The completion guarantees specialist has set up shop in Germany with Cologne-based subsidiary Film Finances Germany (FFG).
“Over the past few years we have been asked to bond an increasing number of co-productions that have gone to Germany,” Film Finances co-president Kurt Woolner told Screendaily.
“So in a way it is a testament to the work of the regional awards programmes and in particular, the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) incentive programme that we have decided to have an official presence in Germany.”
The first completion bond to be issued by FFG was for Ron Howard’s €40m German-UK co-production Rush, which wrapped principal photography last week in Baden-Württemberg. Howard is pictured here during pre-production on the film.
Exclusive Media and Cross Creek Pictures co-financed the drama and produce with Imagine Entertainment, Working Title, Brian Grazer and Revolution Films as well as Germany’s Egoli Tossell Film and Action Concept.
Woolner explained that FFG’s production and corporate activities will be overseen by Marcus Loges, who most recently served as a line producer on the €100m production Cloud Atlas, directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, which is also bonded by Film Finances.
In addition, Film Finances is developing a programme with ARRI Film & TV to assist producers to monetise the German subsidies more efficiently. This programme, which should become more concrete by the end of the Cannes Film Festival, will be coordinated by LA-based ARRI development executive Thomas Nickel.
“We have had a close relationship with ARRI which goes back over a decade now and we had been talking for a while about ways that we could cooperate,” Woolner said.
“Talking with producers we saw that there is a complexity when you are doing a movie which is financed largely through a UK or US bank,” he noted. “These banks are not familiar or comfortable with the German awards programmes or know how to monetise those.
“The producer therefore has to go to another bank in Germany to monetise the German part of the funding. Our intention is to provide greater clarity and security for the banks working on these co-productions.”
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