California Bank & Trust’s Daisy Stall

The financing of film and TV production has changed dramatically compared with how it was in previous decades.

And no one knows that better than Daisy Stall, EVP & group head of entertainment finance at California Bank & Trust. She has three decades of experience in this area not only on the side of various financial institutions, but a stint overseeing the global treasury group at Sony Pictures.

On the latest episode of Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast, she outlines how traditional funding models have been disrupted by streaming services and broader changes in content consumption. “What has happened over the years is revenue models have been really upended,” she said.

Listen to the podcast here:

The rise of streaming initially simplified financing by consolidating deals; one large streamer could replace dozens of distribution contracts. However, over time, streamers gained disproportionate leverage, leading to tighter margins for producers.

Fixed license fees, once profitable, have shrunk significantly. Furthermore, streamers now frequently acquire only partial rights (e.g., domestic only), forcing producers to find additional buyers for remaining territories. Increasingly, streamers also demand IP ownership in perpetuity, limiting producers’ long-term revenue potential.

Stall also discusses the emergence of new business models, including revenue-sharing agreements, which she views optimistically. Unlike fixed fees, rev-share models allow both producers and distributors to participate in downstream revenues, aligning incentives and potentially restoring sustainability.

“If you do the revenue share, you have to have confidence in your partner to exploit the content and increase over and above what you would have received for that fixed license fee, and take the upside,” she said.

The conversation also touches on AI, with Stall identifying its dual role: reducing production costs for creators and optimizing financial operations—especially in areas like royalty calculations and revenue waterfalls, which are traditionally labor-intensive and prone to disputes.

“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. A new episode debuts each Wednesday and can be downloaded on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher and SoundCloud.