HOW WE FINANCE OUR FILM PROJECTS
PRE SALES
Pre-Sales is a financial guarantee to the rights to a film, sold to various windows (theatrical, DVD, video-on-demand, pay per view etc) to distribution companies who then exploit theses rights into their markets such as USA, UK, Spain, France, Latin America etc. The payment is usually 50% upfront and the remainder once the film has been delivered to the distributor. These rights are usually handled through a sales agent.
GAP FINANCING
Gap financing is a short-term loan secured against the films unsold territories and rights to cover a gap for the finance of the film. The loan is usually covered by either a bank or a financial institute but will only amount to the value of the unsold rights; this will be valued by a reputable sales agent.
TAX CREDIT
The UK government provide financial assistance in the form of a Film Tax Reliefs to benefit British films. The Creative Industry Tax Reliefs (CITR) are a group of 5 Corporation Tax reliefs that allow qualifying companies to claim a larger deduction or in some circumstances claim a payable tax credit when calculating their taxable profits.The government tax reliefs available to UK film are Film Tax Relief (FTR).
PRIVATE EQUITY
Private funding can be in the form of direct loans, post-production companies, co-productions, and private investors.
SEIS/EIS
The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) offers great tax efficient benefits to investors in return for investment in small and early stage start-up businesses in the UK. Now the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme has become one of the most revered government-backed schemes ever created.
The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is a government-sponsored investment scheme, offering a range of tax relief benefits to investors who invest in smaller high-risk companies which are not listed on the stock exchange.
The following information has been sourced from the official HM Revenues and Customs website.
PRODUCT INTEGRATION
Brand integration is the process of building a brand into a film or TV show in a way that creates a direct interactive experience between the product and the characters.
Brand integration is not product placement (when a product is planted somewhere in a scene, usually the background).
Brand integration is as old as film making itself and its showcase to the consumer market is extremally effective.
An example of this traced back to Ace Combs after audiences saw James Dean sweep one of their combes through his hair in “Rebel without a Cause”. Sales increased after seeing the film.
Another great example was after Tom Cruise don a pair of Ray Ban Wafarer sunglasses in “Risky Business”. After the film everybody was walking around with Ray Ban sunglasses.
Brands pay large sums of money to have their product showcased and used in a film.