PFD Agreement

A production/finance/distribution agreement, most commonly referred to as a “PFD agreement,” is when a distribution company (studio, VOD company, streaming platform, etc) hires a production company to produce a film, and the distribution company agrees to directly finance production of, and to distribute, the film.

Under these agreements, the production company is little more than a dependent agent of the distribution company and is subject to the complete control of the distribution company on all aspects of production.

The grant of distribution rights to the distribution company is always of all rights in perpetuity throughout the world, making the distribution company the complete and absolute owner of the film. The production company often retains a theoretical interest in net profits, if any, generated by the film, and often not even that.