Epstein on Independent Film Financing

Edward Jay Epstein, author of such much-reads as The Big Picture: Money and Power in Hollywood and the upcoming The Hollywood Economist: The Hidden Financial Reality Behind the Movies, has written a great post which offers one of the most lucid explanations I’ve come across regarding how independent films are financed: Why Indie Movies Are An Endangered Species (the post isn’t nearly as gloomy as the title suggests).

Epstein writes for a primarily US-based audience, but the information he provides is just as useful for Canadian producers and their advisers.  The Ontario Media Development Corporation offers Canadian independent film producers the opportunity to download for free the Canadian Production Finance Handbook (written by Kathy Avrich Johnson), which is an absolute treasure trove of information, including multiple precedent agreements.

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Bob Tarantino

About Bob Tarantino

Bob Tarantino is Counsel at Dentons Canada LLP and focuses his practice on the interface between the entertainment industries and intellectual property law, with an emphasis on film and television production, financing, licensing, distribution, and IP acquisition and protection. His clients range from artists and independent producers to Canadian distributors and foreign studios and financiers at every stage of the creative process, from development to delivery and exploitation.

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