Pre-Sale Financing
We approach numerous distributors before or during production to get agreements to release the picture once it is completed. Advances or minimum guarantees, which may cover all or part of the film’s production and post-production expenditures, are required to perform efficiently. The term for this is “pre-sale financing.”
The distributor either
(1) Pays a financial advance at the time of contract signing or in many payments during the manufacturing process.
(2)Pledges to pay the money when the film is finished and delivered (and the minimum guarantee is used as collateral for a production loan).
(3)Pays a portion of the distribution profits or
(4)Pays a flat buy-out amount in some situations.
International Sales Agents
An independent film’s distribution outside of its country of origin is facilitated by a good foreign sales agency. The film will be branded for overseas markets, regions, and all media by an international sales agent (including theatrical, OTT, home video, VOD, cable, TV and other ancillary media).
An international sales agent looks for distribution contracts for a film in development or pre-production in certain areas, generally with the correct package of script and attachments. The sales agency will submit the screenplay, along with preliminary market materials or film of scenes, to distribution partners with a quality script, bankable cast, director, and a marketable genre.
Because sales agents often make offers based on the value they feel they can get for the film, a sales agency should be able to provide a producer an estimate of the film’s expected worth before bringing it to market. When to pre-sell and when to wait to see the finished film will be determined by the sales agent.