Lending Club offers a great consumer solution — loans, lines of credit and access to capital that traditional banking and institutional lending cannot provide. Additionally — Lending Club offers individuals the opportunity to make investments through the providing of capital to said consumers. As banks continue tightening their abilities to service specific opportunities (especially those in media, entertainment & technology) — BondIt has found an opportunity to provide value and customer service in the growing independent market place. As film & media producers we knew the realities of getting a project financed, produced and recouped — it is never a pleasant ride. Combining this reality with the financial and technology background our team brought to the table — BondIt continuing to expand by offering additional services, industry value and a growing fund.
Current Market Deposits
BondIt launched in January of 2014 covering union deposits primarily for SAG-AFTRA, DGA & IATSE.
To date (August 2014) we’ve experienced over $10M of deposits looking for coverage. As some projects explored options from our new format of financing to other projects converting and having BondIt cover their deposits and union interfacing — we’ve learned a ton and in the process expanded.
What began as a union deposit underwriting has grown to service additional markets – theater/Broadway productions utilizing AEA deposits, Canadian productions utilizing ACTRA & the DGC and additional applications that our customers sought out directly.
Current Market Libraries
Prior to BondIt our team had managed a 30 film library at Buffalo 8 Productions — selling the content internationally and finding new means of exploitation through digital revenue streams and emerging markets.
When BondIt began servicing production company deposit needs — library liquidity quickly followed. Producers, sales companies, financiers and representation — were all interested in having BondIt service their growing need for library value liquidity. So, we pivoted and began offering this additional service. Whereby, BondIt adjusted the internal risk metric system to gauge value and strength of the outstanding agreements (receivables) to provide liquidity.
What began as a thought brought to our team from a previous client — has grown to prove a substantial need & want within the film & media community — a need/want that BondIt is excited to continue servicing.
Current Market Royalties & Participations
The newest expansion has come in the form of a tremendous partnership opportunity with Royalty Exchange — the eBay like platform for selling & buying royalties/residuals/
While there are a close-knit few working to provide these opportunities — Royalty Exchange & BondIt are working to provide a democratized process for investors and sellers alike.
Film, television and media residuals offer another unique opportunity for BondIt to service client needs & wants.
Whether the residual is $100 or $100M — we’re interested and open to learning more about the opportunity to see how best we can service those needs and perfect the deal flow structure here.
Community Building Feedback
Our up’s & down’s in building BondIt have been very similar to a film production. Intense planning & development (pre-production), explorations in to the unknown upon launch (production) and the perfecting of flaws as the model expands (post-production).
As in all businesses – we value our customers and their continued support, enthusiasm and constant push to make us a better company — all around.
Writing today as we look back upon the past year — from the early conception of BondIt to the expansion over the past calendar year — we’re excited and optimistic for the future.
Our partnerships, investors and more than anything our customers — have made this an exciting experience to be involved with.
As a favor — we ask you to provide feedback regarding BondIt. What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? How can we fix it? What aren’t we doing? What would you like to see us doing more of? Less of?
Send us an email directly at:
We’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can become as strategic and serviceable as LENDING CLUB — help us build a better entertainment financing environment and we’ll work together to bring that vision into existence as BondIt grows!
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.
