly, former Sales and Marketing Director at 20th Century Fox UK, as a co-producer. Through this and other roles Tom has been involved in the selling and marketing of many, many features in his career and he is playing a pivotal role in maximising sales revenue.

Monetisation strategy

First income would be anticipated within 12 months of close of offer with the remainder paid to the company over the following 3-4 years. We would look for initial sales via Tom and/or other UK and international sales agents. There would also be profit sharing with distributors thereafter.

Initial sales income is made up of "minimum guarantee" payments by distributors to secure rights for a set number of years (usually 15-20) for specific territories and media platforms including:

• Cinema: box office receipts
• DVD/Blu-ray: royalties from DVD/Blu-ray rentals/sales
• TV: revenue from license fees paid by terrestrial, satellite and cable broadcasters
• Video-on-Demand: royalties from viewings on Netflix/downloads on iTunes
• Airlines: license fees paid for in-flight presentations.

The “minimum guarantee” payment is effectively an advance against future sales income. Distributors would then pay all distribution costs, from producing prints of the film to marketing and advertising. These expenses are commonly referred to as “P&A”.

Distributors would incur similar costs for a DVD/Blu-ray release of the film (including manufacturing and shipping costs). These costs, along with P&A and a pre-agreed distributors’ share of sales revenue, would need to be recouped before any further profits are split between distributors and the production company.

To maximise sales income and minimise risk, we would seek to license distribution rights on a territory-by-territory basis rather than seeking a blanket worldwide distribution deal.

Use of proceeds

Further funds raised from the Seedrs community will be used to complete production of ‘Welcome to Curiosity’. The final bloc of filming will cost £20-£25,000.

Should the offer be oversubscribed, we would use surplus funds (up to a maximum second round of £50,000) to also fully finance post-production without involving post-production partners. This would allow us to retain 100% of the producer profits of the film (after all distribution costs are deducted) as well as control 100% of the film’s IP going forward.

Some of the funds will be used to meet salaries for cast and crew, however these will be minimal as all cast and crew are working for the Minimum Wage (representing in some cases just 20% of the Pact-Equity and Bectu minimums for cast and crew respectively).