“The best thing we can do as a film industry is make sure that investors earn risk appropriate returns on their money. We need to create a sustainable investor class,” explains Ted Hope in this video interview with Film Courage. In recent years, Hope has shied away from producing as a career, doing it purely out of love for the film while paying the bills as CEO of Fandor. In order to return to the trade full-time, he’d need for there to be guaranteed returns on investments, as it traditionally goes in the realm of startups and finance.

The issue, of course, is that independent filmmaking has always been a risky business. There are next to no guarantees on the success of a film, regardless of the personnel involved or the caliber of the script. Financing is a portion of the process that is so often shrouded in secrecy, but if we can get people talking, we’d be able to support the four pillars of filmmaking according to Hope: Artist, Audience, Industry and Investors.