Advance
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| In one sentence | Money paid up front, either for the license of a movie's rights or as pay for someone's work, before the movie has actually earned that much. |
|---|---|
| Category | Film and Television |
| Related | Minimum Guarantee, Recoupment, Overage |
Imagine a publisher pays an author some money right away for the right to publish their book, even before a single copy has sold, trusting that sales will eventually cover it. That upfront payment is an advance.
An advance works the same way in the movie business. It can mean either a payment for licensing a movie's rights, like a Minimum Guarantee, or an upfront payment to someone as compensation for work they did, paid before the movie has actually earned that much money yet.
Fun facts
- Whoever pays an advance almost always has a right of Recoupment, meaning they get to recover that money first, before any extra overages get paid out.
- An advance is a bet on future success, since the person paying it is trusting that the movie will eventually earn enough to justify it.
- Advances let people, like writers or actors, get paid something even if a movie ends up never earning much at all.