One of the ways a producer can finance a movie is by pre-selling the film to foreign territories. How does this work? Most countries do not have the infrastructure or resources necessary to sustain a viable film industry. Thus, these countries rely on Hollywood and other major film industries to provide them with content for their movie theaters and television networks.

Producers can negotiate a deal with distributors in these countries and pre-sell the distribution rights to their movie for that country. Then the producer can take these pre-sale agreements, i.e. contracts, to a bank that deals with entertainment finance and use them as collateral to secure a loan.

In order to pre-sell their movies to these foreign territories, a producer usually needs to have certain elements in place, like a marketable director or stars, before foreign distributors will consider buying the film. Genre is also a consideration. Action and horror films do well in the foreign market because their stories translate easily across cultures and are not reliant on dialogue.

By the same measure, dramas and comedies fare poorly because of the language and culture quotient. Sequels to known films also sell well, hence why you find so many damn Children Of The Corn sequels at your local video store.

For those of you who are interested in seeing what your stories are worth in the foreign pre-sale market, here’s a table of estimates pulled from the Hollywood Reporter on the foreign pre-sale market.

The numbers above reflect an estimated range of the value of movies to those particular territories. They are by no means set in stone. Having A-list stars or directors in a desirable genre can push the price of your film far above the range listed above while having a drama with unrecognizable actors, a first time director can push under the bottom of the range if you’re lucky enough to be able to sell the movie at all.