In a refreshingly candid panel at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, four private financiers laid bare the current state of film financing – and it’s both more challenging and more innovative than ever. Moderated by Roosa Toivonen, the discussion featured Alexandra Lebret (Together Fund), Rein Rannu (Tallifornia), Patrick Fisher (Creativity Capital), and Jesus Martinez (Moby Dick), who collectively represent different approaches to solving the industry’s funding crisis.

“Private financing is a bit like flirting with disasters,” Lebert opened, setting the tone for a discussion that would avoid industry jargon in favour of brutal honesty. “Sometimes they ghost you, sometimes they don’t.”

THE NEW LANDSCAPE: COMPANIES OVER PROJECTS

Perhaps the most significant shift in private financing is the move away from single-project investments toward backing production companies themselves. Alexandra Lebret, whose Together Fund launched in April 2024 with €50 million in capital, explained the logic: “Private investors are always looking at mitigating risks. They’d rather not invest into one project, but a slate of projects. We believe that the mitigation is coming from the producers themselves.”

Together Fund takes minority shares in production companies, aiming to invest in 15 companies over the fund’s 10-year lifespan. But there’s a catch that producers need to understand: this isn’t forever money. “We stay between three to seven years, average five,” Lebret clarified. “We speak about the exit at the beginning. That’s very important.”

The fund received over 400 applications in its first months – a testament to the hunger for private capital. For investors, this means the bar is extraordinarily high. What are these financiers looking for? “Resilience,” Lebret emphasised. “How they managed change in the past, because if they succeeded in facing that in the past, they will succeed in the future.”

THE ANGEL INVESTOR MODEL: BETTING ON CRAZY DREAMERS

Rein Rannu, coming from Estonia’s tech startup world, represents a different philosophy entirely. With the Tallifornia, he’s made 15 investments in four years, with tickets up to €200,000. His approach? “I kind of define myself now not like a professional fund or like a venture capital for film, but I’m more defining myself as an angel investor for a film.”

Rannu’s candid assessment of the tension in film investing resonated throughout the room: “If I invest in films that I really love, those are not necessarily commercially viable. And I invest in films that are commercially viable, I don’t love a lot of those. So it’s very hard to find this little bit of an overlap.”

His solution? Choose love. “I’m pretty sure that I want to choose investing in the films that I love rather than the films that I don’t love and who maybe make more money.” But he tempers this romantic notion with a chess metaphor: “We want to see filmmakers and projects that can have this outsized impact compared to their size… like a pawn that sometimes can become a queen.”

The example of Flow – a Latvian production that used free software to achieve Hollywood-level visuals -perfectly encapsulates what Rannu seeks: innovative filmmakers doing more with less.

THE DEBT PROVIDER: FAST MONEY WITH STRINGS ATTACHED

Patrick Fisher’s Creativity Capital operates differently – they’re not equity investors but debt providers, converting illiquid assets like tax credits and pre-sales into cash. “The idea is we meet you, we all get on, we give you some money, you pay it back,” Fisher explained with characteristic German directness. “That’s the idea.”

They’ve done 40 investments with only one loss, but Fisher was frank about what happens when things go wrong: “We’re aligned with the filmmakers in terms of making the script and making it successful… The issues come when things go wrong.” On rare occasions, they’ve had to take control – though Fisher admits, “If we’re making a movie, I mean, we fucked up.”

But Creativity Capital isn’t just about loans. Fisher and his partner have invested in companies across the value chain – a sales company, a VFX house, a post-production facility, and a co-production company. This vertical integration creates what he calls “a powerful force in getting movies made.”

THE IP INVESTOR: BIG TICKETS, BIG CONTROL

Jesus Martinez’s Moby Dick represents perhaps the most rigorous approach. As a regulated venture capital fund from Spain, they invest up to €1 million per project over a three-year investment period, with plans to build a library for eventual sale.

But they don’t invest in projects – they invest in the intellectual property itself, taking the copyright. “We are active investors, and we will be part of the production with other producers,” Martinez explained. This means they’re on set, involved in both creative and business decisions.

The requirements are stringent: A-list cast, A-list director, strong sales agent, completion bond, collection managers, and extensive due diligence. Why such high bars? “Our investors are investing their savings. In this, for them, it’s a financial product, and they need the money back and make profits.”

As a regulated entity, Mobidic must also verify the sources of all other funding in a project – knowing not just the business plan but ensuring compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations.

THE EUROPEAN OPPORTUNITY: BRINGING HOLLYWOOD TO EUROPE

One of the panel’s most actionable insights concerned the shifting economics of production. Fisher made a compelling case: “The United States has a massive issue with budgets. The unions have pushed the budgets up to crazy levels. And the US tax credits are inherently dog shit.”

By contrast, European tax credits work efficiently. Fisher cited his recent UK experience: “Last tax credit we got was eight weeks from application, money in our bank account.” The UK offers 25% tax credits on qualifying productions, rising to 40% with a UK writer or director.

This creates a massive opportunity for producers willing to structure projects carefully. Fisher’s company has been “taking American projects, making them European, shot them in Finland, posted in the UK—40% soft money.” For a US producer in the audience, the panel’s advice was clear: find strong European partners, embrace co-production structures, and leverage the superior infrastructure and incentives Europe offers.

Martinez added that Spain offers similar pathways: “If we invest in a project, we win automatically, as we are from Spain, we take this IP and we convert the project in Spanish co-production.” He’s done major studio movies shooting 100% in Spain with full Spanish nationality despite big US casts.

THE BUDGET REALITY CHECK

Running throughout the discussion was an uncomfortable truth: budgets must come down. “We are looking into a necessary decrease of the budgets,” Lebret stated plainly. This doesn’t mean compromising quality, but it does mean getting smarter.

The panel pointed to several strategies:

• Shooting in countries where production is less expensive
• Developing expertise in delivering high-quality projects with reduced budgets
• Diversifying into multiple formats and revenue streams
• Building vertically integrated partnerships that reduce intermediary costs
• Embracing new business models like AVOD and creator-economy platforms

Fisher even suggested his next investment might be outside traditional film and TV: “Our next company investment will be a creator network… because broadcast TV is going off a cliff, and people are spending their time watching creators on YouTube, watching creators on TikTok.”

THE HORROR STORIES

When asked for financing horror stories, the room fell silent – then Lebret shared the darkest reality. “I have seen maybe 10, maybe more producers that have lost their house.” These producers mortgaged everything, including family homes, to finance their films. “That’s why I have so much admiration for them, because they are ready not to be paid for three, four years… and they can lose it.”

The panel’s unanimous advice? Never do this. Rannu was emphatic: “I wouldn’t recommend anybody to mortgage their house to pay for a creative project.” Yet the fact that producers do speaks to both the passion that drives the industry and the desperation of the current funding climate.

Fisher shared his own nightmare: a film that shot, went through post-production, and is about to be delivered – but hasn’t closed financing. “It hasn’t happened before, and I didn’t know it could happen, but it did. So this is the magic of the film industry. It can fuck up in new ways.”

THE DUE DILIGENCE IMPERATIVE

All four financiers stressed the importance of thorough due diligence – not just on projects but on people. Fisher shared a telling example: they had a seemingly perfect opportunity from an unknown producer. Background checks revealed the producer had changed names after being convicted of fraud. “We couldn’t move ahead, even though it was a good opportunity, because I cannot look my investors in the eye and say, ‘It’s a great opportunity, but he’s got a different name.'”

Martinez described firing a well-known director who’d increased a budget by €20 million over three years – the conversation happened just hours before the director boarded a plane from LAX to begin shooting in Spain. “He was on the movie when he left LAX, but when he arrived to Spain, he was no longer on.”

WHAT PRODUCERS NEED TO KNOW

For filmmakers approaching private financiers, several lessons emerged:

1. UNDERSTAND THE BUSINESS MODEL
   Is this equity, debt, or something hybrid? What’s the time horizon? When and how does the investor exit?
2. RESILIENCE MATTERS MORE THAN TRACK RECORD ALONE
   Financiers want to see how you’ve adapted to change, pivoted when necessary, and delivered under pressure.
3. DIVERSIFICATION IS YOUR FRIEND
   Production companies with multiple revenue streams—features, series, digital content—are more attractive than single-format specialists.
4. COMMERCIAL VIABILITY VARIES BY INVESTOR
   Know whether you’re talking to the “crazy people” investor (Rannu) or the regulated fund requiring A-list packages (Martinez).
5. THE PACKAGE IS EVERYTHING
   For equity investors like Mobidic, you need cast, director, sales agent, completion bond, and collection managers in place. For debt providers like Creativity Capital, you need solid collateral and proven producers.
6. BE TRANSPARENT ABOUT THE EXIT
   If someone’s investing in your company, discuss the exit strategy upfront. It’s going to happen in 3-7 years—plan for it.
7. EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION IS INCREASINGLY ATTRACTIVE
   The combination of superior tax credits, lower costs, and the ability to qualify American projects as European creates real opportunities.

THE DISTRIBUTION DILEMMA

One fascinating exchange addressed the changing value of traditional distribution deals. Lebret posed a provocative question: “If distributors are taking less risk and putting less money in… for what reason should we [give them] 50% of our revenues for 10 years?”

With equity coming into the sector that can replace minimum guarantees, the traditional distribution model faces pressure. Several panelists mentioned increasing verticalisation – production companies owning or partnering with sales agents and distributors rather than signing away rights for minimal upfront payment.

Fisher added that the creator economy offers another revenue model entirely: “The creators that we see that make the most money are people who make one episode, the episode costs maybe €10,000. A brand pays about €30,000 to be featured, and then YouTube gives about €20,000 in views. So suddenly, you’re making 10 minutes of content, it costs you €10,000, your income is €40,000.”

These aren’t the margins available in traditional filmmaking – which helps explain why Fisher expects his next investment to be in this space.

THE THEATRE QUESTION

When discussing theatrical distribution, Lebret shared intriguing data: overall theatrical attendance in France is down 15% year-over-year, but the decline isn’t uniform. “There is less audiences into the suburbs and more into the centre of the city… There is a shift into the audience appearing now, which is seeing more young people coming to the theatres, and what they are looking at is different films.”

Young audiences aren’t coming for US blockbusters – they can watch those on Netflix. They want different films, which creates opportunity for strong European content. But this opportunity is geographically and demographically specific, requiring sophisticated audience engagement strategies.

THE FUTURE: SELECTIVE OPTIMISM

Despite the challenges, these financiers remain in the business – and that’s significant. They’re not blind to the difficulties: shrinking public funding, reduced distribution advances, rising costs, changing consumption habits, and potential trade barriers. Yet they see opportunities.

For Rannu, it’s about finding filmmakers who can achieve outsized impact. For Lebret, it’s backing producers who’ve proven they can adapt. For Fisher, it’s leveraging Europe’s production advantages and exploring new formats. For Martinez, it’s seeking international projects with wide commercial appeal and building a valuable library.

The financing revolution Jesus Martinez alluded to isn’t about a single breakthrough – it’s about a fundamental restructuring of how films get made and paid for. Vertical integration, flexible structures, new revenue streams, company-level investment, and strategic co-production are all pieces of the puzzle.

For filmmakers, this means more options than the traditional soft money + broadcaster + distributor model, but also more complexity. Each financing source comes with different requirements, timelines, and levels of creative involvement. The producer’s job is increasingly about sophisticated financial engineering alongside creative judgment.

As the panel concluded, one message came through clearly: passion alone won’t get your film made, but neither will purely commercial calculation. The sweet spot – increasingly hard to find but still worth seeking – is where strong storytelling meets smart business strategy, where creative ambition finds financial structure.

And if you can achieve that balance? There are financiers who want to meet you. Just be prepared: they’ll do their due diligence.