The Film Financing Readiness Checklist

Most first financing conversations fail in the first ten minutes — not because the project is bad, but because the person pitching can't answer the standard questions. Financing isn't where you figure your project out; it's where you present a project already figured out. Here's the readiness bar, as a checklist.

The paper

A hardened script. Not a draft you like — a script that has survived professional scrutiny. Financiers' representatives will commission their own coverage; if your script hasn't already passed an equivalent read, you're paying to discover problems in the most expensive room available. This is precisely what a scored read is for.

A one-sheet and deck. The one-sheet travels; the deck presents. Both must agree with each other and with the script — inconsistencies between your documents are the first thing a careful reader finds.

A real budget. A top sheet built from your actual pages — above and below the line — at a defensible tier, ideally prepared or reviewed by someone who has line-produced at that scale. A number with no breakdown behind it is a wish.

The numbers

Comparables that share your tier. Comps earn trust when they're honest: films at your budget level, your distribution profile, recent years, with what they actually returned. Comping your $3M drama to a $60M award winner tells the room you haven't done the work.

A recoupment story. Where does the money come back from? You should be conversant in the structures your plan touches: pre-sales and what your elements are worth by territory, minimum guarantees, tax incentives in your shooting jurisdiction, whether gap or a completion bond belongs in your stack. Not to lecture — to answer.

The package

Elements, honestly stated. Real attachments with confirmable agreements — or none claimed. "In discussions with" a name whose reps won't confirm is worse than a clean slate, because it gets checked. See packaging for how value actually accrues.

A production plan. Where you'd shoot and why (incentives, locations, crew base), who line-produces, what the schedule roughly looks like. Emerging jurisdictions like Nevada can be part of a cost story if you know the specifics.

The literacy

The unglamorous differentiator: understanding your own deal. Waterfalls, recoupment order, what equity is being offered and what it's subordinate to. Financiers can tell within minutes whether they're talking to someone who understands the instrument being discussed — and they price the risk of a partner who doesn't.

This is the gap our Financing Readiness Desk exists to close: readiness assessment, document preparation, and finance education before the meeting. We don't broker introductions or solicit investment — we make sure that when your project reaches money, it's ready to be taken seriously. Start with the script: get it scored.