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I received an email today from a producer in Mumbai, India, wanting to do a low budget production of my feature script "According to Plan". No payment on the front end but 3% on the back end on any profits.
Now, I may have been born at night, but I wasn't born last night. There's all sorts of red flags that raise themselves at something like this, the first being how the hell do you actually monitor anything associated with being filmed halfway around the world, and more specifically, how would someone even determine whether something made a profit there (I guess you could say the same thing here, right?).
My initial reaction was, what's the worst that could happen? It gets made (still a big if), I retain all English-speaking rights (oh, yeah, it would be in a foreign language), and maybe I add another credit to my IMDB page. I'm sure there are things I'm not thinking of, so if anyone has had a similar experience or thoughts on this, I'd certainly welcome them.
Thanks, Gary
Some of my scripts:
Bounty (TV Pilot) -- Top 1% of discoverable screenplays on Coverfly I'll Be Seeing You (short) - OWC winner The Gambler (short) - OWC winner Skip (short) - filmed Country Road 12 (short) - filmed The Family Man (short) - filmed The Journeyers (feature) - optioned
I've given a heap of free options out in the past only for every single one of them to fall through. That's why I don't let anything out for free any more. Even with shorts, I just can't bring myself to trust that my work will be well represented if I give them away for free. It's like I'm selling myself short.
It's not about your IMDb, it's about having a portfolio that you're not ashamed to show people in the industry. Sometimes, nothing is better than something.
Had a similar offer from someone in Portugal a while back for my tv pilot Mindwalker. Sounded great initially, but the more I asked the shorter the answers became and the guy eventually didn't respond anymore at all.
I wouldn't mind giving something away for free or for some points on the profit, but I've got to be sure that person is serious and can deliver good quality. There's many wannabes around who read a book about filmmaking and call themselves 'producers'.
I agree -- I'm going to go back to them and just say, look, if you're serious, pay us "X" for an option and we'll see where it goes from there. I'm not opposed to doing a free option when I know the person, they're here in the U.S. and they have a track record and I can communicate with them easily. Otherwise, you need to pay if you want to play.
Some of my scripts:
Bounty (TV Pilot) -- Top 1% of discoverable screenplays on Coverfly I'll Be Seeing You (short) - OWC winner The Gambler (short) - OWC winner Skip (short) - filmed Country Road 12 (short) - filmed The Family Man (short) - filmed The Journeyers (feature) - optioned
Be prepared for them not to get back to you at all. I had similar recently from a guy at film school in India. He wanted my latest short, A Friend in the End, but he wanted it for free. I asked for £200 (approx $300), which I think is a very fair amount, and he completely ignored me. Not even a 'no thanks'.
There may be other opinions out there, so perhaps wait for an opposite one and see how you feel then.
The guy himself does not, but he and his team members work for someone who does have some produced Indian films.
Some of my scripts:
Bounty (TV Pilot) -- Top 1% of discoverable screenplays on Coverfly I'll Be Seeing You (short) - OWC winner The Gambler (short) - OWC winner Skip (short) - filmed Country Road 12 (short) - filmed The Family Man (short) - filmed The Journeyers (feature) - optioned
I'm assuming these guys pay for their phone bill, utilities, camera equipment etc. Strikes me as poor form they won't even pay a nominal upfront fee for a feature length screenplay. 'Shorts' are one thing, and Dustin/Anthony make me rethink this lately I.e., being charitable to students/ film schools is one thing....
The attitude doesn't really place any value on your work imh if nothing is offered apart from what you've mentioned already, and there are no guarantees there. Too much goes on with writers expected to be flattered by the request for their work. I suppose it comes down to how much they want your script, and how much value we all put on our work.
Forgot to say, after reading your last post - good on you, Gary! And all the best with negotiating. Update us too.
I had a Russian company ask me once. And I contacted Russian screenwriters, they told me they would never give away a feature and advised I ask for no less than $4,000. But I'm a beginner, so I asked for a $1,000. They agreed to the price but the option eventually fell through.
What I'm saying is - I'd ask for something upfront if you're giving away the rights. That would show me that they are serious about the movie. And this way they'll put an effort as well to finish the project - they'll be already spending money on you, so if it falls through it means that they lost that money etc (you get my point, right?). The bottomline is - ask for something. That's my thinking.
I've got the writer of Green Street as a friend on social networking sites and I've seen him complain that that film will need to make a further million pounds before he ever sees a penny. The 3% bandied about in these contracts are only applicable after all expenses have been covered. A film can make millions and the actual writer never see a penny of it.
Another thing that bothers me a lot is that when the producer wants your work they keep in regular contact. Once you've signed the contract you never hear from them, they may even ignore you. At least if you've been paid you have some compensation for your efforts.
If it's low budget then a few K on a feature should make you feel better. To give away weeks, months or even years of work for nothing, is severely selling ourselves short. We're worth more than that.
Oh, and I would have a bumerang (or whatever) clause in my contract saying that if they don't produce the movie during certain length of time the rights go back to you.
No payment upfront for a feature is a deal-breaker for me. I don't expect to see anything on the back end... ever. It's fairy dust and the oldest trick in the book for producers to dupe writers into giving away their work for free. Not that you shouldn't include a back-end percentage in your contract on the off-chance you write Blair Witch, but to me, it's basically a formality. I suppose if you're happy to get the credit and somehow retain the English-speaking rights (good on you, btw), there's not much else I can say, but I'll echo sentiments to ask for something upfront and see what happens.
Oh, and I would have a bumerang (or whatever) clause in my contract saying that if they don't produce the movie during certain length of time the rights go back to you.
A bumerang? Oooh. I think I want one.
Do I use my cheeks of sweet, or my hand(s)? What happens when I need to go? Y'know... there. Facilities I mean. Erm, perhaps a dictionary might be in order. I think it's in the bathroom as I ran out of toilet roll and my better half has finally given up buying the shite from the newsagent. You know who I mean.
Now, I'm off to buy a thesaurus. Soft, strong and very observant. Eh?
I wonder if I throw it, will it come back and hit me in the arse? Let's hope so.
R
p.s. I worked for a couple of film makers from Mumbai a few months ago. They gave me a payment up front, after some debate. I wrote their script as we discussed. They didn't like it. So I wrote another one, as per the new instructions. They seemed rather hard to get hold of for a while. When I did manage to speak to them, it was a little strange, to say the least. I sent the second script anyway. Never heard a word since. Ho hum.
So I had a discussion with the producer today. We worked out a suitable deal for both us, front-end payment/back-end deal and I retain all rights outside the country of India. A modest front-end, but that's okay. He wants to begin shooting this summer, so we have to start to work right away on some of the things he wants to tweak.
By the end of the call he was asking me to pitch him other things I had. Nothing hit there, but that's okay.
It's going to be filmed in the local language of whatever is they speak in Mumbai (not Hindi), so that limits the audience somewhat, but he did agree to put subtitles in for release in other parts of the country.
I'll keep everyone updated as things develop. I thought about even flying to Mumbai just to watch some of the filming, but since it's all in a foreign language, I'd be completely lost anyway. I'll just wait for the movie to come out to see if I recognize it.
Gary
Some of my scripts:
Bounty (TV Pilot) -- Top 1% of discoverable screenplays on Coverfly I'll Be Seeing You (short) - OWC winner The Gambler (short) - OWC winner Skip (short) - filmed Country Road 12 (short) - filmed The Family Man (short) - filmed The Journeyers (feature) - optioned