No Golden Tickets: What and What Not to Submit for Funding Your Film
How do I submit my project to FilmHedge?
FilmHedge is one of the newest and fastest growing senior debt financiers providing Film and TV producers money. Our submission criteria is on our website so producers will know what to include in prior to a discussion with our team. This is to save time for producers who want to submit via our website, email, on a call, or in-person.
Below you’ll find answers to common questions we get about submitting projects to our company.
What to include:
- Production Budget (produced by a line producer)
- Finance Plan (a spreadsheet summary of funding sources)
- Tax Credits, Pre-Sales, OR Distribution agreements (you do not need all three)
- Script/Screenplay
- Completion Bond (In the form of an LOI or coverage from a bond companies. A completion bond is a type of insurance that protects your financiers.)
The above are the basics our internal underwriting team needs to assess a project. If the production doesn’t have at least one document that falls under one of the five bullets above, the project is too early for a debt financier like FilmHedge to be of assistance.
This list of criteria will also be helpful if you’re seeking from other senior lenders as we all tend to look for the same things.
What not to include:
- Pitches/ideas/loglines (we’re not producers or a production company, we don’t finance based on ideas)
- Sending only a script (we fund based on finance plans and the other items above)
- P&A opportunities (we don’t finance P&A — print and advertising)
- Unbonded films (we don’t do unbonded films unless production has been completed and is in post)
Can I schedule a call to talk about my project?
A lot of people ask to schedule calls to discuss their projects. While we love to talk to anyone interested in our company, if what you want to talk about on a call is getting funded, the only information relevant to whether or not FilmHedge can get involved is the criteria above.
We’re happy to schedule a call with you once the criteria has been submitted (via email or website). We’re always happy to review NDAs prior to your sharing any sensitive information.
How We Make Decisions
FilmHedge has more in common with investment banks and alternative lenders than it does producers or production companies. Therefore our interaction with a production begins with the requested documentation.
One way to think of it is: every decision we make is quantitative. We’re a financial group — hence the ‘hedge’ in our name (as in hedge fund).
Our decisions are based on whether or not there is collateral in place to lend against (pre-sales, tax credits, or distribution), the quality of that collateral, and our internal underwriting.
We aren’t a firm who selects projects based on how great your script is (we’re sure it’s awesome), how great you are (we’re sure you’re awesome), or how ground breaking your ideas are (we’re sure those are awesome as well).
That’s primarily where equity investors come in.
Can FilmHedge connect me to equity investors?
FilmHedge is a senior lender providing debt financing to producers who want it. Not all producers want debt, which is totally fine as there are many ways to finance a film without it. We don’t provide equity financing, so producers not seeking debt financing usually don’t need FilmHedge at all.
That said, because of our close relationship with institutional banks, high net worth individuals, and private equity firms we will sometimes make referrals to equity investors we know. The folks in our network usually only want to provide equity where they know we are going to be involved because they know we reduce their risk and protect their money in Film/TV transactions.
Therefore, they may have less requirements than us upfront, but they’ll want to review your finance plan, to ensure the producer is able to eventually get all the same requirements and protections in place. Typically, the equity investors we know will only put money into a production if there is a finance plan and if their money will help account for 100% of the budget of the production. It doesn’t mean they won’t be your first money in, it just means they need to know where the rest of the money behind them will come from.
We aren’t a broker to equity financiers, so if we do make an introduction for you, any referral is entirely between the two parties to discuss.
If you ask us and we can’t connect you with an equity investor, it’s because there are none interested in the opportunity at that time.
Can FilmHedge help me get started with my Film/TV Production?
No.
FilmHedge is for filmmakers in the mid — to late — stage of production.
Our financing is the best fit for projects in Pre-Production, Production or Post-Production.
One way to think of it is FilmHedge helps producers who have already started the race and and rushing to the fishline, you hand us the financial baton and we carry you to the end.
If you’re a filmmaker just starting out, or you just have a script and are looking for assistance getting out of the development stage, here are some other companies who may be able to help:
- Slated
- The Blacklist
- Stage32
- Seed & Spark
- Buffalo 8 (note: this is not a free service)
FilmHedge (and other debt providers) should be approached once you are in pre-production, production, or post-production. If you contact us in development, it’s too early for us to get involved but it doesn’t mean what you’re working on isn’t something we can’t get involved once you get to the appropriate stage of production.
Disclaimer: FilmHedge sometimes uses fair-use editorial images in its blog posts to help educate and inform its readers. Unless otherwise stated, FilmHedge does not have any affiliation with the film or television productions referenced in blog posts and does not profit from the use of these images.
