EXCLUSIVE: Leading indie production finance company TPC has planted a flag in another major hub, acquiring Australian group Mind the Gap Film Finance.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed for the deal, which follows TPC’s expansion into the U.K., where it recently launched operations, and its acquisition of Media Capital Group in Vancouver.
Founded by Michael Agar in 2016, Melbourne-based Mind the Gap has financed more than 250 productions across both scripted and unscripted formats including Oscar-nominated Memoir of a Snail, Lesbian Space Princess (Teddy Award winner in Berlin) and Sundance-premiering Jimpa.
“This acquisition not only expands our presence in Australia but also opens the door to financing opportunities throughout the region,” said TPC President and CEO David Gendron in a statement. “As global production becomes increasingly decentralized, producers now have more freedom to film wherever the economics make sense.”
The announcement comes after Donald Trump’s bombshell move Sunday to slap steep tariffs on movies made outside the U.S., followed by a more detailed plan with a 120% tax on the value of a production’s foreign incentive and other measures like a federal production incentive in the U.S. and a return of the financial interest and syndication rules (so-called fin-syn rules). The proposals were developed by Jon Voight and presented to Trump. Many see the potential tariff as more rhetoric than reality but it might have a chilling effect by creating uncertainty.
Tariffs are the favored tool of the president as he wages a global trade war, but he’s also backtracked and paused some of the heaviest levies after pushback.
“There’s a lot of noise around the tariffs, but being global is a good thing regardless,” Gendron tells Deadline. TPC works with local production in all those three international territories where its business can continue to grow regardless. Well over half of its business is in the U.S. Like most in the industry, he’s all for a federal tax incentive Stateside.
TPC works with films in the $2 million to $30 million-budget range. Recent projects include The Monkey, released by Neon, Maude Apatow’s upcoming feature debut Poetic License starring Leslie Mann and Nico Parker, and horror Pendulum with Phoebe Dynevor and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, currently shooting in New Mexico.
The firm is part of Forest Road, also the parent of indie film distributor Vertical.
“Our partnership with TPC brings together deep market knowledge, longstanding relationships, and robust financial backing,” said Agar of Mind The Gap. “We’re excited to accelerate our growth and o]er producers innovative financing pathways — not just in Australia, but through co-productions with the UK, Canada, and beyond.”
