After the collapse of 2008 – entertainment banks began taking less risk – which in turn meant it became more difficult for independent film producers, filmmakers and film sales agents to access the capital (whether equity or debt) they needed to complete, gap, bridge, leverage or develop their project.
Today in 2014 – these same entertainment banks have adjusted their mentalities and aren’t necessarily “evacuating” the niche’s they once partook in — but they are certainly not re-visiting the previous opportunities of the pre-2008 era.
When we launched BondIt in early 2014 – we wanted to provide liquidity for union deposits (SAG, DGA, IATSE, etc…) and we expanded on that model as the demand grew for our services to broaden.
In the past few weeks we’ve begun beta testing our newest form of financing by offering liquidity once more – but this time to filmmakers, sales agencies and individual agents.
All economics is the same — cash now is better than cash later. It allows for quicker spending, quicker development of business and quicker investment opportunities.
The film space has been in heavy need of this type of financing for the past six year – and BondIt will not provide a new option able to act quicker than any traditional bank, able to make decisions quicker than any traditional bank and able to approve & interface directly with clients quicker than any traditional bank.
EXAMPLE #1 Filmmaker Financing
You’ve produced, directed, written, starred in, etc… a great feature film that has just sold to a distributor (domestically or internationally) either through you and your team directly or through a sales agent who brokered the sale.
Congratulations.
However, now you’re going to have to get paid.
Some sales take 50 days for payment to arrive while others (Netflix, Hulu, etc…) take up to 18 months (!) for you to fully get paid.
The BondIt team are all indie film producers who have overseen the sales of multiple titles over the years – ranging from micro-budgets to multi-million dollar titles and the payment structure is always the same.
So, let’s assume you’ve sold your film to Netflix for $100,000 (for ease of numbers sake) and the payment terms are net-365 days. You won’t see the full $100,000 for a full year (!) as Netflix will pay out small portions each month.
Instead of waiting, BondIt can monetize this deal within 24-48 hours of the agreement being signed and cash-flow 80-90 cents on the dollar.
>Bottom line — you’ll walk away within 24-48 hours of your deal with $80,000 – $90,000 instead of allowing Netflix to delay your payments.
EXAMPLE #2 Sales Agents Single Title Financing
You’re a sales agent/agency who is selling an individual title and the net-payment terms are aggressively extended.
Whether that means 100 days or 400 days — either way you’d prefer to get paid quicker rather than wait around for the checks to slowly arrive piece-meal.
Simply log on to BondIt or call us directly & once again we can monetize deal at 80-90 cents on the dollar within 24-48 hours.
Having dealt with sales agents in the past and having sold titles for other filmmakers as well — we acknowledge and understand the importance of cash flow liquidity when selling a title — and now we’re providing an option to do so for sales companies internationally.
EXAMPLE #3 Sales Agents Multi-Title Financing
You have a library of content — whether 10 titles of 1,000 titles — and you have multiple sales on various portions of your library.
Again — you’d prefer to not wait to get paid for these sales on extended net-terms when cash flow is an essential part of your business.
BondIt can underwrite deals up to $10M and as low as $10,000.
Whether you’re looking to cover deals you’ve already made that have existing payments remaining or you have an upcoming deal that will require financing — BondIt can assist in providing you with the liquidity you need/want within 24-48 hours.
Bottom Line
As our customer base continues to grow and we find more & more applications for the use of our underwriting systems — we’d love to hear how we can best hep you in your needs to liquidity.
BondIt is the premiere provider of capital for the independent film space — and we’d love to work together to build a strong future in getting projects developed, made and sold with a liquidity process easier than ever before.
BondIt was founded by independent film producers Matthew Helderman & Luke Taylor of Beverly Hills based Buffalo 8 Productions. Having produced 30+ feature films, the team recognized a dilemma in the production process — union deposits — and launched BondIt to resolve the situation to assist producers & union representatives alike.
