Film funding seminar
BECTU and the Directors Guild of Great Britain have got together to host a free seminar on film financing on 2 May.
Creating ideas and scripts is hard enough, but finding the finance to turn that creation into a film or television programme is even harder.
Where to start? At what stage do you start talking to possible funding sources? Who are these funding sources? What source of funding are you looking for? Maybe you have part of the funding but need to find the rest? Do you have an end user interested such as a broadcaster, sales agent or film distributor? Are you looking for finance from one source? Is your project fully developed?
These are just some of the questions constantly asked by Producers and Directors, particularly those starting up their first independent production who often don't know where to go for the answers.
BECTU and DGGB (Directors Guild of Great Britain) members are often faced with problems of productions collapsing, owing the Director and Crew thousands of pounds with no chance of them ever getting paid because the finance was not properly structured and there was no guarantee of completion in place.
The Producers & Directors Sub-Division of BECTU and the DGGB have got together to host a free seminar at:
BAFTA
195 Piccadilly, London W1V 0LN
on Tuesday 2 May 2000, 1830 for 1900
(everybody welcome - cash bar)
Four very experienced speakers will talk about the various ways of raising finance and how to properly structure the financing of a film or television production:
- Andrew Somper, Managing Director of Grosvenor Park Media, which has established itself as a leading provider of funding to the independent production sector through its operation of private equity investment programmes in the UK market. To date, Grosvenor Park has completed in excess of $500 million of sale and leaseback financing of UK-qualifying film and television productions. Grosvenor Park is continuing to expand its film financing business in the UK and anticipates raising $300-500 million from UK investors for the purchase of UK-qualifying films either purchased or under official co-production agreements. Grosvenor Park has been involved in the financing of films such as An Ideal Husband, X-Files, Good Will Hunting, Simon Birch, The 13th Warrior, Studio 54, Mr Magoo, Snake Eyes, and Affliction.
- Adrian Ward, Head of European Operations for the Lewis Horwitz Organization, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imperial Credit Industries Inc., a $2 billion commercial banking organisation. LHO's basic business is production lending for theatrical motion pictures and television. LHO lends against unsold domestic distribution contracts as well as providing Gap financing against unsold domestic or international rights. LHO has been involved in the financing of films such as Buffalo 66, Cookie's Fortune, Afterglow, Shadow of the Vampire, The Virgin Suicides, and The Ghost and the Darkness.
- Larry Dewaay, Senior Vice President of Cinema Completions International. In the five years CCI has been in business, the company has provided completion bonding for just under $600 million in aggregate negative costs. CCI has issued bonds on pictures costing as little as $2 million to mega-budget pictures costing $75 million. Before joining CCI Larry Dewaay was a successful producer with a string of major credits to his name. CCI has been involved in the completion bonding of films such as The English Patient, The Rainmaker, The Thin Red Line, John Carpenter's Vampires, Animals, Double Team, History is Made at Night, The Ghost and the Darkness, and Je m'appelle Crawford.
- David Martin, executive responsible for the day to day activities of Film Initiative, part of the Silver Levene Group. Film Initiative was formed just over a year ago for the express purpose of raising finance for movie projects and to act as Executive Producers to oversee and secure the proper funding and distribution of the movies it is involved with. Film Initiative has formed associations, partnerships and alliances with investors in the UK and overseas. David Martin emanates from the music world. His song-writing successes include Can't Smile Without You for Barry Manilow, A Whole Lot of Loving for Guys and Dolls, as well as cover tracks by Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, Engelbert Humperdinck and The Carpenters. David is now fully committed to the film industry, steering the company into a position where it has forty projects in various stages of development, as well as four films at the starting-gate.