43 Ways to Finance Your Feature Film: A Comprehensive Analysis of Film Finance

Each year, thousands of potential filmmakers ask, "How can I finance a feature film?" Yet, until this unprecedented new book by John W. Cones, there has been no comprehensive answer to the question. Writing in a clear, informative style, Cones outlines and explains the numerous and diverse forms of financing available to independent film producers. As an objective adviser, he refrains from advocating one form of financing over another, choosing instead to provide specific, concise information regarding the many possible financing strategies.

Cones groups his forty-three methods of film financing into four major areas: industry financing, lender financing, investor financing, and foreign financing. In each of the forty-three chapters, he focuses on one kind of film finance, summarizing its financing vehicle, entity, and technique or transaction and analyzing its advantages and disadvantages. At the end of each chapter is an extensive bibliography of additional information about the particular form of film finance discussed. In covering the scope of film financing, Cones ranges from a discussion of studio-based independent production company methods to an examination of lender financing without distributor contracts to a detailed analysis of active and passive investor vehicles and foreign tax shelters and incentives.

Although the book focuses on financing feature films, its information is relevant to the financing of other kinds of projects, such as short films, documentaries, videos, and multi-media and theatrical endeavors. For those individuals considering making or investing in a feature film―such as producers, executive producers, attorneys, screenwriters, and investors―it is an indispensable resource, one that will serve them well in determining the best methods to finance the production costs of a specific project.

 

John W. Cones isa securities and entertainment attorney based in Los Angeles. He is the author of Film Finance and Distribution―A Dictionary of Terms and Film Industry Contracts.