# THE BAKER: Cannes Pitch Posture Adjustments

**Date:** 2026-05-08  
**Use:** Adjustment note after reviewing the latest email and call transcript.  
**Status:** Internal deck guidance.

## 1. Core correction

The Cannes deck should pitch and pressure-test the package. It should not sound like the team is asking the room to confirm finished numbers or commit to a hard structure during first meetings.

The email and transcript make the posture clear.

## 2. Email basis

The latest email framed Cannes around questions:

- co-production
- sales
- buyer feedback
- cast
- finance partner fit
- MENA partner fit
- introductions
- Australian financing assumptions
- eligibility conditions
- what is cashflowable
- how the structure fits together

This is a pitch and discovery posture, not a closing posture.

## 3. Transcript basis

Aya repeatedly framed the immediate need as building credible material for conversations:

- understand roughly what numbers can be packed
- have conversations with potential partners
- hold credibility when discussing the project
- set up possible meetings
- manage the conversation depending on who is in front of us
- maximize odds
- put the word out there
- prepare follow-up emails after meetings

Maroun also framed his role as proving economics with an audience and building presale projections that can be discussed with producers, co-producers, networks, broadcasters, distributors, or financiers.

## 4. Language change

The deck should avoid sounding like this:

- confirm QAPE
- validate the offset case
- close AUD 7.62M
- confirm contributions
- hard target

The deck should sound like this:

- pressure-test QAPE assumptions
- model the offset pathway
- identify who can underwrite or cashflow the receivable
- test Screen NSW and France ranges
- open the MENA finance and distribution conversation
- compare partner feedback against the target case
- build the follow-up path toward financeable commitments

## 5. Finance slide posture

The Australian model should remain numerically strong, but all figures should be clearly framed as **illustrative planning cases** for discussion.

Recommended wording:

> In the target planning case, AUD 8.0M of QAPE would generate a projected AUD 3.2M Producer Offset. At a planning advance rate of 90 percent, that would create approximately AUD 2.88M of cashflowable value.

The ask should be:

> Cannes should pressure-test the QAPE, Screen Australia path, cashflow lender appetite, Screen NSW range, France co-production fit, and the post-offset closing plan.

## 6. Why this matters

Hard confirmation language can make the package sound premature or under-documented. Pitch language keeps the deck confident while preserving credibility.

The goal is to leave Cannes with better numbers, better partner logic, and follow-up conversations, not to pretend the structure is already locked.