Strategic finance · Creators · TV & film · Games

Strategic finance for creators, producers, and game studios.

Finance for people who create amazing things. Financial planning, greenlight analysis, growth, and the story the numbers need to tell, built on two decades inside the biggest studios in the business.

Work with me

About

Advising creators, producers, and studios on the numbers that matter at key moments.

Norman Praught

Principal, Massasoit Advisory · San Francisco Bay Area

Financial executive with 20+ years leading FP&A, content finance, and strategic planning across global media and tech. Senior roles at Disney, Sony Pictures, DreamWorks, Lucasfilm, and Amazon (Audible and Twitch), covering film finance, original content, creator monetization, and platform economics.

Services

Strategic finance and planning for teams building at inflection points: growth, fundraising, partnerships, and the real story behind the numbers.

Who I work with

Startup companies in technology and media looking to build out a planning function

Social and digital-first creators (monetization, brand deals, DTC)

TV, film, and animation producers & production companies

Podcast and audio networks

Gaming studios and publisher-adjacent teams

Media and IP businesses at an inflection point

What I do

Brand & creator monetization

Turn audience into durable revenue

Sponsorship and partnership economics (rate cards, exclusivity, renewals)
DTC, memberships, and product lines beyond the feed
Scenario models: what has to be true to hit revenue targets
Lightweight planning you can take to managers or platforms

TV, film & premium production

Budgets, greenlights, and distribution reality

Production budget tracking and variance analysis
Greenlight-style investment memos and scenario planning
Deal support (structure, waterfalls, negotiation framing)
Distribution and windowing economics across platforms

Gaming & interactive

Studios at growth and platform inflections

Live service and content investment framing
International and partnership economics
Creator / UGC ecosystem economics vs. core SKU
Investor or publisher materials when raising or realigning

Lab

I develop financial planning tools informed by my industry knowledge. Most of my work is bespoke for each client, but I have developed prototypes in areas that I have found repeated need for improved analysis and reporting. Reach out and I'd be happy to share with you what I've created.

Prototype Development:

AI-Driven Production Finance System

Real-time budget tracking, spend forecasting, and scenario analysis for film and TV production. Integrates with production management platforms and financial systems.

Real-time trackingForecastingIntegrations

Greenlight & Scenario Modeling System

Investment memo templates, comparable analysis, and scenario trees for film, TV, and game greenlight decisions. Exportable to stakeholder formats.

Investment memosComparablesDecision trees

Gsheet-Driven App Development

Turn Google Sheets into interactive planning interfaces with live backend sync. No-code scaffolding for rapid prototyping of finance tools and dashboards.

Google SheetsNo-codeRapid iteration

Custom MCP Development

Model Context Protocol integrations custom to your finance environment. Tooling for Claude, O1, and other AI models to work reliably with your workflows.

Custom MCPsAI integrationFinance-specific

Contact

Creators monetizing a brand, producers staffing a slate, studios at a growth or financing inflection. Tell me what you're trying to unlock in the next 6 to 18 months.

Get in touch

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Time zone: Pacific Standard Time

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