The Underlying Cause of Many Issues Facing The Indiefilm Industry.

As an independent filmmaker, you probably didn’t get into the game to sell widgets or do insurance paperwork as your primary 9-5.  As such, it’s completely understandable that indie film producers wouldn’t really consider the distributor’s perspective when making their independent films. Filmmakers got into the industry to make movies, which is an all-encompassing goal in and of itself.

Speaking from the other side of the negotiation table, there’s an issue that most independent filmmakers just don’t consider when they’re setting out to monetize their work.  That issue is around the uncertainty of market demand that really only matters at least three years after you write your script, as well as the uncertainty that requires distributors and studios to plan for the inevitable unpredictability of that faces the film industry and likely always will.

This article is meant to outline some of the issues associated with uncertainty for those creatives so that they can better account for it down the line.

Content is King, but only if it’s good

For a long time, I thought that the saying content is king was primarily a platitude said by speakers at conventions to keep filmmakers making films.  Obviously, distributors need films to sell in order to run their business. What most speakers leave unsaid is that there is such a gargantuan dirth of under-monetized independent film out there I thought it was something primarily meant to keep the film buyers in a superior position so they could get away with some of the shenanigans we all know independent film distributors and sales agents for.  Having led a distribution company for a few years, I can say that both I and the speakers who say content is king on stage were wrong.   Content is king, but only if good.  

Well-made, engaging, commercial films will get distributors fighting for the right to distribute.  Bad films will get bad deals which means the filmmaker is unlikely to ever see a cent.  Unfortunately, the same is true for good films in a non-marketable genre, or with a hard-to-define audience.  

Only about 1 in 10 films makes money

After having released many movies, I can tell you from experience that only about 1 in 10 films will make enough money to cover their budget over the course of a 7-year term distribution agreement.  I know that’s a rough pill to swallow, but you should know it going in. About 20-30% of the others can make a meaningful portion of their budget back over the same time period if they’re working with an ethical sales agent or distribution company.  The rest will get little to nothing back. Again, all of that is assuming you have a distributor or sales agent who actually pays you and is transparent in their bookkeeping, which is rare.  This basic reality of the business influences many more choices made by your distributor than you may realize and greatly informs the business model and operations of distributors.  

Nobody can pick winners all the time.

In the words of William Goldman, nobody knows anything.  Having said that, I think Goldman’s statement is overly broad.  I think there are so many factors that weigh on a single film’s success there’s absolutely no way that even the best distributor or analyst in the world could Plan for and create hit after hit. Pixar did in their early days, but they also had a functional monopoly of hot new technology and the finances and resources of Disney, so it’s not exactly a realistic use case for those of us operating on the independent side of the industry. In the world of distribution, if you get about half of the acquisitions you make to over-perform expectations you’ve done extremely well and you would be inducted into the hall of fame if we had one.  On average, the best of us only get around 35%, but even if you get around 25% you’re still doing pretty alright and will likely keep your job.  

This functionally means that even if your sales agent or distributor is being entirely genuine about their expectations for the film there’s at least a 50% chance they won’t be able to live up to their most optimistic projections.   Again, I don’t mean this as a slight to those of us who work in acquisitions.  There are so many variables that are impossible to predict.  One example of such unpredictable complications (at least for the time) would be the initial release of The Boondock Saints hitting theaters the same week as the Columbine Shooting in Colorado.  While mass shootings are sadly a near-daily occurrence in the US in 2023, Columbine was one of the first of its kind.  Due to a fear of inadvertently endorsing vigilante justice, most theaters that were set to play the film dropped it. For a while this made The Boondock saints was one of the biggest box office bombs in movie history.

There’s no way a studio executive, writer, producer, or anyone involved in the release of this film could have predicted that, and as a direct result the film massively underperformed.  Since it was a pretty modest budget for the time and the film found a second life as a cult classic it’s likely it remained as big a flop as it started.

Granted, this is an extreme example, but it is indicative of the butterfly effect that can cause even the best film with the best team to underperform.  

Producers can’t always be relied on to help market their work.

Marketing a film is expensive and time-consuming.  If you don’t have a big name to help you make a big splash, you’re going to need to help your distributor spread the word about your movie if you want it to find success.  There are so many films released on a weekly basis that without the filmmakers helping to push the film to rise above the white noise caused by the glut of feature film releases the film doesn’t stand much of a chance of finding an audience.   Unfortunately, not all producers can be relied upon to help market their own work.  

Even at this late date, many producers feel that it should be entirely on the distributor to make their film a success.  After all, isn’t that what their commission and their fees are for?  While I can understand the sentiment and I even agree that most distributors should do more to earn their commissions it’s not as simple as it sounds.  Independent Film Distributors have a lot more to do than it may initially appear. Delivery to each platform is extremely time-intensive, and we also need to handle a lot of regular pitches, shifting mandates, filmmaker relations, investor relations, buyer relations, press relations, and a whole lot more.  If you work with us to make our job easier, you’ll get more meaningful attention paid to your film as we won’t have to spend time identifying and engaging with the core audience. 

In the end, if you won’t promote your own work, how can you expect anyone else to? For more, read this blog.  

RELATED: Why you NEED to help your distributor market your film (If they’ll let you)

A known cast helps everything, but the competition is fierce, and not everyone is honest.

In general, the best way to rise above the white noise created by the glut of independent films released on a regular basis is to attach a star to your film.  I know, I know.  Everyone says this, and it’s both hard and expensive.  While it’s not as hard or expensive as you may think if you do it properly, it’s still outside the reach of most sub-100k feature filmmakers.  If you do get a celebrity attached to your feature film, you’ll almost certainly get a lot of distributors coming to you in an attempt to procure the rights to your film.  

Unfortunately, a mediocre genre film with a B list name in it is more likely to garner a decent return than a great film of the same genre without a name in it. Of course, exceptions exist but it is a key indicator that’s likely to lead to success.

The issue here is that while you may be able to get multiple distribution offers for your film, not all of them will be companies you want to work with. Most sales agents and distributors will do whatever they need to in order to get the film from you.  After they get the film, whether they even live up to their own contract isn’t a guarantee. In most cases, it’s exceptionally difficult to get your rights back.

The outcome?  Consolidation and risk aversion, Exploitation of Filmmakers, or sales agents make their own micro-budget content.

There have been massive industry-spanning consequences resulting from the high level of uncertainty coupled with dwindling revenue from physical media and transactional video-on-demand sales.  Many of the resulting decisions that have led to extreme consolidation of the industry are made simply out of a need for the sales agent or distributor to make payroll, although often those issues extrapolate into something else.  Additionally, almost all of them are bad for filmmakers. 

The most obvious example of negative consequences for filmmakers is the fact that many contracts are structured in a way that exploits filmmakers by passing through disproportionate risk and falsified expenses.  This is covered across the internet so I won’t go too far into it here.  Additionally, in the last few years, the industry has been consolidating into the hands of fewer and fewer companies.  This leads to less competition for acquisitions, which means lower payments, less transparency, and an explosion of growth in the exploitation mentioned above.  Simply put, when there are fewer companies who can buy your film, they don’t have to do as much to get it.

Given all of this uncertainty, sales agents and distributors are less likely to acquire content outside of the standard genre fare they know they can sell.  This means newer voices and content are likely to get lost in the shuffle.  In order to combat this, some sales agents have started their own production lines to develop content that fits the needs of their buyers.  The most notable recent example of this was Winnie The Pooh, Blood & Honey Which was made by ITN Studios.  ITN was a distributor and sales agent for quite a while before Stuart decided the best move was to create a bespoke model for his buyers.   It worked wonders and many sales agents are following their example.

The problem with the direct production model is primarily that it creates a new kind of competition for filmmakers, and could quite easily mean that the traditional method of acquisition for independent films is disrupted in a way that leaves independent artists completely out in the cold.  

Again, all of these issues are greatly influenced if not caused by the issue of uncertainty of the independent film industry. Uncertainty faces every industry, but the level of it is significantly greater than in most other industries outside of early-stage high-growth startups or perhaps certain types of small businesses. However, there is one thing that is certain for filmmakers. If you sign up for my Newsletter you’ll get my independent film resource package which includes an independent film investment deck template, festival promotional brochure template, monthly content digests segmented by topic, a free e-book, white paper, and more!  Click the button below to add it.

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Commercial Doesn’t NECESSARILY Mean Crap

Everyone has seen at least one bad movie in their lifetimes.  They’ve probably seen more than that.  However, unless you also work in film acquisitions or have done first-round review for film festivals you have not seen as many bad movies as those of us who do those jobs have.  That’s for the simple reason that any movie you have seen out in the wild had to go through someone like us.  There’s a narrow exception for self-distributed content that is generally limited to silos on Transactional Video On Demand (TVOD) platforms and some easier to access Advertising Supported Video on Demand (AVOD) platforms, but in general, unless someone with the power to act as a gatekeeper for film festival programmers or independent film distributors has given it the go-ahead, the general audience won’t see it. 

This functionally means that anyone who works or has worked in these positions, myself included, has seen a Jurassic park sized pile of poopy submissions.  Which is to say that we know the milieu of a crappy film.  We can, and frankly should talk about the flaws inherent to the current system of gatekeeping, and how sometimes gatekeepers don’t know the difference between a revolutionary piece of cinema and more of the same old skeet. That conversation is beyond my personal scope to change it alone, especially not in a single blog post.  Instead, this blog is an examination of how to avoid getting lumped in with the pile of crud we constantly reject.  The basics are really easy to sum up:

Commercial Films Get Selected.

I don’t think I need to tell you why sales agents and distributors are drawn toward feature films that they deem commercial.  They’re all business people, and if they don’t think they can make money with a project they won’t pitch it up the chain to their bosses and generally won’t take it out if they are the boss.  Sure, there are exceptions here, but when you’re spending two, three, five, or even ten years making something you don’t want to bank on getting lucky at the end of it.  If you make a commercial film in a known genre, your road to getting that film seen is going to be a lot easier.  

Related: What Distributors Mean by Genre

While this is obvious for indie film sales distributors, you may not be familiar with the fact that most festivals make a similar calculation.   There’s a pervading assumption that film festivals focus solely on the art, weeding out the diamond in the rough to give emerging independent voices a leg up.  There is at least a bit of truth in that, and in general film festivals will focus significantly more on art than sales agents.  What that assumption ignores is that most festivals also need to pay their bills, cover the expenses of their year-round staff, and overall build their brand so they can attract bigger new releases.  This means that nearly every festival is also concerned about filling the theaters for the films that they select.  Many if not most festivals also program with something of an eye for whether a film will have a life outside of their own screening as it grows their own renown.  In short, festivals also care whether your film is commercial.  

Dramas Don’t Sell

What mat makes us scream, gets our heart pumping, and brings us to the edge of our seats tends to be pretty universal for us as a species.  What makes us emotional, or what makes us laugh isn’t nearly as universal.  This means, that dramas and comedies tend not to export outside their country of origin unless you have a few big stars in them or they serve as a once-in-a-generation breakout.  This is why those of us who work behind the back office tend to refer to those genres as regional films.  

Speaking as a distributor, even domestically it’s really hard to get people to pay attention to an independent drama without names in it.  It doesn’t matter how well made it is, if it doesn’t have a name people would often rather re-watch a Marvel movie than watch an enlightening indie drama that helps us better understand the human condition.  I want to be clear here, I like those movies.  I think we need more of them out there in society.  However, if they don’t make money and make it hard for programmers to fill seats, it’s hard for us to focus on them when there’s so little profit margin for most independent film distribution companies. 

If People Don’t See It, Your film has no impact.

If you want to make some revolutionary avant-garde piece, you’re going to have an uphill battle to get people to see it.  If your work is about your strong and uncompromising vision and the statement you need the world to know, you could be doing yourself a disservice by focusing solely on the packaging you put your messaging into.  Auteurs don’t get discovered as easily as they used to, and there’s such a glut of content it’s nearly impossible to have the impact you most likely desire without traditional distribution infrastructure behind you.  Of course, there are exceptions, but they tend to involve years of building your own audience which can detract from the work that drives you to the point of burnout if you’re not careful.  

Instead of banging your head against the wall trying to make your film exactly as you want to, you should consider boiling down your message to its core and then creating a story that fits into a strong, marketable genre in order to at least plant the seeds of your message for when you come back to the message film you initially needed to make.  It could likely be a faster path to your end goal and will help you combat the issues inherent to my next point. 

Tastemaker Fatigue is Real. 

We as tastemakers, programmers, gatekeepers, buyers, distributors, and whoever else needs to review unreleased movies often have limited time and mental energy to get through our stack of submissions that piles much higher than you would ever expect if you haven’t seen it in person.  First-round programmers at most of the top 10 major film fests have to say no to at least 9 out of 10 submissions.  This means that they look for any possible reason to say no and when they find it, they put it on the poo poo pile.  

Even if it makes the most timely possible statement and would get programmed if you don’t know somebody who can get you to a final stage programmer directly, the odds are not in your favor.  The only way you can get an advocate like that is if you’ve been in the festival before or you attract a talented producers rep or distribution executive to champion your project.  Generally, for those people to be your champion your work needs to be commercial.  

Commercial doesn’t mean Crap

So what am I advocating for here?  Do I want you to make the same old bloody, gore-y, craptacular boobfest of a horror movie?  No, I’m not saying that.  Well, unless you want to.  If you do, it will get distribution, I might even help.

Defalcating Dung beetles!  I just went against my own point for a shill and a bit.  Let’s try again.  

The commercial doesn’t NECESSARILY mean Crap

No one will tell you that every overtly commercial film is a masterpiece of cinema.  There have been quite a lot of major blockbusters that turn out to be stinky bowel movements.  What I am saying is that if you have a message you want to get out to the masses, one of the best ways to do that is to insert that message into a broader story that meets genre guidelines.  Bryan Singer’s X-Men has strong undercurrents of self-acceptance and coming out in a time where that wasn’t really acceptable in a movie targeted at Teenagers.  James Cameron’s Aliens is an Allegory for the War in Vietnam, and Stanley Kubrik’s The Shining is a tale of the fate of indigenous people and the increasingly aggressive subjugation they faced.  

I doubt anyone out there would say that those movies or those messages would be considered shitty examples of cinema or messages, and almost anyone would consider them strong examples of highly commercial genre films.  But that’s just one executive producer’s opinion.  If you want more of my opinion, you should join my mainlining list via the button below.  You’ll get monthly content digests to help you continue to learn on a manageable schedule.  You’ll also get a FREE e-book, white paper, and some really useful templates to help you finance your film. Check it out via the link below. 

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How COVID-19 Affected the Indie Film Industry

Many Filmmakers, like everyone else affected by COVID-19, are itching for some level of a return to normalcy.  Unfortunately, like many others think that there may never be a full return to normal.  It may well end up as a pre-COVID and a Post COVID period.  Similar to how the world changed before and after the great depression, 9/11, The internet, or World War II.  Societal traumas tend to leave lasting scars, and that tends to effect the market as a whole and certain industries in meaningful ways.  So let’s look at what one executive producer thinks is likely to happen in the film industry as a result.

2023 Update: I put some self-reflection on this blog commenting on how I think my predictions were, and adding more context to what’s happening in 2024 and beyond.

1. The Majors will bounce back quickly

Historically, the film is industry mildly reversely dependent on the economy.  It remains one of the cheapest ways to get out and one of the best ways for families to bond while in isolation.  The most unpredictable part about this recession’s likely impact on the film industry is the much greater presence of free or cheap entertainment options available right now as compared to the past. 

In any case, A significant amount of the pain that’s likely to be felt from this crash is going to be on the lower end of the spectrum.  Right now many of the major studios are already gearing up for their next projects since the projects they have will either be released ahead of schedule while people are quarantined or they’ll need to find alternative release plans. 

2023 Update: This was right. The majors bounced back quickly. They may not bounce back as quickly from the strikes though.

2. Freelancers will be hurt in the short term.

There’s no sugarcoating this.  Freelancers are going to be hurt in the short term.  Government stimulus may help, but won’t solve the issue.  If you’re in a position to help out by hiring someone to help with your web maintenance or other jobs they can do in isolation, you should do so. 

As this crisis continues to drag on, it’s really important we band together as a community and help each other to get work made, even if it ends up making many of us less money than it normally would. 

2023 Update: I was wrong, it wasn’t just freelancers that were hurt. As Aide dries up we’re likely to see a lot more pain on the lower 3 quintiles of the economic spectrum. I think this will hurt the entertainment industry as we’re a mass-market product that still only makes significant margins from transactional sales. I’m not sure film is still reversely dependent on the economy, and I’d write a blog about it if someone comments.

3. SVOD Surge

Given people are going to be locked at home with less money than normal and lots of time, we can expect to see viewership and subscriptions to Subscription Video on Demand platforms go up significantly.  Not all of these new subscribers will cancel when we return to the new normal.  I’m not the only one seeing this, it looks like development and acquisitions are on the rise form many of these people. 

It’s very possible that the balance of power between distributors and creators could see a minor shift in the coming months as distributors are going to need more content and the current embargo on production in many states, regions, and territories might cut down on the glut of content that’s been driving down acquisition prices recently. ​

2023 Update: The consolidation in streaming platforms ended up keeping license fees for the major streamers as low as they were pre-pandemic. It’s unlikely that trend will get much better any time soon.

4. AVOD Surge

Given the general financial issues that were facing the majority of Americans prior to this recession, many may seek to cut recurring subscription services.  This may well give rise to AVOD platforms like TubiTV and PlutoTV.  I bet Fox is really happy that they bought Tubi right about now. 

2023 Update: This was very much true, but the amount of consolidation in the AVOD space is looking like there will be a royalty cut due in part to advertisers tightening their belts. This will cause a lot of problems for indie productions.

5. TVOD Plummets

Transactional VOD hasn’t been healthy for quite a while.  If people are hurting for money, it’s unlikely they’ll continue to buy movies one at a time when there are so many films that are available for free or with a low subscription cost.  This might not happen immediately, but as the crisis wears on and belts get tighter the TVOD crunch might well continue to worsen. 

2023 Update: This one was right on the money. IT’s a rough time for micro-budget films outside of SVOD and AVOD.

6. ​Presale Surge

Given that we’re likely to see a surge in demand for content right as equity markets are drying up we may well see a surge in presales from distributors in order to fill the gap.  This is somewhat speculative, but there is ample historical precedent, most recently in 2008 after the economic meltdown.  However, it should be noted this can only go so far given production embargos. 

2023 Update: Presales did surge, and they’re still growing for small and midsize films. I’m negotiating a few right now.

7. Theaters may fold at a high rate

Theaters have been in trouble for quite a while.  Independent theaters have been very hard hit, but even giants like AMC may end up closing many of their locations instead of re-opening them.  The possible Amazon Acquisition of AMC is really quite interesting for the entire landscape. Drive-throughs also seem to be seeing a bit of a resurgence.

​2023 Update: Some indies folded, the chains largely survived, although some smaller chains took a haircut. Luckily, theatrical exhibition is still around.

8. Rise of legal simulstreaming

People are feeling lonely and isolated.  Film is an inherently social medium.  Given we can’t go to the theater as we did before, we might end up seeing the rise of simulcasts for consumers to watch content with their friends.  This is something that happened with the Netflix computer App, and Alamo Drafthouse starting virtual streamings limited to certain territories is quite an interesting development. 

2023 Update: Sadly I was wrong about widespread simulstreaming, but I am aware that it happened with families via zoom a lot at peak quarantine.

9. Death of DVD greatly Hastened

It’s no secret that physical media (DVD/Blu-Ray) has been in trouble for a while now.  Now that it’s been confirmed COVID-19 can live on plastic (like a DVD case) for several days, I can see consumers being even more hesitant to buy movies like this when there are so many options available on Streaming for free. 

2023 Update: I was right about this one, although there’s a bit of a nostalgic re-emergence of rental stores going on so there may still be a very limited niche market for physical media.

10. Easier Microbudget sales for a time.

I’ll end on a cheerier note for Most of my readers.  Acquisitions seem to be picking up since so many catalogs are being watched much more quickly than originally expected.  This spells an opportunity for many filmmakers.  

2023 Update: It was easy for a little bit, but the WGA (And probably SAG) strike may still represent an opportunity for micro-budget filmmakers. That said, I stand in solidarity with the Union and I think the cause is just, but I don’t really think micro-budget films are similar enough to be called competition, so let’s get those low-budget films out there so we can swell the ranks of the guilds.

If you want someone to help you sell your movie, track down a presale, or strategize how to market your movie Check out Guerrilla Rep Media Services below.

Also If you’re not convinced about Guerrilla Rep Media Services yet, grab my Free Film Business Resource pack for an ebook, a whitepaper, an investment deck template, and a whole lot more.

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What Screenplays are Studios ACTUALLY Buying?

If you’re a screenwriter, you have two options.  Produce it yourself, or option your work to a producer.  In order to option your work, you need to understand who is going to buy your movie.  Unfortunately, there’s more bad and incomplete information than there is good information out there.  Recently, a client of mine forwarded an email he got back from a contact in Hollywood who worked as a script doctor.  This email epitomized that bad information, so I thought I’d redact any contact information and publish it for others to learn from as well.  (I did check with my client first, and he was good with it.)

Here’s what the script doctor said Hollywood wanted.  Their responses in title, mine in the paragraphs following.

1. Contained Thriller or Horror: ideally one location about 5-8 actors (no A-listers needed). This is most scripts being bought or sold these days.

These are great if you’re producing the film yourself and looking to do it as cheaply as possible.  Films like this can be shot on the cheap, so it's significantly easier to produce them. Given that horror or thriller movies are less execution or name-talent dependent they have a greater chance to sell on the strength of the genre alone. Given that, such producers are more interested in them.  Unfortunately, these are the vast majority of the films made every year that find some degree of place in the market which has resulted in a massive glut in the market and each film makes next to nothing. 

I know this because I've repped several of them.  Most times the script doctors don’t actually know how the producers or production company end up getting paid, as the writers (and ESPECIALLY "Script Doctors”) are paid up-front

More than 20,000 films are made in the US every year, at most 10% of those get distribution to any meaningful degree.  Thrillers and horror films are the only projects that have a chance at getting into that to 10% without IP or Talent, but in the end you still end up competing with 2,000 other films, most of which have better assets and positioning than you do.  This is why I'm increasingly advocating other paths forward.

In general, the only way this is advantageous is if you produce it yourself.  We're doing family films because that's what most every buyer wants right now, and there's an easier pipeline to follow that has a better chance of success if it gets done.  ​

2. Something with an existing IP. A novel, a graphic novel/comic book, a short story, a short film... anything that already has a fan base or following ideally.

This is why I’m currently helping a client option the rights to some books, as it's the most reliable path to success even if its slightly longer path it is a better chance at success.  If you want to get a film made first to make that part easier, it is a viable path.  However, if you want to raise a larger amount of money so your film has a better chance at finding a bigger distributor and bigger audience, then you’ll need some level of recognizable IP.  I heard Brett Ratner say in an interview at AFM several years back that if he was just starting out what he’d do is read voraciously and find the newest up-and-coming IPs.  To option and use to build an audience.  The alternative is to generate your own IP, but that in itself is a very long road fraught with danger, as this video from Lindsay Ellis illustrates very well. 

RELATED VIDEO: HOW TO GET YOUR BOOK PUBLISHED IN 10 YEARS OR LESS!

Also: HA! He thinks expanded short films sell.  That hasn't really been true for more than a decade since the amount of ready-to-sell feature films being made has ballooned, in fact, it's almost like features are the new shorts in terms of distribution revenue.  But that's a topic for another day.

3. A specific character piece for an actor looking to stretch themselves. If you’ve got a character-driven piece and can get an A-list actor attached because it is something they haven’t done before, you’re good to go.

I heard this a lot in film school, but the real-world applications are limited.  That is to say, while there is a kernel of truth in this concept, when it comes down to the implementation it's really more a platitude or truism at this point.  There’s a strong case to be made that casting against type has its merit.  The issue is that in general, the only way you can make it work is if you have a direct path to the name talent you want to talk to, and even then you have to get lucky and catch them at the right time. There are reasons I know this that I can’t publicly say…

4. Anything that will do well overseas. With China eating up all of our movies, they need scripts that are, fun, fast, action-packed and translate well and easily (aka not a lot of dialogue).

Again, something of a platitude or truism.  Of course, you have to think about overseas, which is one big reason that comedies and dramas are complete no gos. The books below go into that in more detail than I can in a blog. (yes, there are affiliate fees, but it's only pennies and I picked the books custom for this blog.)

That’s the basics right now. Of course, the caveat is if you write a brilliant script, it doesn’t matter what genre it is, but in reality, your chances of having it made, sold, and even optioned are very difficult roads ahead.

And here's the crux of the disagreement with this script doctor.  The brilliant script isn't so much as a way of breaking through any of the other things you need to be listed above, it's more a prerequisite to succeeding with any of them.  We all hear stories of films making it through the studio system, but these are the exceptions, not the rules.  

If selling your script doesn’t seem worth it, you’ll need to produce it yourself. You’ll probably need money to do that. If you want to raise money, you’ll need a myriad of documents, starting with an investment deck. My Free indiefilm resource pack has you covered with a template for that, as well as a free e-book, whitepaper, and a bunch of other templates too. Snag it for free in the button below. Thanks for reading, and if you liked it, please share it with someone who needs to know about selling their script.

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How and Why to treat your Production Company Like a Small Business.

Last week we talked about the 4 major types of Media Entrepreneurship, so this week I thought I’d expand on the most common production company that my readers seem to run.  That’s the small production company that they hope to scale into something bigger.  Here’s why your production company is a small business, and how to treat it like one so you can see it grow.

1. ACCEPT YOU HAVE A SMALL BUSINESS

The film is both a business and an Art.  The two don’t have to be enemies and work much better together.  For more on what I mean, click the related link below.  I have a different point to make here.

While this may seem like the goal is to become a more scalable startup, in reality, it’s probably more like a small business that may grow to a medium business in time.  You’re unlikely to be able to use high-growth strategies like Silicon Valley Tech Startups to grow your business from a prototype to a highly used platform.  The requirements are different, and the film is less suited to iterations than software and apps are.

As such, if you’re a filmmaker, you probably have a small business.  Small businesses grow slowly over time by growing their audience and scaling up their offerings as revenue and investments allow.  If you want to grow your production company as you would a small business, start by making one great film and then make a bigger and better one once you’ve found your audience.

2. BUILD & ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

If you want to build a business, among the most important things to have are customers.  For filmmakers, this means having a deeply engaged audience and creating content for them on a regular basis.  Part of that is creating a genuine presence on social media, but the more important part is continually creating products for that audience to give them a reason to keep coming back and engaging with your business. ​​​

3. INCORPORATE AUDIENCE FEEDBACK INTO YOUR WORK

If you really want your audience to keep coming back, it’s important that they feel valued.  Incorporating their feedback into your films can be a great way to greatly deepen your relationship with your audience.  This is something that Marvel has used to great effect.  Half of the Endgame was callbacks to fan-favorite moments from the other 73 1/3 movies in phases 1 to 3.

Some higher-level creators have an antagonistic relationship with their fans.  The only way you can really afford to do this is if you have the backing of a large network to make sure that people can’t forget to come back to your work.  TV Tropes calls this Phenomenon Creator Backlash. ​

4. GROW YOUR SUPPLIERS AND WHO SELLS YOUR PRODUCTS

If you’re a small business in the manufacturing sector (which you’re not far from) you need to make sure your product is available as far and wide as possible in order to continue to expose your work to a new audience and grow your potential customer base.  This means you need to partner with distributors.  Distributors have higher prestige and higher paying outlets than you can get to on your own.  Also, since they have access to those higher-level outlets, you’re more likely to be discovered through them than on other platforms that are inundated with so much content it’s unlikely anyone will discover the work that you didn’t drive there yourself. 

Yes, this will mean that you'll need to make a lower percentage of the overall sale than you would by yourself.  So long as you're dealing with reputable distributors, this is just the cost of doing business.  Publishers sell their books at a 55% discount over retail to bookstores, and most any distribution warehouse for a given good or service will also sell the product at wholesale price and take a cut before paying the manufacturer.  Again, for this to be valid, you need to have honest and accurate reporting throughout the supply chain. ​

5. DON’T FORGET WHERE YOU GOT STARTED

Never forget your early adopters. The people who were with you from the beginning. They can be your biggest supporters and greatest brand advocates if you continue to show you value them. However, they can sometimes be hard to please, as I’m sure I’ll see in the comments.  Both Starbucks and the City of Seattle will never forget that's where the chain was born.  You shouldn't forget the people who knew you when.  

Thanks so much for reading this! If you liked it, please share it. It’s extremely helpful. Also, consider joining my mailing list and in so doing get access to my indie-film business resource package. It’s got an ebook, a white paper, an investment deck template, festival brochure templates, and a whole lot more.

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The 4 Types of Media Entrepreneurship

Traditionally, when we think of entrepreneurs we think of Steve Jobs starting Apple in a Garage, or Jeff Bezos Traveling across the country to raise funds while writing his business plan in the back seat of the car while his wife drove.  However, there’s more to entrepreneurship than that.  Entrepreneurs find new and novel solutions to problems by building organizations despite a huge amount of risk and uncertainty.

Since this month is Entrepreneurship Month on both this blog and the blog I run over at ProductionNext, I thought I’d start out the month with a little of an expansion of Film Entrepreneurship in general.  In this post, I’ll adapt a rather notable post by Steve Blank from a decade ago to the current landscape media entrepreneurs face, as well as where you’ll most likely find those entrepreneurs.

In his post, Steve outlines that there are 4 types of entrepreneurial organizations which are generally accepted as follows small businesses, scalable startups, large companies, and social entrepreneurs.  You can (and maybe should) read Steve’s post before reading this one.  (it’s short)

If you still don’t agree that filmmakers are entrepreneurs, I recommend you read more of my writing on that topic, in particular this blog and this blog.  While I could expand these into how other film industry stakeholders like sales agents, distributors, press, critics, or YouTubers, in the interest of keeping the scope completely addressable I’ll be working with a more traditional indie film archetype. 

Small Business Entrepreneurship Exemplified by Truly Indie Filmmakers.

According to Banks, these are the entrepreneurs who run a small businesses like a bodega or mom-and-pop shops.  They have no intention of nationwide franchises, but they still do what they can to make a living for themselves and their family.  This is where the vast majority of filmmakers are.  They’re the people wanting to do what they love and find a way to get paid for it.

The owner of the bodega must figure out who buys what from them, and the way they stay afloat is through personalized service that creates a deep connection with their customers.  Convenience also plays a factor.  They can’t compete on price alone with the huge multinational chains down the street, so they need to make sure that they offer something that the mega-chain down the road doesn’t. 

In this day and age, the job is similar for indie filmmakers.  We can’t compete with the major studios, but those studios don’t target a small niche, they target everyone who has 12 dollars.  As a result, they miss a lot of people which leaves a hole open for clever filmmakers to establish an audience, keep them engaged, and build a business for themselves. ​

Scalable Startup Entrepreneurship: Best Exemplified by Indie Filmmakers on the Traditional Studio Path.

Scalable startup Entrepreneurs are people like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, or Jeff Bezos.  They start a company from (next to) nothing, and then look to do more than address an existing need, they want to disrupt the entire system by creating a need and then filling it.  In doing so, they become mega-wealthy and change the world. 

Those starting a scalable startup are faced with an incredibly high degree of uncertainty, as well as a long road to profitability.  In general, they need significant outside funding in order to succeed.  Most of the time, they must invent something that can be patented that demonstrates a novel solution to a widespread problem with a working prototype in order to raise significant funding from institutional investors.  After that, they’ll need to take on an experienced team and specialized advisors in or If they have a track record in their industry, it helps significantly.

For filmmakers, these scalable entrepreneurs are those who have already made a successful project or two and are scaling up to make something bigger.  They’ll need to have proven themselves by getting validation either in the form of a huge engaged audience, a hugely successful film, or a Tier 1 festival win just to get their foot in the door.  Once their foot is in the door, they can then seek to raise money using their previous work or a concept trailer to raise the funds to make a much bigger movie.  In order to successfully raise those funds, they’ll need a strong package of people with specialized skills and followings of their own. ​​

Large Company Entrepreneurship: Best Exemplified by Digital Divisions of major studios & networks. 

Large company entrepreneurs are people within large organizations seeking to either create new projects that solve a need that has not yet been addressed by the company that they’re working for.  Sometimes this is achieved by creating a new division, other times it's a new product from an existing research and development division.  

A couple of examples of this would be when Intuit started what would become Quickbooks, as well as many other similar projects like Quickbooks pay, expense tracking, and what would become the among many others.  For the Film Industry, I’d say the most notable recent example would be Disney+, although the digital divisions of every major network would also qualify.  Adult Swim starts new experimental projects like this on a regular basis. 

The challenges faced by large company entrepreneurs outside the film industry are as you would expect.  With a large company comes bureaucracy, bureaucracy tends to move slowly, so adapting to change can be extremely difficult.  Funding also becomes highly political, so it can be difficult to keep projects afloat.
​
For film companies, this is extremely similar.  Much of the top brass don’t want to give up the cash cows they’ve build for risky divisions that will burn through cash and not necessarily make more of it.  Also, at least until recently many of the digital divisions were considered a career downgrade from the more traditional media divisions.  We’ll see if it remains true.

Social Entrepreneurship: best Exemplified by Documentary Filmmakers.

Social entrepreneurs who care more about the benefit of the work than the bottom line.  They don’t just want to change the world, they want to save it.  Think of Tesla, OSIGroup (Makers of the Impossible Burger) or Jinko Solar.  Similarly but on a smaller scale, there’s BiosUrns (makers of a biodegradable clay urn that grows a tree from your ashes.)

Success on this front is hindered due to the perception that it’s not much of a money maker.  It can be harder to find investors as well since you’re specifically saying profit isn’t your primary concern.  Most successful companies started with one idea that they could refine and execute before moving to other ideas that complement the same customer base.  They also are very conscientious about stating that their product does more than they provide whatever it is you bought.  There are other intangible benefits associated with the purpose that customers may consider weighing in their purchase decision.

For film, this is best exemplified by documentaries, but more recently diverse media has also been put into the spotlight in as a similar cause for social change. Documentaries are different when it comes to funding, but when they’re well done there is an addressable audience that’s hard to ignore and easy to convert.  Some movies do tree-planting campaigns with ticket sales as an additional incentive to convert, and most community screenings also benefit a non-profit organization.

Thanks so much for reading!  Let me know what you think of this in the comments, and PLEASE share It helps more than you’d think.

Also, if you would like to know more about the business of film and media, one of the best ways to do so is by joining my mailing list click the button below. It’s got a free monthly digest of educational content, a free e-book, a whitepaper, and some templates to help you raise money and market your film.

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Where the Film Industry is Headed in 2019

Sun Tzu wrote the following in The Art of War:  “The natural formation of the country is the soldier’s best ally; but a power of estimating the adversary, of controlling the forces of victory, and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers, and distances, constitutes the test of a great general.”  While no one can tell what the future holds, there are some trends that many of us have been following that are greatly impacting the way we run our businesses. This blog is one observer’s look at the position of the overall independent film industry, and some level of the economy as a whole.

​The US Economy is heading for a Recession

Now I’m just a guy who helps people make movies.  I’m in no way qualified to give you financial advice or recommend stocks or bonds.  I’m just a guy who follows these things and is paying enough attention to know that the indicators are there.  So you can choose whether or not to listen to me on this one, but it is something that I’m quite certain will happen by the end of 2019.

I originally thought that the stock market would start to dip significantly around March or April, and then we’d have a fairly widespread crash around the end of October 2019.   There were a lot of things to do with the fiscal year and annual payments made by corporations to make me think that timeline would end up being about right. 

However, the stock market is already more volatile than it should be at this time of year.  I thought the Trump tax cuts that mainly financed stock buybacks would inflate the stock market longer than they seem to be doing right now.  To me, this may indicate that we’re either in for more trouble than I initially thought, or we’re going to be in trouble much sooner than October.  As of scheduling this post to be published, I’m not entirely sure which that’s going to be. 

So you’re probably thinking “Great, thanks, Ben. I read your blog for insights into the film industry, not for rampant speculation on the state of the entire economy.  I JUST WANT TO MAKE MOVIES!” Well, as I said at the top, if you want to be successful, you must understand the terrain you’re playing in, and that’s why I wrote as much about this impending recession as I did.  Now there’s probably another thing you’re thinking.

It’s Unlikely the Film Industry is still Mildly Reversely Dependent on the Economy.

Most filmmakers know that the golden age of film was during the great depression.  Most producers believe that the film industry is still mildly reversely dependent on the economy.  I’m going to buck orthodoxy here and say that I don’t think it is anymore.  At least not in the way it used to be. 

The film industry USED to be mildly reversely dependent on the economy because it was a comparably cheap way of getting out.  But now ticket prices have risen to the point that a family of 4 going to the movies will cost around 150 bucks once you factor in popcorn, concessions, parking, gas, and more.  Compare this to buying a game like Super Smash Brothers, where all 4 family members could get dozens if not hundreds of hours of entertainment for only 60 bucks.  (Although, I have yet to see a family where that would totally work for Smash.) Due to other forms of entertainment entering the marketplace, movies are no longer the cheap option.

Further, when the last major recession hit in 2008 the independent film markets took a pretty big blow, and have yet to fully recover.  If we see a massive crash next year, it’s likely that the markets are in for another blow just as they were really starting to recover.

What about the home video/VOD market?

Most people know that the home video market is kind of in the toilet.  Pretty much nobody buys DVDs outside of the Midwest and rural areas with poor internet connectivity.  This problem is likely going to get worse when the economy gets rough, as those areas tend to be some of the worst hit by economic crunches.

Regarding Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD) I think we’re going to see those sales figures dropping as well, and they’re already on the way down.  After all, why pay to watch a movie when Netflix has so many of them?

Some platforms may do alright since they’re primarily used by older people who tend to have more money.  These platforms are ones similar to Comcast InDemand, DirectTV, and Dish Network.  If I had to guess, I’d say that Dish was the most likely to lose subscribers first, as they’re already kind of the budget option, and cord-cutting has become such a viable option that those looking to save money on cable bills may look there first.

Airlines and other ancillary revenue streams are likely to see a drop in passengers, and thus likely have a corresponding drop in their acquisitions budgets for media.  This will probably affect smaller-scale projects before bigger ones because to the average consumer having the Marvel Catalog is significantly more useful than having the Criterion Collection.

That pretty much just leaves Subscription VOD (SVOD) and Advertising Supported (AVOD). 

I think that larger SVOD platforms are going to be in a very good position to gobble up more market share.  Since so many forms of distribution such as theatrical, Transactional VOD (TVOD) are likely to see their revenues diminish, I believe it’s logical to assume that the bigger named SVOD platforms will grow to take up their place in the market.  These platforms would include offerings like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO NOW, and some of the new ones entering the fray like Disney and potentially Apple.  

To me, it’s only logical that as belts tighten, cord cutting will increase and these platforms are likely to largely take up the air left by the deflation of other sectors of the distribution chain.

That being said, I think that smaller services are in trouble. Fandor all but went out of business earlier in December, and FilmRise shut its doors recently. These were two services targeted at bringing eclectic artsy films to cinephiles across the country. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t make themselves profitable.

This leads to one other piece of this landscape that you should be paying attention to. You should be looking at VOD Service bundles like VRV. It’s not that dissimilar to a cable package, but much less expensive and all OTT. It looks like most of the content from FilmRise will end up in something akin to those sorts of packages, or largely absorbed into bigger platforms owned by their parent companies.

Finally, we’re on to Advertising Supported Video on demand. This one is where I think the biggest boom is going to come from. People with no money but lots of time will watch ads, and the number of people that’s true for is set to increase substantially in the event of a recession.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back next week with my final blog of the year, which will show you how to take the information you learned here and turn it into a functional strategy for building your career in 2019.

In the meantime, make sure you’re on my mailing list, it’s a great bargain at the recession-friendly price of FREE.  You also get lots of great stuff, all of it listed on the button below

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What Deliverables does my Sales Agent Need to sell my Independent Film internationally? (Deliverables 2/4)

Last week, I covered the basics that are required as deliverables for almost every U.S. Distribution or International Sales Contract.  This week, I’m going through the servicing lists.  Most of these servicing requirements are for the internationalization of the film, be they subs or dubs.  Some are more for marketing purposes, but in the end, it’s what the sales agent needs to effectively put together a package and the film to where it needs to go.

Again, this list though expansive may not cover every distribution deliverable from every contract you may encounter, although it should get most of them.  

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: After running a distribution company, I found these blogs are overly intensive, and really you’re not going to need everything across the 4 blogs. I may do a revised version in the future if I get enough comments, but until then I’ll leave this up for posterity.

1. ​Final Timecoded Continuity Script/Spotting List:

This is different than a script.  This is you watching the final cut of your movie and going through and noting the timecode of every single line of dialogue.  You’ll also have to write down exactly which words are spoken for this spotting list.  This document is generally used for creating subtitles and dubbing scripts. 

You may also be required to provide this for any trailers. ​

2. Final Shooting Script

Even though you will need to have the spotting list, turning over the final version of the shooting script can help provide a backup, in case parts of the spotting list are unclear, or do not translate well. 

3. Music Cue Sheet

A Music Cue Sheet is similar to a spotting list, but instead of being for dialogue, it’s for music.  While you will be required to provide music and effects tracks, the music queue sheet is required in case of edits are made to the film for censorship or time reasons. ​

4. Music & Effects (M&E) Tracks

If the sales agent sells the right to dub the film, they’re going to need the Music and Effects tracks to do it well.  These tracks are essentially all the audio in the film without any dialogue.  Sometimes the tracks on which each type of audio will be placed on are specified, however, that’s beyond the scope of this article. 

5. Final Main Credits

This is a typed list of the opening credits as they appear on the screen.  Generally, these are more for subtitling purposes than straight-up replacement purposes.  Most of the time delivery of this item will be via Word document. 

6. Final End Credits

Similar to the final main credit entry above, this is a list of all credits in the back end of the film.  Again this is something you can deliver to your international sales agent in a simple Word document.  Generally, these are preferred to PDFs in case minor changes or copy-pastes need to be made.

7. Press Kit

This deserves a longer entry than I can give it here, but a press kit is essentially a list of all pressworthy information about the film.  What goes into it is subjective relative to space requirements and how you’re using it.  In this instance, it’s best you talk to your sales agents to clarify what they really need in a physical press kit.  Although generally speaking, you’ll want a review or two from festivals, any festivals you got into, any press coverage you’ve already gotten, some screenshots from the movie, the poster, and maybe a few quotes from the director/producers/lead talent. 

8. Logos

You’ll need to deliver logos to the distributor for the production companies involved in making the film.  If you’re using a producer’s rep, then you’ll need theirs too.  Generally, the distributor will want the Photoshop file, and they’ll probably have other tech specs for you as well. 

9. Bonus Material

If the distributor is planning a DVD release, they may ask for bonus materials.  Things like BTS Footage, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, a blooper reel, cast interviews, and commentary tracks. ​

10. Electronic Press Kit (EPK)

This is an electronic version of the press kit.  It will contain everything listed above, plus more links to reviews, broadcast-quality interviews (if available) and more dynamic and updatable content than a paper press kit can provide. 

Thanks so much for reading!  Check the other posts for more.  Next up is legal, and it’s LONG. Also, Grab my free Indiefilm Business Resource Package to get a free e-book, templates, and a monthly blog digest to increase your ability to find meaningful distribution.

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What do I need to deliver to my Independent Film’s distributor? (1/4)

So there are a lot of questions about what’s involved in Distribution Deliverables for an Independent Film.  So I’ve scoured a few contracts to find a very thorough list of what you might need to provide for a distributor or Sales Agent if they take your film.  Since this list is quite expansive, there may be some stuff on here that most distributors do not ask for, but I figured it best to know what you might have to be able to provide

Given how massive this list ended up being, I’m actually going to break this out into 4 parts.  This part is the basics, the next part will be deliverables used in internationalization and marketing, part 3 will be legal, and the fourth and final part will be some of the stranger and incidental things you might have to provide or be willing to pay for the sales agent to provide.

All of this being said, even though this list is massive, I may have missed something, so definitely talk with your post-house supervisor, lawyer, and editor before submitting these items. 

Let’s Dive right in.

​1. Color Stills and Photographs (50):

These color stills and photographs are generally not meant to be Behind the Scenes photos.  They’re meant to be stills from the movie itself to be used in various forms of promotion. They can also be images of the talent in costume to use in the creation of key art, posters, trailers, and other places where art may show up across platforms.

2. Screeners (50)

While many distributors/Sales Agents have moved to providing internet screeners through services like Vimeo, some still prefer DVDs.  These distributors generally won’t want you to put a watermark of any kind on the film.  I’d be hesitant on this due to piracy concerns, but I’m putting it on here because I found it in a contract. 

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: This isn’t really done anymore. Distributors just use the master file to create their own screener to send to buyers.

3. Digital Promotional Trailer

Unsurprisingly, the sales agent will want a trailer to help with sales.  It's extremely important in market meetings with buyers.  It’s reasonably likely they’ll need a new trailer cut, but if the trailer you deliver suits their needs, they’re less likely to charge you for that deliverable.

4. Credit/Billing Block

This is just a listing of all credits for the film, to help the distributor keep up with legal obligations and consistent crediting across platforms. Be careful in delivering this, as their distribution agreement probably includes something indemnifying them should issues result from errors in files you delivered to them.

5. Certified Statement with Contractual Obligations.

This statement is just so the distributor knows how underwater you are with investors, and more importantly debtors.  Among other things, the distributor wants to know that they won’t lose the film because the bank took it from you. 

6. Tax Payer Information: W8/W9

The Distributor is paying you, and they have to pay their taxes just like anyone else. 

7. Layered Keyart

Most of the time the distributor will need to make changes to your art, so they’ll need the PSD file. If you don’t deliver that file, they’ll just have one made completely independent of your art.

8. 4k Technical Sample.

If you’re delivering in 4k, The distributor will also need a 4k sample to show buyers in market meetings.  That’s what this is. 

9. 100% QC'd HD ProResHQ or 4444 Master .mov Files: 

If a sales agent is going to sell your movie, then they’ll need a copy of it.  They may ask for a few versions for SD, and they may also ask for a 4k version.  There will be a lot of technical specs you’ll have to match exactly, and you’ll have to undergo a QC Check from a professional lab. By the way, if they ask you for a 422 file, don’t send them a 4444 file. 4444 files are only needed for really specific tasks that your distributor doesn’t need to do. The increased file size will annoy them or their lab.

10. Bluray Market/Festival Screening Masters

These are for screenings the sales agent might want to do for buyers in any of the provided market screening rooms. 

11. Master Audio Files

They are going to need the stems for the film.  Every once in a while, sales agents need to make edits for other markets.  That’s where these come in. ​

12. Copy of Music Score: Digital Files

Sometimes when you cut a film to comply with censorship in other countries, you’ll need to mask some cost by replacing the score.  That’s why they need some original files for the score. 

13. Certificate of Full QC Pass

A QC Check is required for any distribution you would actually want to have.  This generally involves sending the completed film to a lab, and and having every part of the film checked to ensure it’s in broadcast quality.  Generally this sort of check costs around 1500 per time you have to have it checked.  That means, if you fail your QC check, you’ll have to pay to have it done again.  I may do an entire post on the QC check process in the future, if I do, I’ll post it below. ​

​Thanks for reading!  This is the first of several posts covering Deliverables for Distribution.  Check the other posts for more. Also, Grab my free Indiefilm Business Resource Package to get a free e-book, templates, and a monthly blog digest to increase your ability to find meaningful distribution.

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5 Rules for Vetting Your Producer’s Rep

The term producer’s rep has been given a bad name.  A lot of people think that Producer’s reps are just money-grubbing middlemen (or middlewomen, or middlethems) who don’t add any value to your project.  As a producer’s rep myself, I’d like to take issue with the narrative that producer’s reps are slimy con artists who will overcharge you without adding value.  Unfortunately, I can’t.  For the most part, the rumors exist for a reason.

So with that in mind, here are 5 ways to vet your producer’s rep. If you want to sign up with me, do the same.

​Ask what their upfront fees are.

If you’re simply looking for a rep to broker your completed film, then the upfront fees should be very low, or nonexistent then they’ll take a piece of the pie for the length of the deal. There are producer’s representatives who operate on a service basis, I.E. they’ll be paid a few thousand dollars with half up front, half on success. In theory, you end up paying less this way, but the incentives are not always in line with the filmmaker’s best interest.

I’ve heard stories of other reps charging 5000 dollars to represent a film to various sales agencies.  If the Rep got you a deal, the rep would then retain 35% of all money from that deal.  This is without even negotiating for a better deal with the sales agency, essentially just making a few calls and writing a few emails.  

Not all service deals are bad, but you have to do extra diligence if that’s how your rep operates.

Also, it should be noted that if you want your rep to do anything other than basic brokering, you should expect to pay them. When I work with filmmakers at an early stage to guide investment decks, help attach talent, write business plans, or any other consulting-oriented services, you should expect to pay some not-insignificant fees. Nobody on a film shoot should be asked to work for free, including us. We still have bills, and it took a lot of investment for us to develop our skills and contacts.

Related: What Does a Producer's Rep DO Anyway?

For straight representation/brokerage services, I charge nothing upfront, and as of this writing, I don’t even charge recoupable expenses.  I charge 10% for connection to sales agents, and 18% if I sell directly to buyers.  (Generally only domestically.)  I also negotiate with sales agencies and buyers to get you/us the best possible deal. 

That being said, brokerage tasks for completed films are the only thing I don’t charge upfront for.  For other tasks, I either charge by the hour or by the job, sometimes with performance bonuses or deferments. ​

2.   Ask them if they watched your movie.

If they’re offering to represent your movie, they had better have watched it.  If they try to say that they don’t remember the film because they watched 8 last week, they’re probably lying.  I watch 5-8 a week.  If I’m making an offer I’ve probably watched it all.  If I don’t think I can sell it, I stop after 20 minutes. ​

Most sales agents and Producer's Reps have a similar system.  If they can't say some specifics about your film, they're probably lying about watching it.  

3. Look them up on imdb.

You want someone who’s not all talk.  You want to see some associate, co-, and executive producing credits on their IMDb.  I generally ask to be credited as an executive producer because it’s the most accurate credit for the job I do. 

If you want to check out what I’ve done, here’s my imdb,

VISIT MY IMDB

4.  Ask them who they have direct relationships with

Any good rep will have existing relationships with some sales agencies.  That’s why you would want to hire them in the first place.  Great reps will have direct relationships with buyers.  If they can’t list out a few sales agencies that they’ve worked with in the past off the top of their head, then they’re probably not going to do their job very well. 

While I won’t list the ones I’ve worked with here, I will tell you if you ask me when on a call or after you submit your film below.

5. Call 3 of their previous clients

This is true for both Producer’s Reps and Sales Agencies.  You’ve GOT to call the clients of your rep and ask for a reference.  If you ask for references and your rep gets upset, then it’s likely a sign you shouldn’t use their services.  Honestly, It’s better if you just look up those filmmakers on IMDb and call them yourself. You can find all the necessary info on imdbPro.

Thanks so much for reading! If you’re looking for a producer’s rep, you should check out my services page. If you’re not quite there yet, but want to more know about the film biz, you should join my mailing list and get my FREE Film market resource package. Links below in the buttons.

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How to Structure Your Production Company’s Entity

I’m not a lawyer, nor an accountant. I get a fair amount of questions about the legal structure of a Production company and a film.  So I thought I would write a blog about how I’ve learned to structure each individual entity, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of each choice. These are

Generally, you’ll want to have one legal entity that exists as your production company, and one legal entity for each project you produce.  Generally, your production company will be a general partner in each project, and when each project has run its course, the entity will be dissolved.   If you’re producing episodic content, you can probably get by with one entity per season.

Before we get started, I’d like to reiterate that I’m not a lawyer or an accountant.  You should definitely talk to one before you proceed in forming a business. ​

LLC>LP

The way I was originally taught was that your production company should be a Limited Liability Company (LLC) and your projects should each be Limited Partnerships (LPs.) In this instance, your production company would be the General Partner, and all of your investors would be limited partners.  This structure offers you better creative control, shields the assets of your investor in case something goes wrong. 

​The way that your creative control is protected is that only the general partner can make important decisions regarding running the business.  As such, any important creative decision remains with the general partner.  In exchange for the limited liability protection, your investors are treated as silent partners, and unable to heavily advise on the day to day operations and decision-making of the company. ​

​Given that the General Partner is your production company, your personal assets are still protected. 

​However, I will admit that I’m just about the only person I know (aside from the teacher who taught it to me) that favors this structure.  Most producers I know favor the following structure.

LLC>LLC

The Production Company LLC being the general partner of the film’s LLC and all of the investors being considered full partners in the film LLC is the most common structure I’ve seen in my time in California.  The big benefit here is simplicity.  Investors are treated the same way that the general partner is, and everyone benefits from the pass-through nature of the entity. 

The assets of your production company are also better protected here if things go awry, but the investors are not forced to be silent.  This can lead to less creative control for the filmmaker, however, if you were going to run into this with the film being a Limited Partnership, it likely would have ended just as poorly as it would end in this scenario. 

S-Corp/C-Corp

Finally, the other primary way you could structure your film is as a corporation.  Either an S-Corp or a C-Corp.  The primary reason you would do this is to issue lots of shares to potential investors. Practically speaking this would mean more than 10-20 individual investors.  This is relatively unlikely for most filmmakers.   

Corporations also encounter additional accounting challenges and in many states additional taxation beyond that of an LLC.  Corporations are subject to corporate accounting, and then payroll is generally issued as an individual check.  For an LLC, you can pass your income through to yourself, which makes tax time much easier.  LLCs provide most of the same benefits that you would actually use as a media production company/media project. You can also do that with an S-Corp, but there are additional filing fees that may or may not be of benefit to you. You could also have an S Corp or C corp own or be the general partner in LLCs or LPs that are responsible for individual projects, similar to the LLC outline above. I have known filmmakers to do this in the past. In certain scenarios, it can be quite advantageous.

Again, talk to your accountant or lawyer, as I am neither. I’m just an executive producer who writes a bit too much.

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