Meet the Team
Financiers with Vision.
About Talon
Creative financial solutions across the entertainment industry.
We provide bespoke equity and debt capital across the entire spectrum of the entertainment industry. From film equity and debt to LED Volumes and the top-to-bottom construction of virtual production studios, our team strives to fund your imagination.
Leadership Team
A team built to design financial solutions that allow creatives to focus on being creative.
Decades of experience in finance (private equity, bulge bracket banks), physical production (Saturday Night Live), and producing (Bookworm, Spider & Jessie) combine to yield a perspective and flexibility of approach that few other teams are able to offer.
Andres Ratesepp — Chairman
Andres’ background is in investment banking. He was one of the Founders of Baltic Cresco Investment Group in Estonia in the mid-nineties. Under his management, Baltic Cresco Investment Group arranged several of the largest IPO-s in the Estonian market and raised equity capital for local companies. Since 2000 Andres Rätsepp has been active private equity investor in Baltic market. Through his investment company, he has acquired substantial holdings in energy, production, tourism, real estate and biomass assets.
He has been serving/is serving as a board/council member of his Portfolio companies. He has advised and structured several M&A transactions in that significantly increased the value of his portfolio companies. He holds a diploma in Finance from Tartu University, Estonia and MSc. degree in Global Finance from NYU Stern and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He has also studied in Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden and in INSEAD in France.
Steven Demmler — President
Steven worked for many years at Saturday Night Live before moving on to Executive Produce “Bookworm” starring Elijah Wood, as well as serving as an EP, Co-executive producer, or production executive on films such as Spider & Jessie, Mack and Rita. At Talon Entertainment Finance, Steven has led the investment of millions into virtual production studios, traditional production companies, in addition to film debt and equity.
Previously Steven spent 10 years in finance and strategy. He raised and managed a global macro trading book where he developed proprietary research and trading systems in a variety of commodities and currencies from energy to the global dairy trade. At Citi he led a global trading analytics technology team.
At Modern Energy was responsible for trading millions of dollars worth of energy efficiency onto the US energy grid as well as contributing to the build out of the technological systems necessary to do so.
Additionally, Steven worked in Global Corporate Strategy and Strategic Operations for MGM Resorts International where he participated in projects ranging from complete hotel strategy redesigns, and the initial analysis of corporate investment opportunities.
Steven earned his MSc. In Global Finance from NYU Stern and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and is a candidate for an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Board of Advisors
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” ―
Recognizing that decades of experience does not afford infallibility, Talon has constructed an advisory board steeped in the industry with the experience and track record to assist in ensuring our management team stays on track and keeps its vision firmly set on the future.
Tony Armer
Tony is the Film Commissioner and Director of Creative Industries for Dallas, TX. From 2014-2022 he was the Film Commissioner for St. Petersburg Clearwater, Florida. He is the Co-Founder of Film USA, a National non-profit organization and the first National Association of United States Film Commissions in the Country. While in St. Pete Clearwater he led the film commission to the most productive period in its 30-year history, breaking records for revenues and every other performance metric. St. Petersburg Clearwater was named one of the Top 25 Best Places to Live and Work as a MovieMaker by MovieMaker Magazine in 2021 and 2022.
He is an Award Winning Filmmaker and the Founder of the internationally acclaimed Sunscreen Film Festival. He works with hundreds of productions each year, from large studio projects to small independent films.
Tony works closely with film distributors and sales agents attending markets like Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, AFM and more. He has deep and longstanding relationships within the film industry. He has been Producing, Directing, Writing, and creating Film, TV, corporate and digital media content since 1997.
