Film Accounting Glossary
Collection account management
What is collection account management?
Also called CAM, collection account, or collection agent.
Collection account management (CAM) is the use of an independent third party to receive a title's revenue and distribute it according to an agreed waterfall.
Because the collection agent answers to all parties rather than to the distributor, it is the standard protection for sales agents, financiers, and participants on independent films. The CAM agreement, and the recoupment order it encodes, effectively becomes the accounting rulebook for the picture's income.
Example
A $1.4M license fee is paid into the collection account rather than to the sales agent. The collection agent takes its fee, pays the agent's commission and capped expenses, repays the lender, then equity plus its premium, in the exact order the interparty agreement sets.
Figures are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanics rather than to quote market rates.
Where you'll see it
The revenue side of independent films, governed by a CAM agreement that functions as the accounting rulebook for the picture.
Common mistake
Letting the distributor collect and self-report. Without an independent agent, everyone junior in the waterfall is relying on the party with the least incentive to pay them.
Related questions
- What does a collection account manager do?
- Receives the picture's revenue, then pays it out in the exact order the interparty agreement sets, reporting to every party rather than to the distributor.
- Why do independent films use a collection account?
- Because the agent answers to all parties. It is the standard protection for financiers, sales agents, and participants who would otherwise depend on a distributor's own accounting.