LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 18: A crew sets up cameras for the filming a mobile phone commercial … [+] on-location on November 18, 2006 in Los Angeles, California. A report released this week by the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Institute of the Environment finds that the movie and TV industry is a major generator of smog, soot and greenhouse gas pollution. According to the report, trucks, generators, the dynamiting of sets, earthquake and fire special effects, and other activities by the industry produces 140,000 tons of ozone and diesel particulate pollution each year. It is probably second only to petroleum refineries in air pollutant emissions, for which comparable data was not available, and ranked third in gas greenhouse emissions for southern California. The entertainment industry generates $29 billion in revenue and employs 252,000 people in the region, and some industry officials have expressed a desire to further reduce pollution out of concern that stricter rules could drive more filming to other states and Canada. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
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Seasoned lending veterans in the entertainment industry, Melanie Krinsky and Charlene Paling have teamed up to create the Los Angeles-based Entertainment & Media group at Western Alliance Bank.
The pair moved to Western Alliance in the autumn of last year to begin the process of setting up the entertainment lending arm of the institution. The new division has already put through $300 million in loans, with a reported $100 million in potential deals pending.
Entities within the entertainment entrepreneurial space are predominantly victims of habit and usually go to the same sources for funding, the heavy amount of loans given out already highlights a glaring need in the marketplace.
The pair have been working together since 2017 in separate companies. When they first met Paling had recently moved into banking for the entertainment sector from a career as an attorney, and Krinsky was summarizing her tenure at an LA entertainment bank.
“There’s just something about being women in entertainment finance, especially as we’ve both grown in our careers and traveled to international events, that’s definitely helped us bond,” Krinsky said.
Female writers and producers have statistically struggled to raise financing for projects and when they do are funded less than their white male counterparts. Paling and Krinsky aimed at not just correct this but take advantage of a massive area of the sector that is underfunded with powerful stories and ideas.
Withing being a relationship-inspired endeavor the pair is so far enjoying their relationship with the bank.
Krinsky said on the bank: “Many people we talk with in the business haven’t heard of Western Alliance,”
“I love having a chance to tell them who this bank is. The first thing to know is that this is a national business bank with more than $50 billion in assets — and everyone here, up to and including the CEO, is excited to be getting into entertainment and media lending.”