Film finance is the world’s most convoluted mystery for any independent filmmaker.  Finding the clues, meeting the players who can disclose the right information, getting to the main venues can be daunting tasks even for the seasoned professional. Engaging expert counsel can help you negotiate through it all. Boston Attorney Vinca Jarrett is one such counsel.

Jarrett’s roots in entertainment are deeply imbedded in her experience; she always knew she’d take up the law and recognized early on that she had a predisposition for film and film financing. Jarrett asserts, “I have always been interested in finance, perhaps largely due to my father who was a practicing stockbroker while I grew up.”

She continues, “I serve as much more than legal counsel on most of my projects, helping clients to meet third party producers, distributors, writers, talent and even finance that they would otherwise not have access to themselves or probably just don't know about.”

Jarrett‘s clients benefit from her experience as a producer. Alongside her client Romano Shane International (CATCH ME IF YOU CAN; I, ROBOT; NORTHFORK) she is currently producing RED WEATHER, written and directed by Jane Spencer (LITTLE NOISES). Jarrett says of her role in this project, “My job here is as producer in which capacity I have brought on those executive producers from South Africa and Italy who will help to finance the film. Because Jane Spencer has Swiss residency, we can qualify her for certain funding incentives under Swiss treaties.” 

Vinca Jarrett addresses filmmakers, investors and studio representatives gathered at the 2004 Film Finance Summit in Beverly Hills,CA. The 2005 summit, featuring the dealmakers who arranged international financing for HOTEL RWANDA and BEING JULIA will be held at the Regency Hotel in New York City on March 7-9. Photo courtesy of Skriptease.

Knowing how to manipulate the parameters in this way contributes to Attorney Jarrett’s value.

Also on the horizon for Jarrett is Vermont Filmmaking veteran Jay Craven's (WHERE THE RIVER FLOWS NORTH) upcoming project DISAPPEARANCES which will shoot in April this year. "Jay is the kind of renegade filmmaker who understands the business inside and out, with all its pitfalls. But in the end he gets his films done, and that, in itself is a remarkable feat that I want to be associated with."

Jarrett’s innovative work at FilmPro Finance, a separate company to her law practice, takes her around the world leading seminars, instructing major and minor players on the intricacies of film financing.

Says Jarrett, “I've been very fortunate to build this area of my expertise and am currently working with two substantial financial groups out of New York to put together film finance for large slates, one focused on studio pictures, the other on independent films.    

FilmPro Finance was primarily established to build slate financing products clients within the studio system. However, FilmPro has evolved into assisting established filmmakers with their one-off financing needs, including funding available in the U.S. and internationally through co-production laws and treaties.”

“The mistake of less experienced clients’ seeking our help,” explains Jarrett “is in their thinking we have access to a bunch of millionaires anxious to invest in their uncapitalized films. It’s a great myth of independent filmmaking. What we do is help such clients acknowledge filmmaking as a business and bring in the resources to help their projects get taken seriously for financing by the plethora of existing financing sources.” Jarrett goes on to clarify that that can mean finding a more experienced producer or executive producer who gives the project credibility and, ultimately, leads to distribution.

Boston Attorney Vinca Jarrett, representing FilmPro Finance, entertains a question at last year's Film Finance Summit, in Beverly Hills, California.

Jarrett is particularly adept at recognizing the rapidly-changing trends. At present, several states are attempting to match the kind of tax incentives for filmmakers that are currently practiced in Canada and Europe generally. New York, Illinois, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and New Mexico lead the pack, but there are opportunities to be had in Hawaii and Oregon, and California is expected to join the pack shortly. In October, the U.S. Congress enacted a federal bill that allows significant write-offs for investors in American-made films.  

“What works best depends always on a filmmaker's project,” Jarrett explains; “And where the best place to film is. Shooting in Iceland for a tax break doesn't make sense if your story takes place in Manhattan. 

It takes careful legal expertise to put these deals together, and filmmakers need legal counsel that understands the governing issues.  “Films that are structured in part by tax incentives always have a bank present to underwrite the film, and are expensive transactionally; thus they are best done with proper legal and tax advisors on board to structure the deal. Filmmakers should remember that this costs money and is always funded up front out of pocket.”

Jarrett tells her clients to shoot where they have the greatest head start on money, whether in the U.S. or abroad. “Get a sales agent involved before you finance the film to give you credible numbers as to what your film can gross at the worldwide box office and to ensure that your budget makes sense.” She points out that filmmakers and their investors do not make money on the U.S. theatrical releases; however, without such a release worth and eventual profit are greatly diminished. 

“Still,” she concedes. “Most independent films won’t be released theatrically, and to ensure that a film can gross its money back through worldwide video and broadcasting rights, is what the business of film is all about.”

All producers, Jarrett counsels, should have funds for self-distribution set aside, as very few independent films find Hollywood distribution deals. Successful self-distribution depends on the filmmaker’s understanding of the project’s audience and potential for marketing by nontraditional methods, as well as its ability to exhibit in top festivals...

Jarrett looks for filmmakers with strong scripts, viable stories with multi-dimensional characters. She does assist filmmakers who haven’t yet learned the ropes of the business but who seek to develop marketing and distribution strategies that will recoup investment, filmmakers who will not be satisfied merely to play the festival circuit. 

Jarrett regularly moderates at the biannual International Film and Television Finance Summit, which happens next on March 7-9, 2005 at New York’s Regency Hotel. The seminar will gather more then forty top-tiered speakers, including the principal players responsible for arranging international financing for BEING JULIA and HOTEL RWANDA.  For information on the summit and/or an overview of Vinca Jarrett’s services, visit www.vincajarrett.com.

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Carla Stockton is an independent film producer and partner at Bagel Fish Productions. She is a frequent contributor to IMAGINE and IMAGINE’s Associate Publisher for Southwestern Connecticut. Email: carlaatimagine@yahoo.com