Chiquita Banks (J.D. '09)

As CEO and owner of Bankable Consulting, Inc., Chiquita Banks supports content creators with a focus on filmmakers of color, and advises on options to finance the creator’s projects. Specifically, she consults on the project’s global incentive alternatives and is “the plug” connecting filmmakers to companies that lend against production incentives, distribution agreements and other production collateral.

Before starting Bankable and after a short time in private capital, Banks served as a senior advisor in production & investment planning at The Walt Disney Company. At Disney, she specialized in helping the company’s brands reduce the cost of production through global film and television tax incentives. Her practice also included government relations with international, federal, state and local legislators, film commissioners and other industry influencers to maintain and increase production incentives in relevant jurisdictions.

Before Disney, Banks was the director of tax counsel at Viacom in New York City and a senior manager at Bennett Thrasher in Atlanta, GA.

In her prior consulting practice, Banks used her tax consulting and business development experience to help the big six Hollywood studios and large independent studios (e.g., AMC Networks) use and monetize film incentives across the country. Her practice focused on auditing qualified production expenditures, preparing certification applications, performing pre-production budget and sourcing analyses, and handling a wide variety of tax controversy matters.

Banks currently serves as the president of the board of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association (BESLA). She is also an active contributor to Women in Film and Television, the Council on State Taxation, and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Banks is a frequent panelist at film festivals, a speaker at industry functions and a guest lecturer at colleges and universities. She enjoys connecting with people and explaining the benefits of tax incentives to indie film producers.