Lew Horwitz, Producer Known as the ‘King of Indie Film Finance,’ Dies at 90

Lewis Horwitz, the American film executive and producer dubbed Hollywood’s “King of Indie Film Finance,” died on Dec. 19. He was 90.

Horwitz began his career as a bank teller in Los Angeles in the 1960s. He eventually founded the entertainment division at Beverly Hills National Bank. At the time, few banks would lend money to movie studios, and Beverly Hills National Bank’s location on Wilshire Boulevard made it highly accessible for creative clientele.

More versed in the entertainment industry’s inner-mechanisms than many of his banker colleagues, Horwitz convinced Beverly Hills National Bank to lend Mary Tyler Moore a loan against a deal memo, which helped her create “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in 1970 as well as her MTM Production Company. It was the first of many star-driven deals that Horwitz would facilitate for the bank before it was bought by Wells Fargo.

Horwitz then moved to the First Los Angeles Bank, where he continued to serve clients such as Roger Corman, Avi Lerner, Lloyd Kaufman, Stephen Paul, Mark Damon and Arnold Kopelson.

In 1980, he founded the Lewis Horwitz Organization, where he pioneered the independent film financing method of attaining production loans against foreign pre-sales. This is the method by which many independent films are still financed, and attaining foreign pre-sales is the aim of many producers attending film markets around the world. Throughout the 80s and 90s and into the new millennium, Horwitz weathered precarious economies to shepherd in the successful productions of “Bloodsport,” “Kickboxer,” “Attack of the 50ft Woman,” “Crash,” “Jack Frost,” “The Man in the Iron Mask,” “The Virgin Suicides,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Monster” and more indie films.

Horwitz retired in 2004, but continued to provide financial consultation on independent productions. He was notably involved in the financing of “Oculus,” “Pawn Sacrifice,” “Mojave” and “The Lost City of Z.”

Beyond film and television, Horwitz was also a talented and devoted magician, often incorporating magic into his speeches and pitches. He was Anthony Hopkins’ magic consultant on the 1978 Richard Attenborough film “Magic,” and he served as treasurer of The Magic Castle in Hollywood, where he was inducted into The Academy of Magical Arts’ Hall of Fame.

Horwitz was married to his wife, Hermine Fischman Horwitz, for 70 years before her passing this past June. He is survived by three children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild, several of whom also work in the entertainment industry. His son, Edward R. Horwitz, is the television producer behind “Unsolved Mysteries,” “The Talk” and “The Jennifer Hudson Show”; two of his grandsons are Andy Horwitz and Aaron Horwitz, both producers and now partners at their newly launched Big Swell Entertainment.