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Alright, so you woke up one day, checked your Swiss Bank Account, called your family office planner, had breakfast with your private client service wealth manager, got your tax accountant on the phone, and between three of you, you decided to invest your proceeds from your latest company's Merger or Acquisition not into some dubious hedge fund or start-up biotech venture, but into financing Hollywood films because you figure you need the State tax Credits, the Federal tax write-offs, as well as a nice hedge of revenues from a few movies.
Now, this may not ring too well initially with your hedge fund manager neighbors in Connecticut or your oil and gas investor friends in Bahrain or Dubai, but aren't these the same guys who are financing Hollywood blockbusters? And the only question for you, how do you get in the game without feeling like the Uncle of the film school student who wrote his nephew a $1,000,000 check for a film that starred his theater department classmates and ended up as a free download on youtube.com?
So after doing your share of homework, here's what you discover may be the opportunity to spice up your wealthy but boring life:
*Sergey Brin And Larry Page Of Google, Fred Smith, the CEO of Federal Express, Norman Waitt, the Co-Founder of Gateway Computers, Jeff Skoll Of Ebay, Todd Wagner and Marc Cuban (formerly of broadcast.com), Max Levchin and David Grodnick Of PAYPAL, Marc Turtletaub of The Money Store, Roger Marino Of EMC Corp, former Chicago bulls co-owner Jim Stern, Sidney Kimmel Of Jones Apparel Group, Minnesota Twins owner Bill Pohlad; Real Estate Developers Tom Rosenberg, Bob Yari; and, financiers Robert Sturm, Sheikh Waleed Al Ibrahim, Zeid Masri of SilverHaze Partners, Michael Singer, Mark Esses, David Larcher, Michael Goguen, Richard Landry, Michael Reilly, Rafael Fogel, and Philip Anschutz are just a handful of high net worth entrepreneurs who entered the motion picture finance and production business with successful results.
*There are various tradable state, federal, and international tax credit incentives that would offer a premium based on an equity position. Assuming there is a 10 million dollar budget film, where 50% of it is in equity, and 50% is through international distribution guarantees prior to release. Now assume there is a 20-25% tax credit on the entire amount of $10 million dollars, which will immediately translate into $2-2.5 million tax credit to an investor.
*Numerous hedge funds such as Reed, Conner & Birdwell (DISNEY), Legendary Fund (Warner Brothers), Melrose Fund (Paramount Pictures), Ingenious Media
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