Lights, Camera, Sales: Tips From The Film Industry With Joanne Butcher | OM012

Hey world changers. Welcome back. So good to see you and have you here on another awesome episode for at the edge and the sales team ready podcast. And, you know, we're always focusing here on sales and scaling, making sure that you understand all the time. But one of my favorite quotes, which is actually in this episode, nothing happens until a sale is made. And that's in your world, too. And it's funny because it's in every area of life, and it's in every business industry. And we're we're talking today about filmmaking, with our amazing guest who has been a client in our world for a long time. And somebody who is sold out to making sure that your story is being told in the world, to as many people as possible and as effectively as possible. And she is, she focuses on helping films, documentary filmmakers get funded and distributed because without it, you're not a filmmaker, you're just a hobbyist. Right? If you're not a film, Alyssa is fundable and distributable. And that's what she specializes in. So I think you're gonna learn a lot about who she is about how how she shows up, how are the ways that she shares her messaging with people and inspiring people to become more, you're going to see a lot of familiarities in how we inspire you the same way and do all that we can to make sure that you are being financially responsible and doing everything you can to raise money to generate funds to be able to grow your mission, your vision and your purpose. So Joanne Butcher, who I'm bringing to you now, somebody who's very near and dear to our hearts, you've been in our world for a very long time, someone we care about greatly. And I'm very proud of for all the work she has done. Her current clients have 108 feature films and various stages of development from script to distribution. In the document, documentary and in fiction, with 16 features and a series in distribution. Her specialty is helping filmmakers raise the funds and get her projects made and distributed. globally. She is in the know she's connected. She knows what's going on. She is the person that you want to hear. Plus you love her accent, and enter stories. And I present to you now Joanne butcher, the filmmaker Success Academy, this is her jam, don't make her success. And she's got a lot of resources and information for you. Please take advantage of it and let me know your thoughts. And then please be sure to rate review and subscribe. Let me know what else you want to hear from in these podcasts. How can we help you get really clear about sales and getting really connected in the game of scaling so that you can bring more of you to more people for less and make more? We'll talk to you soon. All right, welcome back, sales team ready people, all you world changers and amazing people. You just heard the formal and official introduction of Joanne per the bio. But now here she is in the flesh. And so Joanne, why don't you tell them briefly? What you know, what's your version of this? How did you get to be here? Why are you in this conversation? Where are you relevant?

Well, I had worked with filmmakers, I ran a cinema, I ran a film school. And over time, I felt as though I needed to put that behind me. And I left that world and went into capital campaign, which is typically the type of fundraising where you build buildings. So I became a fundraiser I specialized in capital campaigns, I raised millions of dollars. And part of my story is that I became very ill. And I became too sick to work. And over the years that I was ill, and I would lie in bed, and I would sort of, you know, I would talk to God. And I would say, you know, God, I'm sure that there's a lesson in this. And you know, if you want to just tell me what the lesson is, I'm ready. I'll do whatever that is, you know, just tell me what to do. And I'll do it, you know. And over those seven years, there were two or three times when I actually got an answer from God. And God said He was supposed to be working with filmmakers. And I literally said, Oh, not that, no, I can't do that. I've done that before. And it didn't work out. And I can't do that. And I truly believe this. Now, when I look back on it, I truly believe that I was told what to do. And I was too scared to do it. And I was sure that I couldn't support myself and all that. But eventually, I decided that I I could do it. And I did that with the help of my business coaches, my first business coaches whom you introduced me to, and I started to do the work that I believe I was put on the planet to do, and I help filmmakers with all of the business side of filmmaking. which they are 100% convinced that they cannot do. Turns out they actually do it very well. But I work with filmmakers, I help them raise money, I help them with distribution, I help them earn money from their talent and creativity. And I really needed support to help me believe that I could actually do that and actually earn a living doing.

Well. Yeah, that's that's always an interesting thing, right? We go to God with our desperation. And then he gives us something and we say, oh, yeah, anything with that? He's like, Yeah, that's not how this works, lady. Yeah, I think we've all got our own version of that experience.

Yeah, interesting. And so basically, when I work with my clients, they're often stopped in a certain way, they're stuck, like I was stuck, you know, they, they have this vision, and they have this goal, and they have this desire to do what they are truly inspired to do. But they're stuck. And they often don't believe that they can do it, or they've been told that they can't do it. And probably, you know, my client, most of my clients, I don't get the people who are very ego driven and want to be in Hollywood and want to be rich, I get people who have a problem believing in themselves. And so I help them believe in themselves through money. So they get to be successful by realizing, oh, I can raise money, oh, I can actually get a film made, oh, I can get a film and distribution. And that is what gets them going. So in a way, I'm similar to my clients, or I was in the past, similar to where my clients are now.

Yeah, age old age old thought process around now that we all are we're all trying to heal ourselves by healing the people who are like us. It's, we've been there. And so now we help them be there. So let's tighten this piece up. Because, you know, Joanne is somebody who, you know, she her emphasis is, you know, there's a lot of people who are playing in the film world. And she's comes along and says, No, if you don't have a fun, that's a movie, that's fundable. And distributable, you don't have a film, you've got a you've got a hobby, you got a toy, you got something you're messing with, right. And that's something that she's, you know, been very confident about, and landed on, you know, in our world, in over the last couple of years. So it's been awesome to see put put up, put those kinds of results up. And so let's, let's talk about where you were before, you know, before you came into the game, the age world with Jim and Cindy, that you've obviously been on this mission? And, you know, but how, what was the consistency? Like, where are we? What kind of results we're getting?

Well, I actually, I would ask you to go back a little further, because many years ago, you and I had a conversation, and it was at somebody else's event. And you said to me, when you are you working on closing sales with your clients? Do you know that you can consistently close sales? And I said absolutely not? Absolutely not. And so, before I started working with you, my goal had been too close $10,000 in sales a month. And part of part of it was to do with my illness and sort of being a bit slow in the process. But I had eventually, you know, had my first 10k month and then starts out more regular 10k months. So then I came into working with you in a program. I haven't been wanting to work with you for a long time. And I came into starting working in a program with you. And that week, oh, that week, we had a call Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I couldn't make any of them because I already had my schedule set, you know, and then something I was able to change. So I got to good call on Wednesday. And I think that day I closed the sale. And then I closed the sale that week, and I ended up having my best week ever. And then that month ended up turning into my best month ever, which at that time it was $24,000 I raised.

You know, I mean, Joanne came to it. And she was she was concerned about how do I get to 10k months, consistently. And in the first week that she was rolling she had a $12,000 week which became a top $24,000 month, which then was followed up by a $16,000 month and then a 20,000 Another month, and just all of a sudden, we say let's start moving the needle here and started having $20,000 targeted goals. But my object my goal mission was the 10,000 instead of being the goal, that was the floor, that was your must have every month. And so that's where it started. And what how was that transformation for you? What was that, like on

That month? That $24,000 month, which was not something I had ever imagined before? You know? And you said, well, let's, let's have you start having your baby $20,000 months? And I was like, Oh, okay. No, and I feel as though often when I'm working with you, I'm like, okay, okay. But really, I don't get it. You know, it doesn't sort of sink in, you know, and I think it took several months for it, just to get in, the way it sank in for me was I said, Wait a minute, what if I have $20,000 months, then I have a $240,000 a year business? You know, and that was when it sank in? And I was like, oh, no, that's the kind of business that I want to have. And I still haven't made $250,000. But it, it just said to me, Oh, wait, this, that's, that's really what what I what I want to do. And so having that as my goal has been really, really amazing. And I, I have in the past, I had a month where I closed $90,000 in sales in one month. And that was really amazing. So it shows. So again, if I could if I could do math, you know, that's a million dollar business, you know, $90,000 a month isn't an entire business. So I'm you know, then I've had a very, very, very disrupted year. And I had a lot of things happen that were very, very difficult. And one day, I was talking to one of your coaches who didn't know about everything, but it happened. And he said to me, Well, you know, it's really a miracle that you still have a business. And I've told this story to a couple of people, and they don't like it. They don't like somebody said that to me. But I really appreciated that. Because I hadn't seen it that way I hadn't seen the fact that I was still going the fact that I was still moving forward, the fact that I still had a really good business going, that that given all the disruption and literal trauma that happened in the last year, year and a half, that the an alternative could have been that I didn't have a business. But I was working with you, I had constant support constant support constantly, you know, getting back on on track, even when I kept being buffeted around by by life. Yeah. Yeah,

That's interesting. You know, because I remember all of that, you know, the circumstance. And, you know, it's, it would have been great if there was just awesome momentum that kept going and you building and then you're doing 250, and then you're doing $90,000 months, and all of this. And that would have been desirable for all of us for you. And, but often we look at the we just look at sometimes like the bank account, or what's the end result. And we don't realize that if I wasn't making the efforts to get where I was, then, like Jason said, If you could have been out of business, and so even though you didn't get the outcomes that you want, the true miracle in this was that because you were still in the game, in the conversation, still moving, still overcoming all of those obstacles, you were still in business, and you were still pulling in clients, you weren't having the kind of months that you would have liked. But because you were in action towards achieving the goals, and have the right support structure that you were able to at least stay positive moving forward. And like you said, overcoming all of these different challenges that were coming your way. And we often forget that we often we think, Oh, I didn't make the goal, therefore it didn't work. It's like, Oh, not at all, like, man, just just think where you would have been if you didn't have all that support, and no

And to what you said before about having the 10k floor now. They have in the last 18 months, they have maybe in one or two months that I didn't make that 10k And I'm not sure that that's even true. I'm not sure that that's even true. I've been maybe not 10 gay in new sales. I don't think I've really probably had a month where I didn't have you know, 10k come in at all. And then, you know, very recently I was going through this very, very difficult dry spell. And you know, two weeks ago I had COVID I had surgery and you know all kinds of things were going on. And I had this very difficult dry spell and very interesting Same thing happened a few weeks ago. So, since I started working with you, I've been teaching a class once a month. And then every quarter, I have a two day class. So it was coming up. It was the week of my two day class. And I noticed that I only had two people signed up. So I had my my staff meeting. And I said, you know, I'm gonna cancel if I don't have 10 people in my class, but I kept hearing your head, and I was like, this doesn't sound right. But anyway, I tell us what I told them. I said, I'm not doing it if I have less than 10 people. And all hands on deck, all hands on deck? He said, Yes, yes, yes. So it came to the Thursday that I was teaching the class, I think I had 13 people in the class. And I gave him the students long dry spell very few clients, very new few new clients very little money. And at the end of that two day class, which I did not cancel, and if I had cancelled, that would have been a first because I don't do that, you know, but that but I was, that's what I was saying. At the end of that two day class, I told my assistant, you know, I said, Can you cut me five or 10 minutes from the end of that class, because that is the person I am. And that is the person I want to be. I mean, I was filled with enthusiasm. And I've been talking about this a lot recently, many years ago, somebody told me and enthusiasm comes from the Greek. It has sales in the middle. So it has God in the middle of the word. So enthusiasm means to be filled with God. And the person that I saw, on my own zoom was an enthusiastic, filled with God person. And I told her, I said, I want to have that five or 10 minutes, because I don't care how much money I have or don't have in the bank. That's who I am. That's who I want to be. And what happened was, we when I look to see what my other people, other contractors had done with the, when I had requested all hands on deck, they hadn't done anything. And I let them go. And so it was partly that I was low on cash. Partly, it was because I just it wasn't the right energy. So I now have one assistant and one intern. And since that moment, I have closed every single sales call, except for one. And I have a follow up with her. And I'm pretty cool. She's gonna say close. It's some. So it's something like six, six clients out of seven calls. That's not my close. Say that is not my close rate. And and then another thing is, all my clients, the majority of my clients are making their first feature film, possibly the second, possibly the third. And I have one client who is way past that way beyond that, we've raised a couple of million dollars over the last few years, we just put in a grant for three and a half million dollars for a film. He's very, very advanced. He's well known in the field, but But I met him socially, I didn't meet him through my marketing, my marketing speaks really to more people who are getting started. But I've always wanted another client like him. And out of that class that I nearly cancelled. I have a client who is even more advanced than him. And she's making a very important film right now. It's about this fabulous kind of hippie chick, woman in her 60s, your purple hair and little glasses, and she's a public defender. And she's very left wing, and she's defending January 6, rioters. And so the film is about these conversations between these people who apparently have nothing in common and yet, are working together very, very closely. And I just, I just am very, very interested in that kind of thing anyway, but that's the film She's working on. So, um, yeah, out of the class that I almost canceled, I got my super ideal client.

Right. And, you know, it's been such a, it's been a great journey to be able to be alongside you in these last, you know, several years watching this whole process go and, and just being able to be there to, to, to cheer you on and encourage you and challenge you and all of that. And, you know, just you just described a piece that, you know, everybody the MHL takeaway from this is, you know, you recognize in yourself that there was a higher level there was a there was a higher version of Joanne didn't You need to show up. And, you know, in our world, it comes through the mechanism of sales, it's like you when you know, if you're, you can't actually change the life of the people that you're serving, if they don't buy from you, right, so you have to be able to convert them. And you, we convert them by being the highest best version of ourselves that they can see themselves in, they see either somebody they want to be or somebody that they want to be part of. And so it draws them in. And that's, you know, all of a sudden, you know, you're you're attracting people who previously you felt were beneath you were beneath them, like you weren't worthy of, of their trust and support. And, but you know, that to be not true, and you're living a different different life now. And so what other opportunities are coming up? And and what's, what's the end game for you on this? I mean, how, how do you see the impact that you're making with all of these other people that you get to hold as a as a banner of, you know, a merit badge of sorts, right? You say, Look at what I helped create? Yes.

Well, the thing that's so significant for filmmakers, is that they have international distribution. And I, I also am going through a process of sort of trying to create a larger vision for myself, for my business and for myself, and I wrote some things down. And last week, I had a conversation with an investor in the Caribbean, the investing in film, and I put together a meeting with one of my clients who's Puerto Rican, and I think it's all going to work out. And if this, if that works out, it'll be the first film this investor has invested in, I just got out of the blue, an email from one of my former clients, inviting me to start teaching at a university, that's one of my goals is to be teaching what I teach at film schools, because they don't teach raising money in film school, and they need to, but you know, they don't know that. And so that was a big deal. And then, you know, getting this, this very, very advanced client, who I know that that I can help was, was great. So there are other things that I am working on. And it's always, you know, how can I improve the possibilities for my clients, you know, and so if I, I just did a big thing, connecting them with a casting agent, just did a big thing with with connecting all my Caribbean clients to this investor, I just did something where I put together a sales agent with an international sales agent, and, you know, so it feels as though my investing my time in visioning, which you always told me to do. is really paying off. It's really,

Right. Yeah, well, you're doing so much. I mean, you have such a such an ability to impact the world. I mean, films alone are such a big mechanism for moving people. Right. And that's how we move humanity. And you have the ability to get more people seen, because you have distribution channels, and fungibility without those two, those films don't get seen. Right. So you're playing a massively instrumental part in this world that you should be very, very proud of. And, you know, and I know, you were that humbly, and, you know, but but, you know, stand tall on that tape, because you are, you know, without without you, they don't get it, they don't get it doesn't get funded doesn't get distributed.

And to me, you know, storytelling is a life and death issue. As far as I'm concerned, you know, being able to tell our stories, is something to do with health. And, you know, so I have clients making important movies, but I have clients making horror films, you know, I was reading the script of one of my latest clients, and I was, I was laughing the, the funny things in the beginning, everybody's gonna die by the end, but, you know, those stories are great, too. And, but without the pieces about of the business without as you're just saying, the distribution without being able to find the money. filmmakers are stuck. And then what happens is, you end up with a situation which has been, you know, the case for forever, which is where the only people get to make films of people who have rich parents. And that's, that's not really that's not getting to tell all the stories, right, you know, any means. So, there are many, many, many stories to be told. And so, when when I can live people, you know, when I was very young, my father, my sister and I went swimming and Trinidad in the it can be very dangerous and we knit all nearly died. We all nearly drowned. My father tried to push me on a wave wave, and I and I went down and he tried to push me again. And I went down. And he turned, and he got my sister, my younger sister and pushed her on a wave. And she went in. And he came back for me, the third time pushed me on a wave, and I went, and I went, and we were all saved, but we could all have died. And I feel sometimes as though that's what I do as a coach, I give my clients and push on to the wave. And that wave will carry them where they where they want to go. But everybody needs a push.

That's a great visual. You've never shared that. I've never heard that from you before. That's, that's cool. And that is it's easy to grab, right? Because you need that pusher, don't you? You know, if you're, if you're a filmmaker, if you have if you're How do you define a filmmaker? Is it somebody who's got a film inside of them? Or is it somebody who is designing to bring it out of them.

I work with people who've never made a film never been on a set don't know the first thing and one of my clients is the director of a film school. So the the but But what I'm doing is I'm shifting their attention over to the money. So let's raise the money, let's not be so concerned with my film good enough, is my script good enough, which is where they're all obsessed, you know, let's shift the focus over to money, let's raise the money and let's make a movie. And then with the people who who don't have experience, we hire the professionals, we hire the experience. And with the people who have a lot of experience, they don't need so much that help from me. But even they do, because often, they're not setting their sights as high as I want them to set their sights. So they'll often say to me, oh, you know, I've been working for years with my best friend, and he's the DP, and we've made all these shorts together. And that may not be the right person to get to the level where you're operating in a professional industry that has very high, a very high bar of excellence. So I do help, even with my most experienced clients, there are there are things that I'm teaching them, which is basically a methodology to take this much money and get this much on the screen. You know, and they don't necessarily know all of those parts of the methodology. And, and film is also very, very relationship based. So I'm helping them increase the connections in their community and increase an upper level of their professional relationships as well.

Yeah, you mentioned something a minute ago to that, you know, I think I want to highlight because I think a lot not enough people think about this, is we get caught up wanting to work with the same people for a long time. And because we have relationships, and we have gratitude, and it makes sense. But it's, there's also a reality that certain people are only designed to get you so far. They're only designed to get you on a certain part of the journey. And then it's somebody else's turn to help take to the next level of the journey is very few people that can go with you through multiple stages of your growth journey. And so it's never a bad thing to be able to say, hey, you know what, I'm ready to take on something else now. And because you, you know, you have the ability to take people from where they are to where to the where they want to go, maybe when they want to do a billion dollar movie hit, maybe they can't go they graduate from you know, or to the next thing because you now can connect them to the next person, that leg leg of the journey. But you're you're instrumental in helping them see that what they have, is worth putting some value in, because there's a lot of people waiting to see it and get the value from it that they need.

Yeah, and they're usually filmmakers are so focused on the creative. And I always say the creative is like, Oh, we're back to the ocean, I'm back to the drowning in the ocean again, but I always say it's like an ocean. And they're just drowning in this creativity. And it's not until they have the, the the more masculine side of you know, business sales, deadlines, all of the contracts, you know, all of these exciting things that they would rather not think about. But that's what's going to actually have that creativity become manifest in the world. And, and that they usually stuck over here, and I'm helping them navigate this side that's foreign to them.

That's great. So what would what would Jesus say, you know, we got a lot of entrepreneurs who listen to the show, I don't know if they're, you know, what percentage of them are filmmakers or budding filmmakers? But there's also a lot of people that can contribute to a film without being an artist or being an actor or anything like that. What would you say? To encourage people listening that to be able to support the film industry or take advantage of that dream that they've got? Well,

I think it's, that's great. You know, a lot of times when my clients are looking for donors, they, they find people who enjoy learning the process, seeing seeing somebody go through the process of making a film, that's really fun for people. So there's that side, for people who want to learn about investing in film. That's where my clients really shine, because they can really show investors how to get involved in film. And there are people who will invest in a film and that that will lead them to a career producing films. And then the other thing that I would say, for all entrepreneurs is that that whatever the message is that you want to get out there, there is no better way then using film to get that message out. So for example, I have a client now and she is making a making a film about she she teaches entrepreneurial entrepreneurialism in high schools, and that will, she's going to take those learnings and teach them to businesses, and she's focusing on black businesses. So she's getting that message out through film. And so for entrepreneurs, I always say, you know, really think about the possibility of making a film to get your message out there.

So yes, take action, you know, pursue it and see what it's like, because there's a way for you to be purposeful. One of Joanne's other clients has worked with us as well, for you know, him in our world for a while, and he creates films that change lives and change the world. And he's, what we're constantly focusing on him to share is the ability for people to contribute and be part of something bigger, because I'm not going to make a film necessarily, actually, I'm not sure we will. But we're working on what, but for the most part, I'm not a film creator about a producer of the greatest way for me to be able to be part of a movement or a cause is to contribute to one. And so I have more ability to do that than I do to make a film. And then it gives me the Pete the opportunity to be part of a legacy because your film is changing the world and it is going to live on. And if I contributed to that film in some way, by donating some funds or resources or something, then now I get to say look at what I contributed to look what I was a part of. And so it just it gives you that just gives you a great way to be connected to impact and legacy in ways you hadn't thought of

Impact is huge. And I have. I've cried through so many different things. I have several clients making faith based credit films, pristine films. I have clients making social issue films, as I have clients making horror films, reelers, romance, whatever. You know, and so there's always something that people are going to get excited about when it comes to films. And yeah, we would welcome anybody, everybody's support. And it's super fun to get involved in the film world.

Yes, and we have a lot of resources. There's all Joanne's contact information in the show notes. So please reach out to her and find out do you have any resources to share that would be that would help somebody determine how good they are? Are they ready to to contribute to a film or take one on? Do you have anything for them to take?

I do I hope I should with the link with you. If not, I will afterwards. But so I have a gift that I give away that really goes through the seven step process that I use as my methodology to take somebody from concept to distribution. And it's a lot of business. It's a lot of money stuff. And so I'd love to share that with people, especially people who, who would never in a million years think about making a film. Because everybody has their has their favorite causes. And there are films out there that they can either make themselves or support other people making. So yeah, I would love to share that with everybody.

Excellent. So that'll be in the show notes as well. So make sure that you guys are taking advantage of that. And, uh, what I want to make sure everybody walks away with here and understands is nothing in the world happens until somebody makes a sale. And that's same thing in the film industry. It's like you got to sell somebody on the idea on wanting to do it on moving forward on do it on investing in quality enough work that will actually get funded and distributed. The film itself is a sale. A message is coming to you through the screen saying believe in what I'm sharing, buy into this movement, buy into this opportunity or be scared, whatever it is they're trying to sell. It's all a sales job, that's you nothing's going to happen in your life or anybody else's, until a sale is made. And so you want to make sure that you're getting that kind of support. So that you're always focusing on taking the responsibility to know how to set up a conversion, how to move people to a place of wanting and needing something, and then being able to take action on it. Joanne has done a great job of that for a long time. She's she's become a quite a pro in that area. And this is what we do all day long around here. So if you have if you have any questions around that, please reach out, there's resources in there that you can reach out, let us know what's going on. So Joanne, any last thoughts words for the sales team? Ready audience?

Yes, I Well, I want to thank you, Jim, you have been such an amazing mentor for me. And I would really invite anybody to listen to more work with you. But one of the things I would say about being an entrepreneur is that the dips, you know, I really think that we need support through those through those hard times. And so I have very deliberately put myself in position to make sure I'm getting support, because those valleys are going to happen. And I think that when I came through this one, I think the first moment that I started to come out of it was when I said oh, wait a minute, I've been through this before. I've been through places before where I was struggling to close sales. And I couldn't tell you exactly what I did then this time, but I know what happened before. I know I made it through before, but having having support to keep going because without that support, I would have given up years ago right? I wouldn't have got through this you know, three or four month dry spell that I had, you know, without support. So that's, that's what I recommend.