Finance I: Cracking the Formula: Independent Film Financing in Today’s Financial Landscape

Speakers

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  Jill Goldsmith Co-Business Editor, Deadline
  

  Jill Goldsmith

  Co-Business Editor, Deadline

  Jill joined Deadline in 2019 after working as a New York-based contributor. She follows corporate finance, deals and publicly traded companies in media and entertainment, film financing, and New York film and TV production.

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  George Hamilton CCO, Protagonist Pictures
  

  George Hamilton

  CCO, Protagonist Pictures

  George Hamilton is the Chief Commercial Officer at leading independent sales, finance, and production outfit Protagonist Pictures. He specialises in the financing and representation of worldwide sales of independently financed feature films. He works closely with filmmakers, producers, production companies, and financiers to greenlight their films. Since 2020, he has been involved in the sales and/or financing of over 30 features, including Brady Corbet’s THE BRUTALIST, Nora Fingscheidt’s THE OUTRUN, Temple Hill’s CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD and ENCORE, Plan B’s H IS FOR HAWK, Bharat Nalluri’s FLAVIA DE LUCE and Protagonist’s first in-house production, THE MAN IN MY BASEMENT.

  As Protagonist’s CCO, Hamilton played a key role in the evolution of the business into a fully multi -faceted production, financing, and sales company. George joined Protagonist in 2013, and prior to his current role, he led Protagonist’s sales team. He began his career producing and directing short form content for world leading brands and agencies.

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  Miguel Palos Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, AGC Studios
  

  Miguel Palos

  Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, AGC Studios

  AGC Studios’ Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder Miguel Palos Jr. is a seasoned executive with a remarkable track record in the entertainment industry. He currently oversees all operational and financial matters, business affairs, financial reporting, project financing and management of lender relationships for AGC Studios and its subsidiaries and divisions. He is an expert in financial structuring and has helped establish financing structures in a number of burgeoning geographies with new film incentives over the years including Romania, Mauritius, and Italy amongst others.

  Prior to AGC Studios, Palos served as CFO of IM Global, where he orchestrated financing for over 35 projects, deploying more than $600 million in production capital during which tenure he was lauded as one of Variety’s New Leaders in Film. Prior to joining IM Global, he worked for Ernst & Young in the Assurance and Advisory Business Services division, providing financial and operational accounting services to various entertainment industry clientele including Endeavor (pre-WME), ESPN, ESPN Sur, Fox, ABC, The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, EMI Blackwood Music and Universal Music Group.

  Palos is a sought-after speaker and has been on many industry panels. He holds a B.S. in Accounting and a B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from the University of Southern California as well as an M.S. in Accountancy, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Notre Dame. Palos is a Los Angeles native and spends his hours outside of the studio building his real estate portfolio.

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  Paula Paizes COO/Media and Entertainment Business Executive/Lawyer, Pressman Film
  

  Paula Paizes

  COO/Media and Entertainment Business Executive/Lawyer, Pressman Film

  As COO and Head of Business affairs at Pressman Film, www.pressman.com, Paula oversees all aspects of production, finance, distribution, licensing, merchandising, operations and business affairs of a library of over 100 films and a current development slate of 25 film, TV and new media projects. A seasoned media and entertainment executive, with broad corporate experience, she has deep relationships in Hollywood and internationally handling a variety of business negotiations and dealings including structuring the deals and supervising many complex and cross border transactions and the teams involved in closing them. Paula started her career as a media, communications and corporate lawyer in Sydney, Australia, with major international law firm Blake Dawson Waldron, representing Fox Studios and many high-profile TV and corporate clients. She was recruited by client, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company, The Really Useful Company, as In-House General Counsel and was responsible for negotiating and handling all business dealings on the live stage productions and licensing of shows in Australia and South East Asia. The USA beckoned and after settling in Los Angeles in the late 1990’s, Paula joined advisory and consulting company, Ignite Media, eventually becoming a principal and managing director. At Ignite, Paula provided overall strategic, business and cross border transactional advice to film, TV, digital media, technology and software clients.

  In her career, Paula has also served as an Arbitrator for bond company, Film Finances, in production and finance related disputes. Paula has produced and executive produced TV and film, and innovative new media including an immersive entertainment project “Evolver” with Cate Blanchett (selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024), feature films including the remake of the “The Crow” (released by Lionsgate in August 2024), “Daliland” (with Sir Ben Kingsley, released in June 2023), “Where Eskimos Live”, Black
  Limousine”, and the late-night reality TV series “Clubbin” which ran for two seasons on the WB Network. Paula also served a producing deal with veteran Hollywood producer Mark Gordon (“Grey’s Anatomy”, “Saving Private Ryan” and “Criminal Minds”) where she developed projects with both The Mark Gordon Company and his independent production arm, Stratus Film Company. In addition, Pressman is in development on a robust slate of film and TV projects that Paula is attached to as a producer or executive producer.

  Paula has extensive board leadership and governance experience having served on several corporate and non – profit boards. Paula co-founded LA-based organization Australians in Film and served on its board for 13 years and in various management positions significantly contributing to the growth of the organization as President, Chairman and AIF Foundation Chair. She also served as an advisory board member of “Women Who Lead”, part of the Los Angeles based AMEC (American Media and Entertainment Counsel) and participated on the steering committee of Los Angeles based, The Tall Poppy Collective, a collective of young tech entrepreneurs and innovators. Paula is currently an advisory board member of the Legends Capital Management Fund, a real estate and development fund, where she sits alongside many prolific sports and entertainment personalities including Leigh Steinberg, Byron Scott and Elizabeth Guber and is a Board member of LA-based charity, Lost Faces of Humanity, a humanitarian Foundation empowering refugees, worldwide. Paula is also a member of female focused industry groups, including LA-based not-for-profit Visionary Women which mentors young female founders and entrepreneurs in business, Women in Film and FEME (Female Executives in Media and Entertainment) and is a longstanding member of international arts club Soho House, its sister club Little Beach House in Malibu and San Vicente Bungalows. She is also a proud member of the Summit Series group of thought leaders and innovators and regularly attends community meetings and events. Paula holds double degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws and is an accomplished speaker at various industry events and has contributed to industry publications. She is married and raised two sons in Santa Monica, CA.