Pre-Sales

Pre-sales are distribution deals made before the film exists: a sales agent takes the package — script, director, cast — to buyers at the major markets and licenses rights territory by territory, in advance. Each contract is a promise to pay on delivery of the finished film.

Their financing power is what matters. Pre-sale contracts from creditworthy distributors can be banked — a lender advances production cash against them, typically alongside a completion bond guaranteeing the film gets delivered. Stack enough pre-sales with a tax incentive and gap financing, and a film is financed without a single studio check. This is how most independent films of scale actually get made.

What drives pre-sale value: cast recognizable in each territory, genre (action and horror travel; quiet domestic drama doesn't), director track record, and a sales agent buyers trust. Foreign buyers are pricing a poster they can sell — which is why attachments dominate indie financing conversations.

For writers, pre-sales explain a hard market truth: "great script" and "financeable project" are different objects, connected by packaging. The script's job is to be strong enough that real elements attach — the work our scorecard exists to finish first.