3.2 Case study: Spooks – the financial package
As you have seen, putting together the financial package for a film is a complex exercise involving multiple players. Now let’s take a look at the financial package for our case study, Spooks: The Greater Good.
Activity 2 Sources of finance
Before hearing again from the film’s producer, Ollie Madden, take a few moments to think about the likely sources of finance for a film such as Spooks. (Consider how their situation may have been advantageous – if you remember, the film is based on a long running British TV show.)
Note your thoughts in the box below.
Discussion
Ollie Madden describes the financial package that was put together for Spooks: The Greater Good. Watch the video and consider how the reality compares to your thoughts around the likely financial package, and any particular advantages this film project had.
As Ollie mentions, the completion guarantor, Film Finances, was concerned by the ambitious production schedule that Ollie and his team provided.
Spooks: The Greater Good had three clear advantages when it came to raising finance for the film:
- The TV show was already popular in certain countries, which made it easy to pre-sell the rights to the film in those territories.
- As a British film, it automatically qualified for UK tax credit.
- Pinewood Pictures was able to fund the finance gap, and as distributor in the UK was able to pay a minimum guarantee against the UK distribution rights.
OpenLearn - The Business of Film
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