FilmBankers International

Co-founders Harold Lewis and Brenda Doby-Flewellyn run the firm. Lewis serves as CEO; both came out of Union Bank of California's entertainment-banking unit. Credit-committee authority appears concentrated with the two principals, consistent with a boutique structured-finance practice where origination and underwriting are not separated.

Deal flow arrives through entertainment-law firms, talent agencies, completion-bond companies, and producer relationships built over Lewis's and Doby-Flewellyn's combined decades in entertainment banking. Lewis's UCLA alumni network provides an additional referral channel into the Los Angeles production community. The firm does not market publicly or raise commingled funds, so sourcing depends almost entirely on reputation-driven inbound inquiry.

No dedicated fund vehicle is publicly disclosed. FilmBankers appears to structure facilities on a deal-by-deal basis, syndicating participations to banking partners and private-credit providers rather than deploying from a blind pool. This keeps the firm's own balance-sheet exposure limited per transaction.

A standard production loan is secured against contracted pre-sales, tax credits, and a completion bond — all of which cover the budget before principal photography begins. Gap financing fills the shortfall between those contracted sources and the total budget. It is higher-risk because it sits junior to the senior lender and relies on unsold territories' estimated value. FilmBankers specializes in structuring that mezzanine layer.

The firm structures deals across the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia — markets with established tax-incentive regimes. Each jurisdiction's tax-credit program creates a government receivable that can be monetized upfront, forming the collateral base for the firm's credit facilities.

No. The firm's posture is strictly credit: it underwrites debt facilities against contracted receivables and tax-credit streams. By not taking equity upside, FilmBankers avoids the producer's risk of recoupment waterfalls and maintains an arm's-length credit relationship with its borrowers.

No. It is an independent boutique founded by former Union Bank of California executives. There is no publicly disclosed parent, sponsor, or captive relationship with a bank holding company. The firm operates as a standalone credit arranger and administrator.