Starpedia

Package Elements
Any marketable audience appeal asset of a motion picture project when viewed as a commodity. Such assets might include subject, genre, franchise, high concept hook, marquee stars, director, producer, script, production tier, locations, music or any unique attraction. (See project package)

Package Sales
The film industry sales practice of grouping multiple films together into a single “package” to license them to a wholesale buyer.

Packaging
The process of attaching promotable elements to a film project prior to its being greenlighted for production. (See project package)

Pari Passu
A Latin phrase, meaning “with equal steps,” commonly used in the motion picture and television industry to refer to a pro-rata recoupment of revenues based on investment participation.

Peak
The highest point in a business cycle between the end of an economic expansion and the start of a contraction. (See business cycle, downtrend, uptrend, trough)

Persona
See Marquee Star.

Pigeon Drop Scam
A common swindle in which a mark or "pigeon" is convinced to advance a sum of money to secure the rights to a larger sum of money, or a more valuable object. The scammers then make off with the advance money and the mark is left with nothing. In the film business, this scam usually shows up as a best efforts promise to secure a deal, to attach celebrity talent to a project, to find financing or to break loose blocked funds in exchange for a good faith advance on expenses, broker services, earnest moneys or success fees, etc. The scam takes its name from the French word "pigeon," meaning a patsy or someone who is easily scammed. The pigeon drop can dupe even the most experienced and the most cautious, and is extremely difficult to prove as fraudulent. (See Ponzi scheme, Pyramid scheme)

Positioning
The act of designing a company or film's image so that its intended customers understand what it stands for and appreciate the commercial value of its product relative to the competition. A motion picture's production tier is determined largely by its positioning. (See production tiers)

Present Value
In finance, today’s value for future payments evaluated at an approximate discount rate or cost of money. (See present-value dollars)

Present-value Dollars
Constant dollar values with the current year set as the control year. Formulaically, present-value dollars are calculated as: 2nd Year Present Value Dollar = Present Year Dollar Value x (CPI-W for Present Year/CPI-W for 2nd Year) (See constant dollars, present value)

Preview Of Coming Attractions
See trailer.

Prints And Ads (p&a)
The marketing costs associated with the theatrical release of a motion picture. It includes the theatrical promo trailer, the release prints or digital medium, the ad campaign design and paid media advertising support.

Pro-forma Financial Statements
Financial statements that project the results of some assumed event, rather than an actual event; often used with business plan presentations.

Producer
The aesthetic, financial and commercial chief executive of a movie or television production. Most film producers function similar to “real estate developers” for the movie business: They acquire the screenplay, frame its commercial appeal, set its aesthetic tone, prepare budgets, recruit financing, address financier concerns, hire the director and key crew, attach marquee stars, approve cast selections, negotiate collective bargaining agreements, operationalize scripts and budgets, administer production contracts, authorize production expenditures, supervise the physical production, handhold temperamental talent, troubleshoot logistical hiccups, approve or determine final cut, arrange for distribution, coordinate delivery materials and documentation, finalize marketing campaigns, respond to collective bargaining obligations, maintain voluminous auditable records and master delivery elements, and, often, monitor revenue returns and challenge discrepancies. (See director, PGA or Producers Guild of America)

Production Tier
A motion picture’s market positioning as loosely suggested by budget range. An outgrowth of budget limitations, collective bargaining agreements and accessible distribution outlets, the term refers to the overlapping but distinctive business communities that compose the film industry. A film’s production tier, however, is not determined by budget size but, rather, by its market positioning as has been enabled by both budget and filmmaker ingenuity. (See positioning)

Project Package
The configuration of marketable elements for a film project. (See package elements.)

Projection
A financial planning tool that predicts some event, such as the cash flows from an investment project, based on present data or trends. Projection is one technique used to assess risk.