Launch of financing to expand short-term independent film lending with the help of a new $15 million credit facility

Exclusive: Beverly Hills-based film finance specialist Launch Financing is poised to expand its short-term loan services for independent productions in the US, Canada and the UK, securing its first $15 million institutional credit facility. The film's lending arm is The Launch Company, producer and investor Chris Kay. Daniels, previously more than 60 […]

Chris Kay's Lending Arm Daniels, a producer and investor in The Launch Company, has previously financed more than 60 media loans against tax credits, pre-sales and other committed production receivables.

Past recipient productions include the Dutch thriller, the comedy Black Thumb and the coming-of-age comedy The Marshmallow Experiment. RELATED STORIES Eric McCormack Casts for Nimisha Mukherjee's Psychological Thriller 'You're Safe Now' One Long Winter News: Watch First Trailer for Andrew Hague's Drama Starring Fred Hechinger, Ebonne Moss-Baucherch, Caitriona Balfe and Kate Connor

The new $15 million credit facility was provided by specialty lender Pier Asset Management and is Launch Financing's first institutional warehouse facility. Watch on Deadline

Expandable to $25 million over time, the line enables Launch Financing to extend its short-term production loans to independent films in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

"A production's money always comes in slower than the production wants," says Daniels. "Tax credits, bank closings, equity cash flow, and distributor payments all come on their own schedule, and the schedule is not related to filming time."

We built a standard loan structure that clears within two to five business days and wires within forty-eight hours of signing, because that's all a prep producer really needs from a lender. "This facility will allow us to expand beyond our current pipeline and work with more quality producers, production companies, agencies and studios, improving the film process at the same time."

Launch Financing advances senior secured capital against the money a product is expected to receive, and is repaid when that money arrives. Loans last eight to twenty-six weeks and are secured first against government production incentives, minimum distributor guarantees, advance sales, pledged stock, institutional capital, and library-backed corporate guarantees.

This money typically covers production cash flow during bank or institutional lender closings, as well as escrow and union deposits, production payroll, and supplemental funds.

Launch Financing is part of Launch Development, which develops and packages film projects. Cinelaunch, the company's business and support platform; and Launch North, its physical manufacturing operation in Toronto.

The lending team sits on both sides of the table, as producers who borrow against tax credits and presales, and as the institutional capital that structures these loans.

Daniels, who is a strategic partner of Esme Grace, the boutique company that houses Michael Mann's Ferrari, serves as chief executive of the startup and its lending arm. Wyatt Cavalier is Chief Investment Officer of Launch Financing JV and Jess Mastro is Head of Development for The Launch Company.

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