Category: Law

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Film Financing 7: Distributing Your Film – Entering Into Distribution Licence Agreements

In order to bring a film to its end users, production companies (licensors) enter into licence agreements with third party distributors (licensees). A licence agreement refers to a limited grant of rights to a licensee, while the licensor (i.e. the owner of the film) retains all other rights to the film. Examples of distributors include subscription-based VOD streaming services such as Netflix, cinema chains, and entertainment media buyers for large retail chains.

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Film Financing 6: An Introduction To Completion Bonds

Completion bonds are contractual agreements whereby producers pay a fee to completion guarantors, who issue a guarantee that the film will be completed in accordance with the script and delivered on schedule to distributors. For independently financed films, investors often want the film to have a completion bond before they are willing to invest in the film. Completion bonds essentially protect the investor, by ensuring that they will be repaid the film’s financing after the film is delivered to the distributors.

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Film Financing 3: The 3 Important Approaches To Negotiating A Fair Deal

The best agreement is one that is fair to all parties. All too often parties attempt to negotiate by demanding for more than what is fair to them. Parties are suspicious of each other and the lack of trust ends with parties feeling short changed.

As such, it is crucial for producers to set the stage for an alternative negotiating style that builds on openness and trust. This approach is far more advantageous in the long run as parties build good relationships and the producers are able to work out a financially profitable objective. By setting the stage, producers influence all other parties to the deal to adopt an open and honest negotiating style. Below are 3 important approaches that producers can apply when opting for this strategy.

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Film Financing 2: Understand the Different Types of Business Structures

Registering a suitable business entity structure is important for film financing because the structure affects the options in terms of what you can offer to investors.

In theory, there are many options for a business structure: sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership (LLP), private limited company.

I’ll just cut straight to the point. If you want to have more options in terms of offering equity / shares to investors, then opt for a private limited company.

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Film Financing Intro: Producing a film, writing a screenplay, or acting in a film? What you need to know to navigate the law and finance of the film industry

Introduction: Making Films in Singapore

I love movies, short films, videos, television series. I binge on them. I talk about them with friends.

I get jealous that TV series like La Casa De Papel, Fauda, Kim’s Convenience get picked up by Netflix for distribution to international acclaim.

Singapore has produced great films like Apprentice, Pop Aye, 7 Letters, Ilo Ilo, 881, Singapore Dreaming, and more recently, A Land Imagined.

What’s stopping Singapore content creators from producing more great work that receive international acclaim?

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Can employment contract prohibit post-termination disclosure of information that is not confidential?

Singapore Law; Legal; Lawyer

Can an employment contract clause expressly prohibit post-termination disclosure of information that is not actually confidential? Most likely, no.

As a Singapore employment lawyer, I recently came across such a clause in an employment contract prohibiting indefinite disclosure of “any information” relating to the employer company.

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MAS launches Sandbox Express

Singapore Law; Legal; Lawyer

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS“) announced on 7 August 2019 that it has launched the Sandbox Express.

The Sandbox Express provides businesses with a faster option to test certain innovative financial products and services in the market. Eligible applicants can begin market testing in the pre-defined environment of up to 9 months in the Sandbox Express within 21 days of applying to MAS.

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