🚨 Disclaimer
All research on startup and the whole investment memo has been done for personal use of Akim Arhipov.
Filmustage. A brand-new service for filmmakers, video, game, VFX, and animation studios. Helping Filmmakers to release movies faster.
Launched in: January 2021
Company: Filmustage, Inc. (Delaware, USA)
Filmustage is a company providing software for film production management. The solution combines Artificial Intelligence script breakdown, semi-automatic scheduling, script summary reports, visual references, team access, draft budget estimation, and compatibility with industry standards and formats.
The core process of the pre-production is the script breakdown. Every word in the script must be translated into real-life detail on the set: location, wardrobe, sounds, props, etc. And only after that do you need to spend hours scrolling through numerous marketplaces and catalogs, creating shooting schedules, reports, budgets, and other project documents. To be able to work with your team you need a single interface film production software.
But what the industry has now:
- No single interface for film production
- Inefficient and disorganized methods of work
- High entry level into industry processes
- Software incompatibility
- Poor customer support
- Single interface film production ecosystem
- Highly automated and coherent practices
- Modern and hyper-personalized UX
- Compatible with the industry standards
Markets size
- TV, Video & Film TAM (GLOBAL): $100B
- Movie and Video Production TAM (USA): $79.3B
- Games TAM (USA): $90.13B
- Entertainment Insurance TAM (USA): $17B
- Rental Companies TAM (USA): $2.3B
There are 14,320 companies in the industry in the US only.
Also:
- VFX Studios
- TV Shows
- Animations Studios
Target audience
Filmustage started with the B2C model as the go-to strategy. Below you can see the target groups we are focusing on:
- 1st ADs
- Directors
- Producers
- Line producers
- Directors of Photography
- Screenwriters
- etc.
Our B2B model is intended for the following client types:
- Film studios
- VFX studios
- Animation studios
- Production companies
- Game dev companies
- Virtual production companies
- Props agencies
- Locations agencies
- Asset marketplaces
- Media holdings
- Co-Production companies
- Film commissions
- Screenwriter's services
- Entertainment insurance
- Rental companies
Key features
- Automatic Script Breakdown powered by Artificial Intelligence
- Script Summary & Analitycs
- Semi-automatic Shooting Scheduling
- Reference Reports and Integration with 3d and 2d assets
- Team Access & Collaboration
- Budget Estimation
General flow:
- Upload your script Create your project in two clicks and upload the script. Filmustage will automatically create the script breakdown with all the categories you need: Cast, Props, Locations, Makeup, etc.
- Customize your list You can easily find, add, change or remove any breakdown element and add new categories
- Breakdown summary export Get a clear big-picture overview of your entire project by exporting the results in Movie Magic Scheduling, Gorilla Scheduling, Spreadsheets, and PDF files
- Scheduling Specify each scene & shoot locations; estimate pre-production and shoot times. Use real tags on Google Maps to find the location you want to shoot. Drag and drop scenes of your strip to reorder.
Validations
B2C
Number of users: 3900+
All-time paying customers: 300+
Active users: 95+
ARR: $60,000+
Geography:
- US: 65%
- England: 12%
- Europe: 11%
- India: 3%
B2B
We started our B2B journey in February 2022. And this is our progress:
- Apple TV+: presented a demo. Possible price: starting at $1500/mo
- Crafty Apes: signed advisor agreement. They are doing about 100 projects a month (over 1200 a year). Possible price: starting at $5000/mo
- Bento Box: signed an NDA and started our collaboration. Possible price: starting at $2000/mo
- Happy Mushroom: used our breakdown solution for VFX post-production on the new Netflix show. Possible price: starting at $1500/mo
- Final Draft: signed an NDA and started our collaboration. Possible price: selling API, Exit
- Coverfly: signed an NDA and started our collaboration. Possible price: selling API, Exit
- Shutterstock: held a call with the Director of Shutterstock | TurboSquid. Trial integration launched. Possible price: selling API
A detailed and complete table with B2B can be found here.
And our client, Roger Cristian, legendary feature film director, set decorator, and production designer, validated our solution. He won an Academy Award for his work on the original Star Wars and was Oscar-nominated for his work on Alien.
Check the part with Roger Cristian.
CAC: ~$130 LTV: ~$320
- Presentations
- Referral program
- Film festivals. Check our Filmustage's European Film Market Event.
Further plans:
- Ambassadors & Agents program
- Industry events & exhibitions
2020-2021 (done)
- Scheduling
- Script reports
- Custom categories
Q3-Q4 2022
- Team Access
- Scene Breaks
- One Line Schedule
- Multi-Factor Authentication
Q1-Q3 2023
- Budget Estimation
- Script Revisions
- Production Calendar
Filmustage makes 100 scene script breakdown in just 1 minute (instead of days of manual work). There are no competitors with such functionality and features in the whole Galaxy, so we truly believe we've brought something new to the filmmaking industry.
Competitors:
- Movie Magic Scheduling Revenue '21 Q2: $194m
- Celtx Revenue '21 Q2: $18m
Indirect competitors:
Their functionality:
✅ Scheduling ✅ Manual script breakdown ❌ Automatic script breakdown ❌ Marketplaces and API integrations
- Egor Dubrovsky, CEO 10 years in Film Industry, 9 years in Web Development
- Ruslan Khamidullin, CTO 11 years in Software Development, 5 years in Neural Networks
- Andrei Karalkou, COO 11 years in Software Development & Automation
Full-time:
- Vitaliya Karalkova, Director of Marketing and Partnerships 6 years in affiliate marketing, business development, project management
- Yulia Gushchina, Head of Sales and Business Development 9 years in international business development and sales
- Ivan Zhurko, Head of Product 14 years in marketing, user research, business development, and product management
- Slava Haurylau, Server, Front End 11 years in Web & Server Development
Advisors:
- Chris LeDoux Founder and VFX Supervisor at CraftyApes LLC
- Byron Saltysiak ex-VP of Warner Brothers Media
- Vadim Rogovskiy 3X founder, 12X angel investor, Forbes contributor, mentor at 500 Startups
Investments so far
Stage: Seed
The number of investors: 6 investors until today, SAFE.*
- US angel ($50k, ex WhatsApp)
- US angel ($100k, ex Snap)
- Geek Ventures ($100k, US fund)
*Cap Table: In-depth document available upon the request
General Ask: ca. 400 000 €
- B2B sales, conferences, and festivals
References:
