The financing of film and TV production has changed dramatically compared with how it was in previous decades.
And no one knows that better than Daisy Stall, EVP & group head of entertainment finance at California Bank & Trust. She has three decades of experience in this area not only on the side of various financial institutions, but a stint overseeing the global treasury group at Sony Pictures.
On the latest episode of Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast, she outlines how traditional funding models have been disrupted by streaming services and broader changes in content consumption. “What has happened over the years is revenue models have been really upended,” she said.
Listen to the podcast here:
The rise of streaming initially simplified financing by consolidating deals; one large streamer could replace dozens of distribution contracts. However, over time, streamers gained disproportionate leverage, leading to tighter margins for producers.
Fixed license fees, once profitable, have shrunk significantly. Furthermore, streamers now frequently acquire only partial rights (e.g., domestic only), forcing producers to find additional buyers for remaining territories. Increasingly, streamers also demand IP ownership in perpetuity, limiting producers’ long-term revenue potential.
Stall also discusses the emergence of new business models, including revenue-sharing agreements, which she views optimistically. Unlike fixed fees, rev-share models allow both producers and distributors to participate in downstream revenues, aligning incentives and potentially restoring sustainability.
“If you do the revenue share, you have to have confidence in your partner to exploit the content and increase over and above what you would have received for that fixed license fee, and take the upside,” she said.
The conversation also touches on AI, with Stall identifying its dual role: reducing production costs for creators and optimizing financial operations—especially in areas like royalty calculations and revenue waterfalls, which are traditionally labor-intensive and prone to disputes.
“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. A new episode debuts each Wednesday and can be downloaded on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher and SoundCloud.
The Streaming Wars is intentionally ad-free
We don’t run display ads. Not because we can’t, but because we don’t believe in them.
They interrupt the reading experience. They cheapen the work. And they burn advertisers’ money on impressions nobody actually wants.
So we chose a different model.
We say the things people in this industry are already thinking but don’t say out loud. We connect the dots beyond the headline and focus on explaining why things matter to the people working in this business.
If you believe industry coverage can exist without clutter and interruption, you can support it here → SUPPORT TSW.
Support is optional. But it directly funds research and continued coverage — and helps prove this model can work.
Support TSW →
