A Potent Stew Of Pedantry And Boogie Rock

It's been a bit of a quiet day. I couldn't find much to talk about, with the possible exception of a really stupid definition of a "best efforts" financing commitment in the C section of the Wall Street Journal. It comes in the context of an article about how big banks are rethinking their commitment to the business of financing films.

Some already announced deals, meanwhile, have been grappling with challenges in the syndication markets. When banks started doing these deals a few years ago, they would usually agree to a "best efforts" deal with the studios, meaning they would only commit to a deal if they could underwrite it to reduce their risk.

But more recently, banks have committed to deals before underwriting them. Now, with several banks struggling to syndicate new deals at acceptable prices, some are reverting back to "best efforts" deals.

Urgh. I imagine this doesn't make much sense to you, either, since most English-speakers would translate "underwrite" as "commit to fund". I think the best way of describing "best efforts" is "banks agree to provide as much funding to film producers as banks can raise from third parties". I have no idea how you underwrite something to reduce your risk. They probably meant to say "syndicate", but that word has different connotations in the media.

Anyway, that was all very tedious. To cleanse your soul, may I suggest you watch AC~DC, fronted by Bon Scott in a dress, tear through "Baby Please Don't Go". Comes close to the majesty of the Nuge's version