Movies are a risky business.

Most cost millions to make, and even worse, there’s no guarantee they’ll earn back what’s been spent on them.

(Apply at One Bird Mocking, full-time unpaid positions open to all applicants.)

Don’t believe us?  Try a Google search with the query

“What was the budget for —?” Then (name your movie) .

We bet you a $5 ticket almost any movie you chose cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions, to make.

To minimize these huge financial risks and create an environment where every expense is fully accountable to the end product, we’ve decided to do things differently.

Instead of the director, cast, or crew getting paid a premium for work which isn’t accountable to its end quality, our players will invest their time on set to earn equity, or ownership, in the final film, so the only way they’ll get a decent paycheck is if the film earns it for them.

This means that we can shoot a film like ours — which would cost a lesser studio (read as: a better-financed studio) a budget of millions — for a paltry $85,244.  How?  Because we believe in our movie so much that we’re willing to work on it without getting paid in full up front.

Another way we’ll be doing it differently is in terms of risk.  You might not know it, but most independent films are financed by only a handful of people risking huge amounts of money.  We don’t want anyone on the hook for a huge amount of money, so we’re asking a large group of people to risk a small amount of money.

The most any one investor will be able to risk in terms of cash on our movie will be $1,000.  That means, even if the absolute worst case scenario were to occur (the jaguar in the film eats one of our stars before we finish shooting), each of our big investors will be out $1,000, not tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands, and definitely not millions.

But $1,000 is still a lot of money, so for most of our funding we’re hoping to lure even you wild risk takers who are on a budget into buying a single $5 pre-sale ticket.  Then if we just sell 17,049 more we’ll have enough to shoot a pretty terrific movie and no one who buys one will be out for more than the cost of a single latte.

We need cash to pay for locations, costumes, and equipment, but we’ve figured out a way to make making a movie so affordable that even those of you with only $5 can be moguls.

On the high end at $1,000 each, 86 fellow beliebers can pull off making a movie with us where you’ll see your name in the credits and possibly a real return on your investment if we knock it out of the park.

(Editor’s note: Justin Bieber will not be appearing in THE THREAT OF SEX.)

But even those of you without a cool $1,000 to risk can make a 5 dollar bet on making this movie!  The payoff?  We’re going to invite you to set during production and actually put you in the movie.

Talk about getting the most bang for your buck!  (Oh, did we mention there will be a fire fight in the film? That’s right, ours is a romantic comedy set to gunfire. We’ve got action, adventure, squibs exploding, wild cats-a-pouncing, and just enough flash and bang to blow the roof off the final climactic crowd scene before the crashing crescendo.)

But even better than all this, our high-concept film with cops, robbers, and one really large feline will look like it cost millions — because our cast and crew know that if they can pull this off, they might make millions.

Once production wraps, those involved in funding us will either own equity in the film (for the $1,000 investors), or a ticket to the world premiere of a movie that couldn’t have been made without you.  Some of you will even have cameos, or roles in the movie.

Imagine being a part of movie making history!

But don’t imagine we can do it without you!

Buy your $5 ticket now, or if you want to risk more, skip a month of investing in your 401k and diversify your portfolio with a little intellectual property!

You’ll have made a movie about equality, bank robbery, and the perils of workplace dating, and you might even end up collecting residuals with us during your golden years. 

Some investments are about more than money. Some investments are about leaving the world a legacy more meaningful than money.

Whether it’s $5 or $1,000, whether you’re on screen or supporting us in the wings, take a chance at making something that might outlast us all.

Be a mogul.

Make this movie.

~ One Bird Mocking