Learning the Language: A Guide to Private Investment in Australian Film

Every year, Australian producers approach private investors to help finance films that government funding alone cannot fully support. And every year, those conversations break down because the two sides are speaking different languages. Producers know the structures instinctively but struggle to explain them. Investors understand finance but find the screen industry opaque and unfamiliar.Learning the Language is a guide to private investment in Australian film, written for both sides of that conversation.The book follows one fictional film, Last Orders, a $4 million Australian comedy-drama set in a small coastal Victorian town, from the producer's first idea through release and the years of revenue that follow. Along the way, it traces the experience of first-time investor David Lowe and his experienced mentor Helen Park, and producer Anna Wyatt, who knows the structures instinctively but is learning what it takes to bring private investors along with her.Each chapter runs three parallel tracks: the producer's story, the investor's story, and a standalone technical guide covering waterfalls, offsets, collection accounts, SPVs, due diligence, and the long tail of revenue. Readers can follow all three or focus on the tracks most relevant to them. The book also includes a complete worked finance plan, waterfall model, due diligence guide and a glossary of more than seventy industry terms.This is not a book about how to get rich from film investment. It is a book about how to participate in Australian storytelling intelligently, with clear eyes and realistic expectations. The investors who do well in this industry are the ones who understand what they are buying. This book helps them understand it. Read more