Valuing pre-distribution film projects: praxis of the Polish audiovisual sector clarified through the conceptual lens of entrepreneurial finance.

Commercial valuation has an important role in guiding resource allocation in high-risk and early-stage start-up projects. The rationale of assessment is under-examined in the context of the audiovisual sector. In the European context, in which cultural policy support coexists with market-driven decision-making - in particular the Polish audiovisual sector - understanding how commercial value is assessed at the distribution stage is crucial for guiding decision-making and addressing the sector's issues of undercapitalisation restraining its sustainability. This study contributes to the underdeveloped literature on valuation in cultural and creative industries and offers insights into how commercial reasoning is integrated into a publicly subsidised film economy. By drawing on entrepreneurial finance and strategic management literature, this thesis bridges the rationale of valuation in the audiovisual sector with financial and strategic perspectives, addressing the gap in existing literature that tends to emphasise marketing-oriented approaches. This thesis inquires how are independent film projects valued in the Polish audiovisual sector. The focus is on valuation at the distribution stage as this corresponds to the project selection and investment stage emphasised in the entrepreneurial finance literature on venture capital decision-making. I also include two sub-questions that address the risk-taking aspect of valuations. Firstly, how do valuation approaches reflect the strategic positioning of stakeholders within the audiovisual sector? Secondly, how do these strategies consider risk-taking at a portfolio-level? Namely, do stakeholders consider valuing projects with portfolio diversification in mind? A qualitative research approach was adopted, based on semi-structured elite interviews with key stakeholders of valuation at distribution: producers, sales agents, distributors, financiers. The findings show that valuation is derived both from project-level attributes (e.g. script quality) and strategic positioning considerations. Under conditions of high uncertainty the heuristic method of valuation employs both qualitative and quantitative approaches, but the focus is on the former, as numeric metrics are treated with reserve. The adopted from entrepreneurial finance literature dimensions of valuation (i) the resorce-based view, (ii) industry organization economics, and (iii) network theory proved right for conceptualising these dynamics. It seems that the line between valuation and pricing in the audiovisual sector is blurred as the primary tool of assessment is the method of comparison titles - past performance and prices of distribution rights of arguably similar projects.