Foreword

Barely a day goes by without some film-related story making the pages of the average newspaper. We are not just talking about the reviews ghetto, but the lifestyle, travel and business sections. With some films and film companies having become brands in their own right, the corporate divorce between Disney and Pixar was treated to front page treatment.

What does this tell us? Film has become big news, big business and dominated by the studio big-boys. Maybe.

But at the same time part of its fascination is that film making is also a cottage industry and a craft industry. There are layers of detail to which the simplistic approach fed to newspaper readers cannot do justice.

The independent film community is made up of highly motivated individuals, struggling to put together financing, logistical and legal puzzles that would defeat many a 3D chess player. Frankly it is a miracle that any independent film ever gets made. Even more of a miracle that any of them are any good at all.

Clearly, it is beyond the scope of this book to tell anyone how to make a good film or a commercially successful one. It would be both patronizing and foolhardy to try. After all, some of the best brains in the business have come horribly unstuck attempting to do that.

But neither is it quite true that ‘nobody knows nothing’, as ace screenwriter William Goldman once suggested. Studios maximize their chances through a combination of ‘portfolio theory’ and marketing muscle. Independents can maximize their chances, if not of success, then at least of surviving the production experience by using some of the right techniques. A little knowledge can go a long way.

That means getting a film's budget in line with its recoupment potential; it means knowing what to ask your lawyer and when; and it means understanding the choices you make when opting for equity over debt, pre-sales over independent finance; or shooting on location in Ireland over studios in Luxembourg.

The Insider's Guide to Film Finance is intended to answer many of these questions. Written by a film lawyer whose role it has often been to raise and structure film finance, the book addresses problems with simplicity and clarity; with theory matched by practicalities; with checklists, case studies and sample documents.

It will not prevent anyone from making mistakes but, used wisely, it should enable the averagely intelligent newcomer to avoid making all the basic errors. And for the more experienced player it provides a yardstick against which they can measure their financial, legal and chess-playing creativity.

Take some of Phil Alberstat's advice and, who knows, you could end up making the newspapers sooner than you thought!

Patrick Frater
International Editor, Screen International