Star-Struck Bankers Are Investing in Movies Again

When Jay Cohen sought funding for a new independent film company, Wing and a Prayer Pictures, he had bankers falling over themselves to finance it. “We had seven banks call and offer us lines of credit,” says Cohen, head of film financing and distribution at Beverly Hills-based talent agency Gersh and an executive producer of the 1994 comedy Swimming With Sharks. “They had never met anyone involved in the company,” he says.

From big banks like JPMorgan Chase to billionaires like John Paulson, investors are putting their money into movies again after pulling back during the financial crisis. Filmmakers are able to borrow at the lowest rates since 2008, bankers say. “There is a lot more activity than I have seen in a long time,” says David Shaheen, head of JPMorgan’s entertainment industries group in Los Angeles. “There is increased comfort in the future of the business relative to a few years ago.”