Film clients of the Innovatory are reporting rising levels of anxiety about the funding of independent movies amid the current gaiety at Cannes. Lots of projects have been frozen despite a boom in the market for for British films and rising cinema revenues. Pre-sales deals and gap funding are proving harder to find for mid range and budget movies, broadcaster budgets are plummeting, and the UK Film Council has too little funding at its disposal to make much of a difference to most producers.
"There may be one silver lining to the cloud hanging over the sector," says director of investment Kevin Davey. "The government's recent raising of tax levels for the better off makes Enterprise Incentive Schemes - arrangements which reduce the tax burdens and liabilities of people making private equity investments - much more attractive. Many film companies have already set up EIS schemes as a way of attracting funds, retaining more control over their work, and holding onto bigger shares of their rights and profits."
Clubbed, by Formosa Films, is a good example of this increasingly common approach to fundraising.
