The typical funding process for a Hollywood film is, for lack of a better word, complicated. It involves investors, tax credits, grants, and other sources of funding to raise the money to even begin working on a film. After Jon Gosier and a team lent more than $1 billion to film and television in other projects, he thought of a better way. Gosier founded FilmHedge, a fintech film, and TV financing platform, that takes the headache out of entertainment investing.
FilmHedge acts as a two-way lending and borrowing site. Lenders can join the platform to give to projects, and borrowers can apply for FilmHedge loans to receive short-term financing for their projects. This two-way relationship brings efficiency and reliability to media lending. The technology on FilmHedge reduces fraud, automates financial reporting, and improves the disbursement of earned returns. By using FilmHedge, you are guaranteed a stress-free financing experience.
Investors have the opportunity to earn a passive income while investing in projects that will give them screen credits. In other words, investors can earn money while sitting back and watching their name in the end credits of a film. FilmHedge automates the syndication of senior, secured, short-term, high-yield loans ((15%-30% APY on 6 to 12-month terms).
For borrowers, FilmHedge offers gap loans, bridge loans, finishing loans, and liquidity financing for film, TV, and media projects. In return, borrowers must sufficiently collateralize the loan, including media agreements like distribution, pre-sales, and tax credits, or traditional assets like equipment, vehicles, personal net worth, or corporate balance sheets.
This new form of funding is helping create easier access to marginalized communities and underrepresented filmmakers. FilmHedge requires a letter of intent from a company that wants to buy the completed film, and as long as films can meet the criteria, they get the funding they need. According to an interview done with Black Enterprise, Gosier stated, “There’s no reading scripts. There’s no, ‘I’ll fund it if you put my son or daughter in the movie’”, making the funding process extremely unbiased and objective.
Since starting the business, FilmHedge has been incredibly successful. In 2020, the FilmHedge team directed $100M in lending opportunities to capital partners returning 12.75% in interest and $113.8M in net returns. This arrangement leaves both FilmHedge executives, filmmakers, and investors happy and profiting. This return was even prior to the business having access to their very own dept facilities, allowing FilmHedge to lend off their own balance sheets. Because of this, FilmHedge has been able to raise $100M in debt in 2022 and have a partnership with one of the largest media finance banks.
FilmHedge is changing the game for the ways movies are operating in Hollywood. Gosier stated the main mission behind FilmHedge is to build a new financial operating system for Hollywood and to completely disrupt the current systems in place. Gosier himself was named one of Ten African Tech Voices to Follow on Twitter by CNN and one of the 25 most influential African Americans in Technology by Business Insider. It is no doubt that his business will also be something to keep an eye on in the film and television industry, as it is revolutionizing the way creatives invest and loan for projects.
For more information on FilmHedge, visit HERE.
