The Business of Film, 2nd Edition

Chapter 4

Movie Financing

 

Film is an expensive art form and the development, production, and distribution of commercial motion pictures requires significant amounts of capital. The major studios and large independent production companies, such as Lionsgate and MGM, can raise capital at the corporate level, through the public or private equity and debt markets, or by offering investors economic interests in a slate of films. Independent producers must essentially finance films one at a time, primarily from private equity investors or lenders, or by licensing distribution rights in advance of production and borrowing against these licenses. As noted in Chapter 2, a number of new companies formed by extremely wealthy individuals have emerged in ...