Quicksummer Entertainment LLC

Standard Presale Model with tax shelter Prints and Advertising financing

Independant production company in a small country can act as a subcontractor for a studio?

As it would be hard for example for Estonia to participate in split right transactions at this time I believe presale model to be most right for such small place. This would be especially effective if they could also put up their own P&A financing as a tax shelter; this would save a lot in the backend. The hard part of the project is financing the development.

It is quite a simple formula: Let's say, you have 1 million dollars to develop three pictures as an undertaker for a studio. From the 1 MLN USD 120% is projected to be returned in 1 year, and conferred to the investor is also 10% participation from each picture's company gross over 3 years. The production budget for each of these films needs to be about 20-60 million USD. This money is put up by entertainment industry banks, and as banks never take a risk it is not a risky venture for them or the producer from that point on (if the story and talent is there, and producer does his job). This money is secured by pre-sale and studio distribution agreements and by a completion bond delivery guarantee. This works almost like a negative pickup but with the difference that just the appropriate amount of rights is given to the studio.

A feature film financed this way might not be able to introduce very much of any particular culture. Nevertheless, they can inspire the world for better. These pictures are for a world-wide audiences, and to be successful they have to at least garner their production costs at the box office, and a total approximately triple that when U.S. box office gross is combined with the foreign, video, and ancillary markets. And they will, because banks don't take any risk. You know that a picture's success is for the most part determined before any development money (1 MLN) is spent. It is a process and uses a formula. As a creative producer, you are still the artist deciding the outcome, but you have a team of US executives involved to ensure global success. You choose a team that is most respected from among completion bond companies, major studios, banks, publicists, entertainment law-firms and presale companies. You pick bankable people, and you learn from them. There is more detail to it, but this is the core for doing it right in the major independent industry.

As more of us become adept at doing this, we pave the way for others. The majority of the film industry is optimistic about working with anyone immersed in the culture who has sound business experience in mainstream filmmaking, of course as long as they are talented.