Project money in a production town
Wikipedia says Glendale, along with neighboring Burbank and nearby Hollywood, has been a major production center for the American film industry, especially animation. DreamWorks Animation, Marvel Animation and Disneytoon Studios have all been based here. The old Grand Central Air Terminal, once the city's largest employer, now stands as part of the Walt Disney Imagineering campus. The land around it became the Grand Central Business Centre industrial park.
Production spending reaches many small firms, including equipment rental houses, prop and set shops, post-production and sound studios, caterers, freelance collectives and payroll-heavy service vendors. Their revenue rarely arrives evenly. A busy quarter can be followed by a quiet one, and invoices to production companies are often paid on milestones.
Project-based cash flow, step by step
- Booking: a studio confirms the work. Nothing has been paid yet.
- Ramp: you hire freelancers, rent gear or buy materials, and your costs rise right away.
- Delivery: you hand over the work and send an invoice.
- Collection: payment comes on the client's schedule, which can be weeks later.
Steps two through four are where a loan helps. For illustration only, a sound studio taking on a series might spend $35,000 on contract engineers and a console upgrade before the first milestone payment. A loan covers that ramp period. Those figures are an example, not our terms or a typical result.
Other ways to fund the same gap
If you face this gap on every project, a Glendale business line of credit or working capital may fit better than a single lump sum. For cameras, lighting or editing systems, see equipment financing. If you'd rather have payments that follow your revenue, read about revenue-based financing or a merchant cash advance. Fixed schedules are covered on the term loans page.
Requirements in plain terms
Requests range from $25,000 to $5,000,000. The review uses about three months of business bank statements. No tax returns are required. FICO scores from 500 are considered, and the first check is a soft pull. Sole proprietors and single-member LLCs can apply, which matters in a city with many freelancers who have formed companies. Approved and signed files can be funded in as little as 24 hours.
Newer studios can read startup business loans. Owners rebuilding credit can read bad credit business loans in Glendale. Owners struggling with existing advances can see MCA relief. When you're ready, apply in about five minutes.