"I don't buy what the pundits are saying that the internet is a giant fad and it was never going to succeed. It felt like, no, this is actually the beginning of something much bigger." - Stephan Paternot
Takeaways
- Film evaluation involves assessing the script score and the capabilities of the team.
- The financial score is an important indicator of a film's potential success.
- Investment returns in the film industry can vary based on timing and execution.
- The studio co-financing fund provides opportunities for investors to finance high-scoring films.
Bio
In 2004, Stephan co-founded PalmStar, a film production and financing company that has produced and financed over 30 films including Hereditary (2018), Collateral Beauty (2016), Sing Street (2016) and John Wick (2014). Stephan is also the founder and general partner of the Actarus Funds. Founded in 2002, these angel funds have backed such companies as LendingClub, SecondMarket, Indiegogo, AngelList, Digital Currency Group, and many more.
Prior to these ventures, Paternot is best known for co-founding one of the first Internet community sites, theglobe.com, in 1994. The company set stock market history when it went public in 1998 with a record-setting IPO, pushing the company valuation to over $1 billion. Over a six-year span, the company grew to over 300 employees, and the website became one of the top thirty most trafficked sites in the world. In 1999 Stephan won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and in 2001 published his memoir, A Very Public Offering, detailing his experience at theglobe.com. A Very Public Offering was updated and reissued in 2018 in conjunction with the worldwide release of the National Geographic Television series Valley of the Boom, in which Paternot is featured as a character.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
