Independent Film Investing
Like Duolingo, but for Independent Film Investing. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Independent Film Investing
- The waterfall is a legal priority list
- Third-party distributors and sales agents take their fees and expenses off the top
- Investors must be paid back before the creative team shares in the upside
- Investors receive 100% of their principal back first (recoupment)
- A 10-20% premium is added to the principal as a reward for the risk
- Profit sharing only begins after the principal plus premium is paid
- The order of payment in a standard film investment hierarchy
- The standard financial incentive for film equity investors
- Net profits are the 'bottom' of the waterfall
- Marketing costs (P&A) and distribution fees are deducted before net profits exist
- Box office gross is not the same as the net revenue that reaches the production
- Preferred returns prioritize the investor over other participants
- It functions as a percentage-based hurdle that must be met early in the waterfall
- It protects the value of the capital over the long production-to-release timeline
- The definition and timing of net profit participation
- Film is an illiquid asset with no secondary market to sell your 'shares' easily
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Independent Film Investing the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
When a movie starts making money, who usually gets to take their fees and expenses out of the pile first?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where Independent Film Investing takes you
Learn how to evaluate scripts, protect your capital with tax credits, and navigate the 'waterfall' of movie profits. This course turns the mystery of cinema finance into a calculated business strategy for the aspiring executive producer.
- 1
Evaluating the Deal
- The Money Waterfall
- Reading the Package
- 2
Protecting Your Capital
- Lowering the Risk Floor
- The Path to Distribution
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Independent Film Investing is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Independent Film Investing today.
Download Tomo, search Independent Film Investing, and play your first lesson in under a minute.