Only a monster can hunt another.

MIGUEL

A film directed by Jorge Gurvich From an original idea by Juan Diego Rodríguez Written by Angel E. Pariente
THRILLER • PERIOD • BASED ON TRUE EVENTS

Guatemala, 1946

The country's new revolutionary government faces an unforeseen crisis: a serial killer is preying on boys between ten and fifteen. He moves like a ghost. There are no witnesses, no sightings, no leads — only bodies. In their urgency to stop the killings, the authorities offer Commissioner Miguel a full pardon for every crime committed under the previous regime, in exchange for catching the killer. In a system this corrupt, justice can only be served by the same hands it set out to clean.

The Talent Behind the Vision

Juan Diego Rodriguez ORIGINAL IDEA & LEAD ACTOR (GT)

With over three decades of work as an actor and producer, Juan Diego is one of the most recognized faces in Guatemalan theater and film.

Jorge Gurvich DIRECTOR (AR)

Across more than thirty credits as a director (Back to Maracanã, The Shower), producer (Mrs. Moskowitz and the Cats), and cinematographer (Gentila), Jorge brings a hands-on command of production conditions across Latin America that few directors can match.

Angel E. Pariente SCREENWRITER (ES)

Goya Award–winning writer with a long career in film and television, including major productions such as Amazon Prime's El Cid.

Financial Comparables

VERIFIED COMPARABLE SEGMENT ($300K – $10M)

1.72x MEDIAN BOX OFFICE ROI,
COMPARABLE SEGMENT (N=201)
Sources: Box Office Mojo, Wikipedia, ICAA (Spain), INCAA (Argentina), KOFIC (Korea), KOBIS, territorial trade press.
Film
Budget
Box Office ROI
Memories of Murder (2003). KR
Bong Joon-ho · Procedural based on a real unsolved case; morally compromised hunters.
$2.8M
8.93x
Wild Tales (2014). AR/ES
Damián Szifrón · Anthology of fury and social collapse. Almodóvar production.
$3.5M
8.71x
The Clan (2015). AR/ES
Pablo Trapero · True-story family kidnapping ring. Silver Lion at Venice.
$4.0M
5.10x
Memoir of a Murderer (2017). KR
Won Shin-yeon · A retired killer with Alzheimer's protects his daughter. Psychological thriller.
$5.0M
3.04x
Confession of Murder (2017). JP
Yū Irie · A serial killer comes forward after the statute of limitations expires and publishes a memoir of his crimes.
$6.0M
3.37x
Marshland (2014). ES
Alberto Rodríguez · Iberian procedural set during Spain's transition to democracy. 10 Goya Awards.
$5.3M
2.83x
Machuca (2004). CL
Andrés Wood · Coming-of-age during Pinochet's coup.
$1.5M
2.13x
Black Bread (2010). ES
Agustí Villaronga · Postwar Catalonia, rural crime. 9 Goya Awards.
$3.2M
1.72x
No Rest for the Wicked (2011). ES
Enrique Urbizu · A corrupt cop investigates a triple homicide. 6 Goya Awards, including Best Picture.
$4.9M
1.21x
God's Crooked Lines (2022). ES
Oriol Paulo · Psychiatric thriller of dual identity.
$7.4M
0.85x
May God Save Us (2016). ES
Rodrigo Sorogoyen · Detectives chase a serial killer in 2011 Madrid.
$4.4M
0.70x
Median box office ROI (N=201):1.72x
Top quartile box office ROI (P75):4.29x
Probability of box office ROI ≥ 1x:63%
Technical note: The per-film ROI figures shown in this table reflect box office ROI (worldwide revenue ÷ production budget). This is not equivalent to investor ROI, which is calculated after distribution splits, sales agent commissions, and the recoupment waterfall. Investor-level returns are calibrated in the Monte Carlo model on the Probabilities slide.

Producer's Distribution Plan

CAPITAL TRANCHED AGAINST VERIFIABLE COMMERCIAL MILESTONES

Independent films in this segment require dedicated producer-level investment in festival circuit deployment, professional press and marketing materials, and representation at industry markets. An underfunded distribution plan devalues a picture before it ever reaches a sales agent.

TRANCHED CAPITAL STRUCTURE
TRANCHE 1 (available from day one) $1,120,000
  • Production$990,000
  • Core festival circuit$130,000

Includes: submissions and travel for 3–4 premieres at A-list festivals, professional press kit, EPK, trailer and poster, Iberian–Latin American PR agency, attendance at one industry market.

TRANCHE 2 (conditional) $270,000

Released only upon verifiable achievement of one of the following milestones:

  • Confirmed invitation to an A-list festivalCannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, San Sebastián, Sundance, Locarno, Karlovy Vary
  • Confirmed territorial pre-saleExclusive SVOD deal or theatrical release in a major territory
  • Sales agent signed with minimum guaranteeMinimum guarantee equal to or greater than Tranche 2

Tranche 2 deployment: expanded festival circuit, international PR agency, presence at 2–3 additional industry markets, reserve allocation for awards campaign.

TOTAL COMMITTED CAPITAL $1,390,000

Production-to-distribution ratio of 1 : 0.40 · aligned with current independent film consensus

Tranche 2 is released only against verifiable objective milestones, never against projection. If the picture fails to gain initial commercial traction, investor exposure remains capped at $1,120,000 — not at the total committed amount.

INVESTOR RETURN WATERFALL

Full recoupment of invested capital plus a 15% preferred return, paid in priority to any producer participation, followed by a perpetual 50% share of net profits.

Tier Description Scenario A
Tier 1 Full recoupment of total committed capital (100% to investors) $1,390,000
Tier 2 15% preferred return on total committed capital $208,500
TOTAL RECOUPMENT Before net profit participation $1,598,500
Tier 3 Net profit participation 50% of net profits

Technical Notes

Tier 1 — Payment Priority Investors hold first position in the revenue waterfall (after taxes and sales agent commissions), receiving full return of invested capital before any deferred producer compensation is paid out.
Tier 2 — 15% Preferred Return A 15% preferred return is paid on total committed capital ($1,390,000) once the picture generates sufficient revenue. The return is calculated on actually deployed capital: if Tranche 2 is not triggered, the preferred return is calculated on $1,120,000.
Tier 3 — Net Profit Participation From this point forward, the investor class retains, in perpetuity, the right to 50% of all additional revenue generated by the production. This participation is distributed pro rata among investors based on each investor's contribution to total committed capital. The remaining 50% (Producer Net Profits) is reserved for the production company, talent, and creative participants.

MODEL PROBABILITIES & SCENARIOS

100,000 Monte Carlo simulations over 201 verified comparable films · tranched model with dynamic capital exposure based on Tranche 2 activation.

INVESTOR EXPECTED RETURN
1.56x
Probability-weighted mean · +56% over committed capital
MODEL PROBABILITIES

100,000 Monte Carlo simulations · calibrated against 201 verified comparable films. All-in revenue model: theatrical box office + SVOD platforms + television + tax credits. Dynamic capital exposure based on Tranche 2 activation.

Investor return distribution Probability
Capital doubled or better (MOIC ≥ 2.0x)20%
Full recoupment + 15% preferred return34%
Capital recoupment (MOIC ≥ 1.0x)49%
Total loss (MOIC < 0.3x)22%
Tranche 2 activation (scaled capital)62%
SCENARIO CALIBRATION

The Monte Carlo model is calibrated against four scenarios anchored to actual segment percentiles. Each scenario corresponds to a verifiable historical case.

INVESTOR RETURN SCENARIOS
Probability Investor MOIC Typical capital Total returned Outcome
BEAR (P25)25%0.37x$1,120,000$414,400−$705,600
BASE (P50)50%0.93x$1,252,000$1,164,360−$87,640
BULL (P75)25%1.60x$1,390,000$2,224,000+$834,000
STRETCH (P90)10%3.68x$1,390,000$5,115,200+$3,725,200
WHY EXPECTED RETURN AND NOT MEDIAN
Median (P50) — what happens to the central investor:0.93x
Expected return (mean) — probability-weighted average:1.56x

Independent film exhibits positive skew: a modest median paired with a substantial right tail. The investor is not buying the median — the investor is buying the full distribution, in which 20% of projects double capital and 10% return 3.68x or more. The correct financial metric for evaluating this opportunity is expected return, not median.

Empirical Anchors

EVERY SCENARIO HAS A REAL FILM BEHIND IT

The Monte Carlo model is calibrated against the actual return distribution of 201 verified comparable films in the segment ($300K–$10M). The four films below are tonal anchors representing each percentile.

BEAR (P25) ~25% probability
Black Bread (2010)
Agustí Villaronga · Spain
Budget: $3.2M Worldwide box office: $5.5M
ROI: 1.72x
9 Goya Awards · moderate Spain/Europe distribution.
BASE (P50) ~50% probability
Marshland (2014)
Alberto Rodríguez · Spain
Budget: $5.3M Worldwide box office: $15.0M
ROI: 2.83x
10 Goya Awards including Best Picture · international distribution.
BULL (P75) ~25% probability
The Clan (2015)
Pablo Trapero · Argentina/Spain
Budget: $4.0M Worldwide box office: $20.4M
ROI: 5.10x
Silver Lion at Venice · global distribution via Fox International.
STRETCH (P90) ~10% probability
Memories of Murder (2003)
Bong Joon-ho · South Korea
Budget: $2.8M Worldwide box office: $25.0M
ROI: 8.93x
Global benchmark of the subgenre · 5.1M admissions in Korea.

Four verifiable films. No outliers. No theoretical projections.

Technical note: The ROI figures shown for each film are box office ROI (worldwide revenue ÷ production budget). The historical investor MOIC for each case depends on its specific splits structure and is not included here. The Monte Carlo model on the previous slide calculates investor MOIC for MIGUEL under the declared tranched financial structure.

Tonal Comparables

EMOTIONAL SPECTROGRAM — MIGUEL VS TONAL ANCHORS

Methodology validated against Lettieri et al., Nature Communications 2019 · Auditable dataset

Every beat of MIGUEL's screenplay — and of the screenplays of its three tonal anchors (Memories of Murder, Marshland, Black Bread) — was labeled along three neuroimaging-validated emotional dimensions: polarity, complexity, and intensity. The spectrogram visualizes how MIGUEL's dramatic structure unfolds across the fifteen Save the Cat beats, compared against the scripts of films that share its tonal DNA.

opening
theme
setup
catalyst
debate
break 2
B story
fun & games
midpoint
bad guys
all lost
dark night
break 3
finale
final image
POLARITY
Memories of Murder
-8.0
-5.0
-2.5
-7.0
-5.0
-5.0
-3.0
-4.0
-2.0
-5.5
-8.8
-6.8
-4.8
-7.5
-8.5
Marshland
-8.0
-4.0
-6.0
-9.0
-5.5
-4.0
-4.5
-6.1
-6.0
-7.3
-8.9
-6.2
-2.5
-6.9
-5.5
Black Bread
-6.0
-5.0
-3.5
-9.0
-6.0
-4.0
-2.0
-3.2
-6.5
-7.5
-8.9
-7.4
-4.0
-6.9
-4.5
MIGUEL
-4.0
+2.0
-4.0
-8.0
-5.5
+1.0
+5.0
+5.6
-0.2
-7.1
-8.6
-4.7
+4.6
+4.1
+7.5
COMPLEXITY
Memories of Murder
+3.0
+8.0
+5.5
+2.0
+6.5
+7.0
+9.0
+7.4
+8.5
+7.1
+8.0
+8.3
+8.2
+8.0
+10.0
Marshland
+1.0
+7.0
+4.5
+2.0
+7.5
+6.0
+8.0
+5.9
+7.0
+5.4
+1.9
+8.0
+5.5
+7.0
+8.5
Black Bread
+3.0
+7.0
+4.5
+2.0
+7.0
+6.0
+5.0
+5.8
+8.5
+7.2
+6.6
+8.4
+7.3
+8.8
+9.5
MIGUEL
+3.0
+7.0
+3.0
-2.0
+7.5
+6.0
+5.0
+3.3
+7.8
+2.6
+1.6
+8.2
+5.6
+5.8
+7.5
INTENSITY
Memories of Murder
9.0
6.0
5.5
8.0
7.0
8.0
6.0
7.8
9.0
8.2
9.6
7.5
7.8
9.0
10.0
Marshland
9.0
6.0
6.2
10.0
6.5
7.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
7.9
9.0
7.7
7.8
8.5
5.5
Black Bread
7.0
7.0
5.5
10.0
7.0
7.0
5.0
5.5
8.5
8.6
9.1
8.4
6.7
8.9
8.0
MIGUEL
6.0
6.0
4.2
9.0
7.0
8.0
6.0
6.2
9.0
8.5
9.0
7.9
7.8
9.2
7.0
DRAMATURGICAL READING

MIGUEL shares with its three anchors the emotional body of the moral thriller: sustained negative polarity from inciting incident through climax (all is lost around −8.6, in line with the anchors), rising complexity through the central acts, and intensity aligned at the pivot moments (8.5–9.2 at bad guys close in, all is lost, and finale). It diverges at two key points that constitute its distinctive authorial signature: a more visceral response at the inciting incident (complexity −2, against the +2 of the anchors) that reflects the brutality of the crime, and a shift to positive polarity in the closing arc (finale +4.1, final image +7.5) where all three anchors hold the darkness through the last frame. That final opening toward redemption and Mesoamerican magical realism is the project's differential asset.

Methodology: three emotional dimensions validated through functional neuroimaging (polarity, complexity, intensity — Lettieri et al., Nature Communications, 2019). LLM-based dramaturgical annotation of the complete screenplay, beat by beat, calibrated against an open fMRI dataset (Naturalistic Neuroimaging Database, UCL) using Pulp Fiction as scientific control. Reproducibility, similarity matrices, and downloadable dataset available in the Open Book.

Asymmetric Return Profile

WHY MIGUEL IS NOT AN ALL-OR-NOTHING BET

Independent film in this comparable segment does not behave like the traditional studio hit-or-miss model.

63%
RECOUP
CAPITAL
(Box office ROI ≥ 1.0x)
42%
DOUBLE
CAPITAL
(Box office ROI ≥ 2.0x)
17%
QUINTUPLE
CAPITAL
(Box office ROI ≥ 5.0x)
14%
TOTAL
LOSS
(Box office ROI < 0.3x)

Empirical evidence · 201 verified comparable films in the segment ($300K–$10M)

BOUNDED DOWNSIDE RISK

14% of films in the segment lose more than 70% of capital. The tranched Tranche 2 structure caps actual investor exposure in bear scenarios.

SUBSTANTIAL UPSIDE POTENTIAL

17% achieve box office ROI of 5x or more. The segment's asymmetric distribution lifts investor expected return to 1.56x over committed capital.

ASYMMETRIC DISTRIBUTION

The segment's right tail is consistent with repeatable extraordinary cases, not with random luck.

IN INSTITUTIONAL TERMS

"This segment behaves more like venture capital with downside protection than like traditional hit-driven media. The model does not depend on outliers for base-case returns; on the contrary, the distribution is structurally skewed to the upside."

Market & Positioning

THE MIGUEL QUADRANT

MIGUEL sits at the intersection of four variables that rarely converge in a single project:

Comparable budget segment
($300K – $5M)
Spanish-
language
Period setting
(1946 Guatemala)
Psychological thriller
with redemption arc
MIGUEL
LOW DIRECT COMPETITIONNo film currently in production or development matches this intersection of variables. Absolute differentiation.
HIGH FESTIVAL SELECTIVITYThe historical–Latin American–thriller quadrant is sought after at Cannes, Venice, Toronto, San Sebastián, and BAFICI.
GROWING STREAMING DEMANDNetflix, Amazon, MAX, and Movistar+ have tripled their investment in Iberian and Latin American thrillers since 2020.
ESTABLISHED SALES CIRCUITIberian and Latin American cinema of this profile is served by institutional sales agents with specific experience in European festivals and distribution across SVOD platforms and theatrical release in Latin America.

The intersection is not accidental. This is precisely the quadrant in which the segment historically delivers its best risk-adjusted returns: high upside, contained downside, limited competition.

Thank you

Contact
Illustrations by Adolfo Martínez
This pitch deck was developed end-to-end by talishte.io
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