Private Capital Is Reshaping Hollywood Moviemaking

Cynthia Erivo's newest film, "Prima Facie," screened last month at the Toronto International Film Festival with backing from an unlikely source: Camelback Productions, a small Hollywood venture funded by private investors betting big on independent film.

The contrast with Erivo's previous project was stark. "Wicked" was a massive Universal undertaking. "Prima Facie" was produced in part by Camelback, a company founded to fill a gap left by the traditional studio system, according to CEO Anita Verma-Lallian.

"It's a different point of view to invest in these projects," Verma-Lallian said. "It's been so hard for people that are not in Hollywood to get into the industry ... We've been able to fund stories that otherwise would have had a hard time getting greenlit by the traditional studio system."

Camelback has also produced "Doin' It" and "Runner," featuring stars such as Lilly Singh and Owen Wilson.

An opening for smaller players

Blockbusters such as this year's "The Odyssey" and "The Devil Wears Prada 2" remain the domain of legacy Hollywood studios. But the number of annual releases is dwindling, and forthcoming consolidation between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery is creating room for smaller production companies to break through.

Recent breakouts including "Backrooms" and "Obsession" have found success on lower budgets, even as moviemaking remains capital-intensive. To thread the needle, private capital is buying into production companies, acquiring infrastructure and moving deeper into entertainment financing. Private equity firm Silver Lake backs talent agency WME. Blackstone stands behind content studio Candle Media.

Consulting firm AlixPartners, in its 2026 Media and Entertainment Industry Predictions report, said private equity investors in media are growing with precision as studios and audience aggregators become increasingly vertically integrated. The cost of entry has risen, yet private investors remain eager to own intellectual property and audiences.

"Private equity can build scaled, defensible businesses that profit regardless of which large media player owns the next blockbuster, effectively ensuring a central role in the future media value chain," the report read.

Netflix and Amazon continue to raise the bar for content spend. Traditional studios, in response, are finding new ways to keep pace.

Speed as a selling point

For Verma-Lallian, independent film offers something the studios cannot match: speed. "A lot of times, if you go through the traditional Hollywood system, it could literally take five to 10 years from the time of inception," she said. "Whereas if you're doing it independently, we've made some movies in as quickly as a year."

Faster timelines often mean lower production costs and a quicker return on investment.

Verma-Lallian's background is in real estate investing. She said Hollywood has proven attractive for herself and other nontraditional private investors looking to diversify their portfolios, particularly as existing financing models weaken.

"I think the traditional sources [of financing] are starting to decline, and they're becoming a lot more risk-averse," she said. "I do also believe now with more independent films being funded and going to different pools of capital, you're able to do more."

She does not believe private capital will become Hollywood's primary source of financing. But she said investor agility could pressure the incumbents.

"Hollywood is incredibly traditional, and it's very old-fashioned in the way it operates, which always I find so ironic, because ... Hollywood's so progressive, but the way that the studio systems work, it's just a very dated process from my experience," she said.

IP has never been more valuable

Alex Michael, senior managing director at investment firm LionTree, said investors are racing to bring new storylines to the screen by capitalizing on intellectual property that hasn't already been used.

"What is clear to me is that IP has never been more valuable. It's never been harder to find," Michael said at the Financial Times' Business of Entertainment Summit last month. "But if you have great IP, you can monetize it in ways that no one could have imagined 10 years ago."

LionTree has invested in companies such as Fanatics and Fubo, advised on Amazon's acquisition of MGM and the merger of CBS and Viacom, and is investing in Paramount pending the close of its deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.

Michael added that the industry is diversifying, with retail entrants such as Gap and Mattel's Barbie helping support the sector's economics.

A cultural shift, too

Private capital is changing not only how movies are financed but which movies get made. Lata Krishnan, a tech investor entering the Hollywood market, said private investors often tell more diverse stories, take more risks and reach audiences hungry for content.

"The big studios are often legacy organizations focused on a certain type set of films, and I think private capital has the ability now ... to invest in films that are not traditional and that give voices to stories in a different way," she told CNBC.

The next wave of movies must also keep up with a new generation of moviegoers drawn to relatable, diverse content. That shift includes short-form and creator content migrating to the big screen, as with YouTuber Curry Barker's "Obsession," in a bid to draw Generation Z to the box office.

This dynamic puts new people in the driver's seat. "It's my capital. I don't have to check in with anyone," Krishnan said. "So we explore a theme, a story, the actors and the production team, and we can make quick decisions."

Elan Gale, a Hollywood producer and investor, said private investors have the flexibility to jump on trends fast and fill a gap first. Gale, co-founder of independent film financing company QWGmire, has also worked on productions including "The Bachelor." He said audiences are "hungry" to return to theaters for something new and original.

"I think the primary upside for filmmakers is that private equity investors are less likely to get into the nitty-gritty of the creative process and allow some of the exploration and some of the freedom that studios maybe can't give filmmakers because they're significantly larger companies with significantly more restrictive development processes," Gale said.

"I think Hollywood is reshaping around private capital, around brands and around content creators in ways that are really meaningful," he said. "A lot of the successes that people have seen recently are a little too hard to ignore."