Film Finance: It’s Tough Out There For Everyone

According to DHD, Matthew Garrahan, the Los Angeles Bureau Chief for the Financial Times has written an article about Time Warner absorbing the cost of production b/c Village Roadshow is still seeking a credit facility. Although this might seem oh so irrelevant for indie producers, especially African American indie producers, I want to point out why keeping track of this is important. As I’m approaching the end of post production on Children of God, additional funding was needed to finish post. I went to pitch to investors and most had committed to additional funding. Two weeks later the economic climate continued to sour with wealthy investors holding their purses, and we had to wait months (missing a number of festival deadlines) to secure the final funding.

In essence, I’m just stating that if the Majors are having trouble…it trickles to private equity investors as well. Really don’t be fooled, the economy is horrible. But don’t be discouraged either, there are investors willing to make the risk (that’s how they got super wealthy in the first place). You’ll see the box office on fire the summer, albeit with BIG budget hits, and that will be quite a selling point for a meager indie film. So, read the Financial Times article and keep abreast of the nature of the industry. It does affect all of us even the low budget of us.