In filmmaking, a completion guarantee (sometimes referred to as a completion bond) is a form of insurance offered by a completion guarantor company (in return for a percentage fee based on the budget) that is often used in independently financed films to guarantee that the producer will complete and deliver the film (based on an agreed script, cast and budget) to the distributor(s) thereby triggering the payment of minimum distribution guarantees to the producer (but received by the bank/investor who has cash flowed the guarantee (at a discount) to the producer to trigger production).
[1] The producer will agree to deliver a film (based on an agreed script/cast/budget) to a distributor in respect of certain territories in consideration (inter alia) for payment of a "minimum distribution guarantee" payable at the point in time when the producer has delivered the completed film.
These methods of funding can be complicated and expensive due to legal, bank fees and interest.
In extreme circumstances, films are sometimes finished by the completion guarantor company (this infamously occurred during production of The Thief and the Cobbler and Foodfight!
)—an event that is traumatic for the crew and cast, and can be disastrous for a film's creative and commercial ambitions.