Film Accounting Glossary
Financing plan
What is a financing plan?
Also called capital stack, or finance plan.
A financing plan is the document showing where every dollar of the budget is coming from: equity, debt, presales, tax incentives, grants, deferments, and gap.
Each source carries its own conditions, timing, and position in the recoupment waterfall, so the plan is inseparable from the cash flow schedule. A plan that adds up on paper but arrives in the wrong order still shuts a production down.
Example
An $8.4M picture: $3.2M presales, $2.1M tax credit, $1.8M equity, $900,000 gap, $400,000 deferments. It adds up, but the credit arrives eight months after wrap and the gap lender funds last, so the cash flow decides whether it actually works.
Figures are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanics rather than to quote market rates.
Where you'll see it
Agreed at closing and inseparable from the cash flow schedule. Each source carries its own conditions and its own position in the waterfall.
Common mistake
Checking that the plan adds up without checking when each source arrives. A plan that totals correctly and lands in the wrong order still stops the picture.
Related questions
- What goes into a film financing plan?
- Equity, senior debt, presales, gap, tax incentives, grants, and deferments, each with its own conditions, timing, and position in the recoupment waterfall.
- Why is the financing plan tied to the cash flow?
- Because sources arrive at different times. The plan proves the money exists; the cash flow proves it arrives before the obligations it has to cover.