Film Accounting Glossary
Backend
What is backend?
Also called back end.
Backend is the share of a title's revenue paid to a participant after release, as opposed to the fixed fee paid up front.
It covers everything from first-dollar gross to deep net profit definitions, and its value depends entirely on where in the waterfall the participant sits. Crew and vendors are almost never on the backend; it is a talent, producer, and financier instrument.
Example
A director takes $250,000 up front plus 5% of adjusted gross. If the picture never reaches its adjusted gross break-even, the backend pays nothing and the $250,000 is the entire fee.
Figures are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanics rather than to quote market rates.
Where you'll see it
Above-the-line deals only. Carried as a contingent liability on the picture, never in the weekly cost report.
Common mistake
Valuing points as if they were cash. Where the participation sits in the waterfall decides whether it pays at all, and the percentage on its own tells you almost nothing.
Related questions
- Is film backend ever actually paid?
- Gross and adjusted gross positions pay regularly. Net profit positions frequently pay nothing, because the contractual deductions absorb the revenue before net is reached.
- Who gets backend on a film?
- Above-the-line participants and financiers: cast, director, writers, producers, and equity. Crew and vendors are paid fees and rentals, not participations.