Title page
Contents
Abstract 2
1. Background and related literature 3
2. Conceptual framework: Risk and uncertainty in financing markets 9
3. Principal actors in film finance 13
3.1. Producers 13
3.2. Distributors 15
3.3. Financiers 16
4. Types of film finance deals 18
4.1. Film grants 18
4.2. Project finance 20
4.3. Corporate finance and equity investment 25
5. Managing risk in film finance deals 27
5.1. Co-production 28
5.2. Special purpose vehicles 29
5.3. Risk swap 30
5.4. Loan syndication 31
5.5. Indemnification and guarantees 31
6. Industry trends 33
6.1. General film financing trends 34
6.2. Digital transformation of the film sector 44
7. Policy trends and options 48
7.1. Improving information access and quality 49
7.2. Financial management education for young producers 52
7.3. Distribution deal-making 53
7.4. Supporting markets for IP 53
8. Conclusion 54
References 56
Methodology 59
Appendix 63
Table 1. List of interviewees 60
Table 2. Sample of slate financing deals announced since 2020 69
Table 3. Top 30 Debtors and Secured Parties 69
Figure 1. Movie Trends: Box Office U.S. 4
Figure 2. Movie Trends: Production Budget 5
Figure 3. Movie Trends: Domestic Carrying Capacity 5
Figure 4. Managing producer risk through co-production 29
Figure 5. Managing producer risk through special purpose vehicles 30
Figure 6. Managing producer and distributor risk through risk swap 30
Figure 7. Managing financier risk through syndication 31
Figure 8. Managing financier risk through indemnification and guarantees 32
Figure 9. Distribution of UCC Filings and top Collateral 36
Figure 10. Overall UCC filings 37
Figure 11. Distribution of UCC Filings with Intangibles as Collateral 38
Figure 12. Annual number of total registrations and pre-registrations of motion pictures at the U.S. Copyright Office 40
Figure 13. Annual number of total 'security interest' recordations of registered motion pictures by year of recordation, work level 42
Figure 14. Annual number of total 'security interest' recordations of registered motion pictures by year of registration, work level 43
Figure 15. UCC-1 filing example 63
Figure 16. Geographic distribution of Debtors in U.S. 64
Figure 17. Geographic distribution of Secured Parties in U.S. 64
Figure 18. UCC filings across Empl. Size 65
Figure 19. UCC Filings Share Intangibles and Empl. 65
Figure 20. Syndicated Loans 66
Figure 21. Loan Maturity 66
Figure 22. Average number of registered motion pictures per 'security interest' recordation by year of recordation 67
Figure 23. Average number of 'security interest' recordations per registered motion picture by year of registration 67
Figure 24. Annual number of total 'security interest' recordations of registered motion pictures by year of recordation, recordation level 68
Figure 25. Average number of years from registration to 'security interest' recordation by year of recordation 68
Boxes
Box 1. How grants empower new producers 19
Box 2. Managing copyright and other IP assets in U.S. film finance 23