Howdy Storytellers 🤠,
Creatorwood is officially in beta and we’re gearing up for a full public launch soon [we have a virtual summit we are running the weekend we launch. You can grab your free ticket here].
Many of you have asked: how much will it cost to make a movie or show on Creatorwood?
Well today, I want to unveal to you 2 things:
The brand new Movie Machine Pricing Calculator – so you can have an accurate estimate of how much it will cost you to bring your specific story to life
Strategies for producing your film that reduce your out-of-pocket risk by accessing unique funding sources + managing your cash flow smartly.
The Movie Machine Pricing Calculator
First, you can use the Movie Machine Pricing Calculator HERE.
A screenshot of the Movie Machine Pricing Calculator
How it works is simple:
Just enter in details about your movie or TV show (estimated length and # of episodes)
Let us know if your film is light or heavy on dialogue
Enter in how much you plan on regenerating shots (this costs extra… think of it like retakes). Note: If you aren’t sure we recommend going with the default option.
And that’s it! You can produce a full length film for 1,000x cheaper than Hollywood does traditionally (what use to cost millions now cost thousands). Or in other words, for about the same price it costs to hire a narrator for an audiobook or developmental editor for your story… with Creatorwood you can make a movie.
Is Making a Movie or Show Worth the Cost for You?
We have been working tirelessly for months to bring the Movie Machine to life – a technology that turns your uploaded story into a movie or show using AI while giving you full control throughout the process.
It makes it radically faster and cheaper to produce incredible films… without needing any in-depth filmmaking knowledge (it’s built by storytellers FOR storytellers).
With that said, we still understand that using the Movie Machine has an expense (typically a couple thousand dollars for a full-length film… our pricing calculator is HERE).
We have tons of fixed costs to run the Movie Machine (server costs, compute costs, AI model fees, etc.).
Despite the Movie Machine radically lowering the barrier to entry for folks to make movies and shows, we recognize the barrier to entry is not zero.
The potential to make your money back and grow a great income selling films directly to viewers on Creatorwood’s Streaming Platform exists (you get 100% of the rights, all of your customer’s emails, and 80% of the revenue).
However, please do not spend any money on the Movie Machine you can’t afford to lose.
I extremely badly want you all to make movies (I’m the CEO of the platform after all, so I may be a bit biased 😂). But I also want your families to be fed and for you to keep your roofs over your head.
Even if making a movie or show right now is out of your budget, that doesn’t mean it won’t be in the future. Likewise, we can also get creative about how we release and fund our films to bring our stories to life with WAY less money out of pocket.
Let me show you how…
Creatively Fund Your Film with Little Cash Out of Pocket
Option 1: Don’t Start With a Full Film
For those who have already taken the FREE Creatorwood Bootcamp, you’ll already know a bit about the Pilot Process [if you haven’t done the Bootcamp yet, you should! You can take it for free on YouTube here].
You can launch a pilot episode for just a few hundred dollars.
You don’t need to shell out thousands up front. Start small:
Make a pilot episode
Release it on Creatorwood or social platforms
See if viewers are interested and then… produce more episodes over time as you recoup your investment in previous episodes.
This works because there is no upfront commitments on Creatorwood. You only pay as you generate shots and scenes, which means you can earn back your budget as you go and reinvest in future episodes.
If you want to learn more about how to start and scale a film business on Creatorwood – check out this free book I wrote HERE.
Option 2: Use Kickstarter to Fund Your Film
This is the path I want to highlight in-depth today (as it’s new to many of you!).
Kickstarter is built for projects like yours: creative, ambitious, and community-driven. I even ran one myself for the Author Marketing Superpowers Deck, which funded a deck of 50 cards that help storytellers market their work. (You can actually grab the free digital deck [here].)
Now imagine doing the same with your film.
Step 1: Estimate Your Costs
You can use the Movie Machine Pricing Calculator that shows you cost estimates for your project. Click HERE to use it and figure out your budget.
Step 2: Build Reward Tiers
Let’s say your pilot costs ~$3,000. You set your Kickstarter goal slightly higher (around $3,500 to cover fees). Now you design reward tiers:
$10: Digital access to the movie
$25–$50: Invite to a virtual launch party + behind-the-scenes access
$100: Merch tied to your story (easy with print-on-demand tools like Printful)
Bonus content tiers: Deleted scenes, bloopers, or rough cuts only backers see
If you’re also an author, you can bundle in your books or audiobooks as rewards too.
Step 3: Build Your Campaign Page
Your page should include:
Logline + genre positioning (who it’s for + why it’s unique)
Your story: why this film matters to you
Visuals: early character art, generated storyboards, teaser trailers (all easy to make in Creatorwood for ~$100)
Step 4: Pre-Launch
Before going live, build a pre-launch page and drive followers to it. Share it on social, email your list, and invite friends. Aim for at least 100 followers before launch (since ~30% typically convert).
Step 5: Launch + Promote
Most campaigns follow this curve:
â…“ of backers in the first 48 hours
â…“ in the last 72 hours
â…“ sprinkled in the middle
So: post often, especially at the start and end. You’ll feel like you’re repeating yourself, but trust me, every post brings in new backers.
Final Thought
Kickstarter is one of the best ways to turn your script into a funded pilot or series without draining your wallet.
If you want to learn more about how to succeed in funding your film on Kickstarter, I recorded a podcast episode with Jyanfer Yanez who helped lead a $70,000 fundraising campaign for one of her husband’s science fiction books. Watch HERE.
And remember: Creatorwood is still in beta. If you want to grab a spot in the next wave of invites (public launch is end of September), sign up HERE.
If you have any questions about the Movie Machine Pricing Calculator or anything else, feel free to let me know!
Let’s make some movies together.
Your Story Deserves to Be Seen,
Michael and the Creatorwood Team
