Free One-Page Film Business Plan Template
The Content Model Canvas (the Canvas) is the one-page business plan for your film, series or game. Download it as a free PDF template, print it and fill in its nine blocks, from what your film offers to where the money comes from.
No email, no sign-up. One landscape page for A4 or US Letter.
What a One-Page Film Business Plan Holds
Whether you are writing an independent film business plan or a documentary business plan, the same nine blocks hold the essentials: why the film matters, who it is for, how it reaches them, what it takes to make and how the money adds up.
Value Propositions
What your film gives its audience and its clients: the story, the feeling and the reason to see it now.
Audience / Client
The viewers you make the film for, and the clients who pay for it: distributors, platforms or broadcasters.
Channels
How the film reaches its viewers and its clients: festivals, cinemas, platforms, broadcast or community screenings.
Customer Relationships
How you find your audience and your clients, and keep them close, from the first teaser to the last screening.
Key Activities
What has to happen to get the film made and seen: development, financing, the shoot, post-production and release.
Key Partners
Who you need on board: co-producers, funds, sales agents, distributors and anyone else who shares the risk.
Key Resources
What the film depends on: the script and its rights, the team, the cast, the locations and the equipment.
Cost Structure
Where the money goes, from development and the shoot to post-production, festivals and marketing.
Revenue Streams
Where the money comes from: grants, investors, pre-sales, then sales and licenses after release.
Download the Free Template
One landscape page with the nine blocks of the Canvas, each with its title and a one-line prompt to get you started. Print it, pin it to the wall and fill it in by hand, alone or with your team.
- Free, with no email and no sign-up
- One landscape page for A4 or US Letter
- A one-line prompt in each of the nine blocks
A Filled Example
To show the level of detail that fits in each block, we filled in the Canvas for an independent drama we made up. Read it as a guide to the kind of answers that work, then write your own.
Hollin Sound
Independent drama feature (fictional)
The captain of a small island ferry has one last summer of crossings before a new bridge opens. When her estranged grandson comes back to work on deck, the final season becomes their chance to make peace.
Value Propositions
- A warm, bittersweet drama about letting go
- A rare lead role for an older actress
- Real crossings filmed at sea: the ferry is a character
- A world coastal towns will recognize as their own
Audience / Client
- Viewers: fans of quiet, character-driven drama
- Viewers: island and coastal communities
- Viewers: families, across generations
- Clients: a sales agent, arthouse distributors, a regional broadcaster
Channels
- Premiere at an international festival
- Festival circuit, then a sales agent abroad
- Limited arthouse release, then TV and streaming
- Community screenings in harbor towns
Customer Relationships
- A production diary shared from the island
- A mailing list from the first teaser on
- Q&As with the cast and the real ferry crew
- Screenings hosted with local associations
Key Activities
- Polish the script with a script editor
- Attach the lead actress, then close the financing
- Shoot on the island during the summer timetable
- Edit, mix and run the festival campaign
Key Partners
- A co-producer with festival experience
- The regional film fund
- The ferry operator: boats, access and safety
- A sales agent, then distributors abroad
Key Resources
- The screenplay and its rights
- The director's short, shot on the same coast
- The lead actress's commitment
- Access to the ferry, the harbor and the islanders
Cost Structure
- Script development and editing
- Cast and crew for the summer shoot
- Filming at sea: boat hire, safety crew, insurance
- Post-production, music and deliverables
- Festival campaign and marketing
Revenue Streams
- Regional film fund and public grants
- Tax incentives where the film shoots
- Equity from private investors
- Pre-sales and minimum guarantees through the sales agent
- TV and streaming licenses after release
Adapted from The Business Model Canvas (opens in a new tab) by Strategyzer AG (strategyzer.com (opens in a new tab)), licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab).
From Template to Plan
The template shows where each answer goes. Finding answers that hold up is the real work, and the Content Model Canvas tutorial takes you through it:
- The nine blocks in order, each with questions to ask yourself and practical tips
- Your own canvas, saved section by section and ready to download as a PDF
- A map of the Canvas that shows how the blocks connect
- Bonus files, including a blank Canvas (PPTX) to fill in on screen and the tutorial (PDF)
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The PDF downloads straight from this page, with no email, no account and no payment. Print as many copies as you need, for yourself or your team.
One page is enough for the strategy: what the film offers, who it is for, how it reaches them and how the money works. The budget, the finance plan and the schedule come next, in their own documents, and the Canvas helps you keep them consistent.
Yes. The nine blocks stay the same, only the answers change. In a documentary business plan, access to your subjects can be a key resource, and foundations or impact partners can appear among your partners and your revenue streams. For a series, fill it in for the show as a whole.
Yes, one film at a time. Fill in a Canvas for each project on your slate: side by side, they show which partners, channels and resources your projects share.
Yes. The template is a landscape A4 page with margins wide enough to print on a US Letter page without losing anything.