‘Boom Boom,’ out go lights … and cameras
Ray BOOM BOOM Mancini - asks a question about Youngstown - during the filming of the documentary about Youngstown
These days, the former Youngstown boxing sensation takes on studio executives.
Did you ever picture Ray Mancini as a pitchman?
The former World Boxing Association lightweight champion gave that impression recently while explaining the operation of his two companies: Mancini Pictures International and Boom Boom Productions.
Although the Youngstown native didn’t retire until losing to Greg Haugen in 1992, he’s an example of someone who used his head for something other than a target.
Since moving to Los Angeles in 1985, Mancini has made wise choices with his boxing earnings.
Mancini enjoys talking about his work, which involves corporate combat in a conference room with business executives and studio heads.
Mancini Pictures is a new company he started with Manhattan Investment Partners, a Wall Street investment bank, backing it.
“What we [MIP] do is offer the most comprehensive business model out there right now,” he said of the appeal of an equity partner to a studio.
“We’ve been talking with studios because every studio is looking for an equity partner. There’s no financial institutional in the world offering what we’re offering.”
Mancini contends that entertainment is recession-proof, but he doesn’t deny the reality of today’s financial abyss.
“One thing that’s been recession-proof, historically, is entertainment. But money is tight, even with institutional lenders. When you’re looking for an investment, you go to venture capitalists. But institutional money is kind of on hold now.”
Despite it, there are shoppers out there.
“You’re still going to have those guys who want to come out and play,” Mancini said, using Youngstown street slang to describe big-money boys.
“I read an article in Fortune Magazine saying that the entertainment business is the best investment that could be made because of a higher return in faster time and there’s a guarantee. No bank is offering what my company is offering. So in today’s market, the entertainment business seems to be the best value you can get.”
Mancini outlined four points:
“One, we give a 30 percent return on money — that’s money back with a 30 percent preferential return before anybody sees anything.
“Two, we’re guaranteeing it in 18 months.
“Three, my partner is a distributor out of Canada guaranteeing 30 percent of your principle: for every dollar you put up, we’re guaranteeing 30 cents of it before we even start shooting.
“We’re guaranteeing 30 percent of your money before we even start shooting, so the potential to lose is only on the 70 percent. And depending on where we shoot, most states are giving a 20 to 40 percent rebate. On the last day of shooting, they give you a 40 percent rebate on the money that you spent there. They give you a check.
“So, we’re guaranteeing 30 percent of your money in 18 months and 30 percent of your principle — that’s 60 percent we’re guaranteeing right there! All you’re on the hook for is 40 percent and we leverage that bet because, depending on what state, there’s a 20-to-40 percent rebate on what you spend.
“So we’re giving that check right back to the investor. So that’s 90 percent to almost 100 percent of your money back, plus 30 percent back-end ownership in the project [film].
“Again, that’s guaranteeing 30 percent of your money, of your principle that you put up, and giving 30 percent preferential return within 18 months and giving 30 percent of the back end. I don’t know anybody who’s doing that.
“If you believe that the entertainment business is the best investment you can make, we feel our company, specifically, is the best model you can get.”
Mancini said that he’s been told — not only by financial institutions but also by people who put money into movie projects — that the MIP model is the most comprehensive.
Investors have shown interest, Mancini said, but he stressed that money is on hold for a lot of companies right now.
“We were talking for the last couple of years with some of the top financial institutions in the world; they’re interested in our model. We were in the midst of completing a transaction of funds when the economy went sour. Not that they pulled out, but they basically put it on hold. I’m in a holding pattern with a lot of these companies.”
But conditions are also ripe for what Mancini calls the “flash investor” or venture capitalist.
“Those guys want to flash, or want to come and bring their wife and kids on the set. It’s the best time because what we’re offering on the return for investment is the best that’s out there. So these guys who want to step up — the real players — are going to step up now. We’re talking to a few of these guys. There’s a group out of Michigan that looks like a very serious player and there’s a group out of China.”
To an investor, what Mancini said he likes to emphasize is that when a film is made, it’s something tangible.
bassetti@vindy.com
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