Posts Tagged ‘Film Finance’

  Movies that Matter, an initiative of Amnesty International, wants to open people’s eyes to human rights through film. Movies that Matter has a strong international focus, resulting in a growing number of international activities. It promotes human rights film screenings worldwide, offers advice and assistance and stimulates the exchange of knowledge and experience. It stresses the use of the power of film to promote the observance of human rights a social change. Apply for Funding Movies that Matter offers modest monetary assistance to initiate human rights film festivals and to help circulate and exhibit human rights films in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Advise, Assistance & Echange Do you want to organise a film festival or host a screening, but you don’t know where to start? Do you need more information on what films to choose for your project or how to clear the rights? If yes you can refer to Movies that Matter (www.moviesthatmatter.nl) Source-  http://www.moviesthatmatter.nl/mtm/site/internationaal.vm?gclid=CK3_7OGgnqcCFYEOfAodDz8udA

The UK Film Council is the Government-backed lead agency for film in the UK ensuring that the economic, cultural and educational aspects of film are effectively represented at home and abroad. Who they are and what they do The UK Film Council was created in 2000 and is the Government-backed lead agency for film delivery in the UK; Since its creation the UK Film Council has been the cornerstone of the British film industry and the funder of most of the big cultural film initiatives –  backed more than 900 films, shorts and features, entertained more than 200 million people and helped to generate approximately £700 million at the box-office worldwide.  For every £1 of Lottery money it has invested, £5 has been generated at the box office, allowing them to reinvest that recoupment straight back into new British films; Tim Bevan, co-founder and co-chairman of Working Title Films, is its Chairman, Tim Cagney is Managing Director; The UK Film Council currently employs 73 people across film development and production, inward investment, certification, co-production, film exports, statistics, distribution and exhibition, MEDIA Desk UK, industry relations, film partnerships across the UK, etc; Film Council funds and works with a number of different partners across the UK – including the regional and national screen agencies, the BFI, Skillset, First Light and FILMCLUB; Their goal is to help make the UK a global centre for ...

  Film Finances was founded in 1950 for the purpose of giving guarantees of completion to financiers of motion pictures. At the time, producers of motion pictures were finding it increasingly difficult to borrow money from banks because the producers could not show how budget overages, if any, could be met. The original founders of the company were film producers who had learned that mortgaging all they owned against potential budget overages was not a sound proposition. Film Finances was therefore formed to provide financiers with a service that gave them the assurance that the film would be delivered on time and that the over budget costs would not be the financier's responsibility. FFI has given completion guarantees to all the leading banks involved in the entertainment industry, as well as all the major studios and distributors of motion pictures. FFI has now guaranteed the completion and delivery of approximately 6,000 Feature Films, Television Series, Movies of the Week, Films on Tape, Documentaries and CD-ROM Productions shot in all parts of the world.   Production Evaluation As soon as an inquiry is made for them to issue a guarantee, they request the script, the shooting schedule and the budget.They prefer that all three documents have already been approved by the financiers and distributors of the picture. Documents are carefully examined to be sure on feasibility. When a positive decision is made, a "letter of intent" is issued by them confirming that they are prepared ...

As a new financiers to the movie industry, Hedge Funds are  attracted by the potential returns on diverse portfolios of movies especially from DVD sales. Given, Hollywood has a bad reputation for parting star-struck investors from their cash hedge fund managers will need to stay sharp and structure their investments carefully. Helen Avery reports. Film finance was often a high-risk/high-return investment proposition with a reputation for burning investors. Now, though, hedge fund managers are finding ways to mitigate risk and penetrate opaque film industry accounting practices Frank Yablans is the Warren Buffett of Hollywood. Former president of Paramount Pictures and former chairman of MGM, the 71-year-old has more than 300 films, including blockbusters such as The Godfather, Serpico, Paper Moon and Murder on the Orient Express. Back in the early 1970s when Paramount made the original version of The Longest Yard, Yablans remembers, third-party financing came from tax-shelter deals. Now Yablans is running his own film production and distribution company, Promenade Pictures. With investment advisory firm Bluebay Capital, Promenade is seeking finance from the most recent investor base to hit Tinseltown – hedge funds.This sophisticated investor base has invested an estimated $4 billion into Hollywood in the past three years in investment vehicles that, like Yablans’s operation, and are attempting to create a high-returning asset class with speculative investment in the film industry. In the past it has been a commonplace expectation that if you put money into Hollywood, you ...

When it comes to financing your feature film, Certainly you think about opportunities to make appealing movie to the audiences all over the world. Would you like to receive money to go towards your production budget, and have a guarantee that it will be shown to an audience? If so, then welcome to the world of film distributor advances and pre-sales. Presales are based on the script and cast selling the right to distribute a film in different territories before the film is produced. This is a primary means of film financing, especially when it comes to making bigger budget movies. Once the deal is made, the distributor will insist the producers of the film project deliver on certain elements of content and cast. You can receive a worldwide presale, domestic presale or foreign presale deal, but usually independent producers are most successful at attempting the presale of foreign rights. independent producers are most successful at attempting the presale of foreign rights. The amount given to filmmakers in the form of distribution advances varies depending on the selected actors, director and the specific film genre. As a general rule, producers can expect to raise 60% to 70% of their budget from foreign presales and 30% to 40% from domestic advances. If you live in America it can be a challenging task to secure domestic rights for a film project that is in development. Independent filmmakers usually have better success financing their films with a combination of equity ...

Filmproposals.com is very good spot for those serious about raising financing for their movie. It offers a wealth of tools, templates, information and resources, for both experienced and new and experienced movie producers. There are tools like film proposals and financial manuals, film financing excel template and business plan template. Film producers can find many investors through web site and learn how to communicate to maximize the film funding they raise. They also can showcase their film and get their own on the site. The site also provides tips for starting and making films.  The sit also provides free business plan opportunity. Producers also can get technical advises and assistance Source-  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aDMXKb0oqb34

Back in boom time (2004-2007), US$ 15bio was put into film finance by hedge funds, private equity barons and bankers. Practically everyone was left hurt with what followed: the biggest recession since The Great Depression of 1933. However, this has brought good things too. Hollywood mega-studios are now flexible in their terms towards investors. Instead of a 15% fee for distributing the film, they are ready to bargain for a 10% fee. Big stars have said goodbye to their blockbuster paychecks + share of film's profits and have started signing up for only share of film's profits. The number of movies released in 2010 will be one-third of 2007, even though box-office collections are still growing at 10% year on year. This makes the one-third movies being released a very attractive investment because they have lesser competition with a higher number of consumers. "Wall Streeters were not the first to get star-struck. Fund managers trying to lock-in management fees followed earlier generations of Germans seeking tax shelters and Japanese trying to extract profits by uniting movies with electronics. All the hype — along with a string of expensive duds, a steep downturn in DVD sales and skewed economics — mostly led to yet another expensive lesson for well-heeled Tinseltown interlopers." - Jeffrey Goldfarb, Reuters Source

Imagine investing in an alternative investment where you have a guaranteed rate of return of 35%-70%, before revenues.  Let’s also consider 100% Federal Tax Deductions of the same investment. Sound too good to be true? Well a Chicago film finance, production, and distribution company, Noci Pictures Entertainment, making films using an innovative hybrid tax, finance, risk minimization, and exit strategies that in some instances can offer a dollar for dollar Federal Tax Deductions, state income tax credits or rebates, a possible exit IPO on the London AIM., equity in a slate of films, as well as stimulating local economic development, and creating jobs, including for women and minorities. “I don’t know of any other alternative investment that can offer tax incentives, multiple exit strategies, as well as giving back to the local economy, while being involved with the moviemaking process", states Yuri Rutman, the head of Noci Pictures. “That would also increase long line of recent film funds that have been structured with numerous hedge funds, private equity investors, corporate tax credit buyers, and institutions". On the institutional side, familiar names such as CITIGROUP, Deutche Bank, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Capital Investors. Familiar individuals who are financing films include Larry Ellison, Paul Allen, the CEO of Federal Express, Norman Waitt, Philip Anschutz  and so on. The American Jobs Creation Act Of 2004, marked an unprecedented change in U.S. policy toward the phenomenon ...

"But a handful of hedge funds and other money managers flush with cash and eager to find investments that don't rise and fall with the broad stock, bond and currency markets, are plunging in. They see Hollywood as a $50 billion industry with the promise of double-digit returns for the right portfolios of movies. Armed with computer-driven investment simulations, some think they can pick movies with the right characteristics to make money." "Some long-time investors in the sector think the downpour of new cash won't last long.  "The question is not if the money will dry up, but when," says John Miller, a managing director at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. who has dealt with the entertainment sector for almost 40 years. Except in a handful of cases, Mr. Miller has stuck to lending Hollywood money, instead of taking what amounts to equity stakes in films." Source

In our effort to make FilmFundingSources.com a one-stop source for information on film finance, we present below one of the many professional outfits that connect filmmakers with investors. “At Green Light Film Funding we pride ourselves on honesty and our ability to structure unique funding solutions that are not available in the traditional lending arena. The Funding Options, like those of any other industry, have changed drastically within the last 12 months. However, with our combined 34 years of experience we know how to structure these difficult deals in today’s always changing environment.” “Whether your film has most or none of the funding required we can provide solutions that exist outside the traditional sources. Our investors realize the potential of funding films and that your film may be the next "Juno", "Garden State" or "Passion Of The Christ". “At Green Light Film Funding we EAT, SLEEP AND DRINK FILM FINANCING. Whether you are a film maker or potential investor we look forward to sharing your vision and working together with you and your team in the near future.” Source

Why Use a PPM? "If selling shares in your company, a PPM is the safest way to raise money. The PPM offers the best legal protection possible to reduce your risk of being successfully sued by investors in the case that the company goes under. The PPM discloses all of the risks (including the risks that you cannot find a distributor for the film and that it never achieves commercial success) associated with the project, making it difficult for investors to claim that they were not adequately warned." Other Sources of Financing "Government support, whether in the form of tax credits, loan support, or subsidies, can be a boon for filmmakers depending on their geographic location. The cost of filming may be further reduced by seeking service discounts or even bartering with vendors (for example, giving product placement in the film in exchange for needed equipment or supplies). Co-producing the film with another company can share the capital raising burden, perhaps reducing the need for external funding." Source