1
Start with a template (optional)
2
Select deal structure
Film title
Currency
Total budget
$
Investors
Pari passu recoupment
Total equity
—
Producer participants
Optional — breaks down producer net
Total shares
Distributor fee (20–35%)
0%
Sales agent fee (10–20%)
0%
P&A / marketing recoup
$
Prints & Advertising — the cost of marketing and releasing the film (trailers, posters, ads). Paid back before investor recoupment begins.
Delivery expenses
$
Technical costs to get the film onto platforms — encoding, quality control, closed captions, subtitles. Separate from marketing.
Reserve holdback (typ. 10%)
0%
Loan financing
Repaid before investor recoupment
Recoupment multiple (1.0 = 100% back)
1.0×
Only affects results once revenue is high enough to fully recoup the investor.
Producer net— calculated automatically
3
Set your revenue — see the waterfall
Gross revenue scenario
$
$0$5,000,000
Net after fees
—
Investors get
—
Producer gets
—
Investor ROI
—
Investor net gain / loss
—
Total equity invested
—
Revenue scenarios
Enter three gross revenue scenarios to compare how each flows through your deal structure.
Conservative
$
Base case
$
Upside
$
Revenue breakdown comparison
filmwaterfall.com
4
Revenue timeline
Track revenue as it arrives from streaming, AVOD, broadcast, and other sources. P&A and delivery expenses recoup once cumulatively. Deal terms above apply automatically.
Investor equity
$300,000
Recouped to date
$0
Producer to date
$0
Still owed
$300,000
Recoupment progress0% recouped
Revenue events
Add revenue event
Source
Gross amount
$
Period
Cumulative recoupment over time
Cumulative recouped
Gross revenue per period
Investor fully recouped
Backend profit participation has begun. Producer and investor are now sharing net profits per the agreed split.
Glossary
Waterfall
The order in which revenue is distributed. Each party gets paid in strict sequence — nobody in a lower tier sees a dollar until everyone above them is paid in full.
Gross revenue
All money received from the exploitation of the film — streaming, AVOD, TVOD, theatrical, broadcast, airlines — before any deductions.
Reserve holdback
A percentage of gross revenue withheld temporarily to cover potential future liabilities. Typically 10%. Released after the risk period passes.
Distributor fee
The percentage a distributor charges for releasing and selling the film. Typically 20% to 35% of gross revenue, deducted before anyone else gets paid.
Sales agent fee
Commission for selling the film to distributors in different territories. Typically 10% to 20%. Both fees come off the top before investors see anything.
P&A / marketing recoup
Prints and Advertising — the cost of marketing and releasing the film. Includes trailers, posters, advertising, and press. This amount is recouped once cumulatively across all revenue before investor recoupment begins. In theatrical releases P&A can exceed the production budget itself.
Delivery expenses
The technical cost of getting the film onto platforms — encoding, quality control, closed captions, subtitle creation, and platform delivery specifications. Separate from marketing. A streaming deal with Netflix or Amazon will typically require specific technical delivery that costs money.
Loan financing
Debt used to finance part of production. Must be repaid — principal plus interest — before equity investors see any recoupment.
Recoupment
The process by which investors get their original investment back. Until fully recouped, 100% of available net proceeds flow to investors.
Recoupment multiple
A premium on top of the original investment. A 1.2× multiple on a $300,000 investment means the investor recoups $360,000 before the producer sees any backend profits. The recoupment multiple is only meaningful in the upside scenario — when the film actually performs well enough to fully recoup. It is the premium investors receive for taking the risk, but only when the film succeeds.
Backend split
After the investor fully recoups, remaining net profit is divided between investor and producer per the agreed percentage.
Producer net
What the producer receives after all other waterfall tiers have been paid — either everything after investor recoupment (Friends & Family) or their share of the backend split.
Pari passu
Latin for "on equal footing." Multiple investors recouping pari passu are paid proportionally at the same time — no single investor jumps the queue.
AVOD / SVOD / TVOD
Ad-supported (free, ad-funded like Tubi), Subscription (Netflix, Amazon), and Transactional (pay-per-view rental/purchase). Each pays differently across a film's release window.