ABSTRACT
Overview This chapter will discuss how film and television projects are financed, including how the money is raised and secured and what piece of the pie parties retain for their investment. I will argue that, to a large degree, Hollywood studios are simply specialized venture capitalists with the return on investment (ROI) strategy premised on limited but large bets. The discussion of traditional film and TV financing is in stark contrast to original Internet production, which today remains heavily dependent on venture capital or other private backing, given the nascent (though growing) video advertising market and speculative returns; with the advent of online leaders moving into original production (see Chapter 7), though, these differences are likely to narrow, and, on the assumption that online “networks” such as Netflix find success and compete more directly with traditional TV channels, then inevitably there will be a measure of convergence.
