Film glossary

Collection Account Management

Collection account management is a neutral arrangement that receives a film revenue and pays it out to each party according to the agreed recoupment waterfall.

Run by a specialist, a collection account gives every party confidence that distribution revenue is handled transparently and distributed in the right order. Financiers, guilds, deferrals, and profit participants are all paid from the same account.

The waterfall a collection account enforces during distribution is the same waterfall agreed during financing. Clear documentation at the financing stage makes the payout stage far less contentious.

Go deeper

Film Distribution guideFilm distribution is how a finished film reaches audiences and earns revenue across theatrical, streaming, television, and other windows. It involves sales agents, distributors, and a patchwork of territory and rights deals. Clean chain of title, complete deliverables, and clear collection arrangements are what let a distribution deal actually close and pay out.

Related terms

Keep reading the glossary

Recoupment WaterfallThe recoupment waterfall is the agreed order in which each source of capital is paid back from the revenue a film generates.Back-End ParticipationBack-end participation is a share of a film revenue or profit that a participant receives after the film begins to recoup, rather than as an upfront fee.ResidualsResiduals are ongoing payments made to talent and crew, usually through their guilds, when a film earns from reuse across additional markets and windows.DefermentA deferment is a fee that a participant agrees to postpone, taking payment later out of the film revenue instead of upfront.

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