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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Small Indie: Who controls the money?

While I agree that legal advice and services can be very expensive, there is usually no cost for an initial consultation where the fees and scope of services are negotiated. And you may even get some good free advice in the process.

However, if a lawyer wants to charge you just to chat about what you need, then you may want to look elsewhere. I'm sure there are some decent entertainment lawyers in the LA area who are not yet fully established, maybe working in a firm where they can draw on the resources of more senior partners, and willing to give you a break. It won't cost you anything to inquire.
 
Like I said, I'm very confident that my agent is recommending a great entertainment lawyer. It's someone he has been working with for over 20 years. I trust my agent Mike with my life.

But if any of you guys know someone, that might also be helpful.

I can afford like $1,000 for advice.
 
A director can fire a producer, that's not correct to say it never happens. Yes, it's much rarer for the director to be above the producer, but that's not to say it doesn't happen. Just look at the credits of the Star Wars prequels -- Rick McCallum is the sole producer, Lucas is the director, but do you think McCallum could fire Lucas? That might not go over so well considering that Lucas funded the films entirely out of pocket and owned the companies doing post work on the films, too. If Lucas had wanted to fire McCallum, he could have done so at a moment's notice.

It just depends on the setup of the production. A producer has certain duties and jobs. I may very well want to write and direct a movie, but not want to produce it, even though I'm funding it. There's no reason that can't be done. If Lucas can do it for $100M per movie, I can certainly do it for a small budget film.
 
Hey Tom:

Was away working all last night so I'm getting caught up on this.

For what it's worth, I've been through the same scenario you are describing about your friend/financial advisor who is bored and wants to get into film...I've actually been through it 3 times, and I may have finally achieved lift off with one guy, but I won't know for sure until I see the proof of funds in an account I can verify.

It isn't easy. Many of these types are motivated by money and chase the bigger deal, the more lucrative one, but there are better (and more reliable) ways to make real money. Sure the film business is real sexy for outsiders looking in, but when it comes to producing and financing, it's anything but. If this is something he's doing on the side, you may be disappointed -get him to commit real time and work to timelines...otherwise he'll chase something else that will make him the money he needs to pay whatever bills he has.
 
Thanks, Torrie. Actually the ball is in my court now, because I will be writing the script in August and Sept, then the ball will be in his court in Sept/Oct/Nov to raise the loot.
 
Tom said:
I will be writing the script in August and Sept
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Wow, I've been working on my script since last summer :ohmy: and I'll be damn lucky to have it done by August. I envy the guys who can bust these out in a weekend or couple months even... (that takes the kind of focus I guess I'll never have)
 
Typically, a completion bond is required by whoever is putting up the money. The bonding company then has the contractual right to come in and take over the film if it starts to go off the rails. The aesthetic suffers, but a completed film with problems is better than an incomplete film that is out of funds. Arguments about creative input exist at one level, and you'll probably be able to get what you want there. But I would think money people can be expected to insist on the final say when it comes to the make/break of completing the film. I'm told there are some production managers that are bondable because they are tough as nails and can bring a film in under budget no matter what. If you can find one of them and make him part of your team, you should be in a position to retain full control of the project through all scenarios.
 
thinkbug said:
Wow, I've been working on my script since last summer :ohmy: and I'll be damn lucky to have it done by August. I envy the guys who can bust these out in a weekend or couple months even... (that takes the kind of focus I guess I'll never have)
Click to expand...

A script usually takes me a month or so. But I have had this script idea batting around in my head for about a year now, so much of it is already written in my mind.

Stallone famously wrote the Rocky screenplay in 3 days.
 
thinkbug said:
Wow, I've been working on my script since last summer :ohmy: and I'll be damn lucky to have it done by August. I envy the guys who can bust these out in a weekend or couple months even... (that takes the kind of focus I guess I'll never have)
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm planning on mine taking much longer as well. I have been thinking over my idea and working out issues in my head for the past year or so, roughly, but I still expect that I'll require six months to write it, off and on, not like 8 hours a day by any means, but writing naturally as I like to put it. I really can't sit and write screenplays very well when I'm just trying to push it out. That works just fine for non-fiction usually because the structure and material is already there, it's really dictated by what research materials I have, etc. So I can do that. But with fiction I need a long time to mull over every important facet of the script.

I just finished the final proof corrections on my second book, which I started researching last June, then started writing early July, continued through half of January with only about a two week break in October, then I was working on editing throughout much of February and March (after working with an editor who read it over several times, besides I was already doing another draft while the editor was reading it the first time). Then the book's cover was designed, marketing text written (by me) and revised (by a marketing professional), then the final proofs were sent to me, I had to fix the index (they screwed it up pretty badly), then make some last-minute corrections, and finally today I got the word that everything looks good to go and the book will be in production shortly. Should be published by late July. More than a year-long process! I can hardly imagine doing a feature film start to finish, script, casting, pre-production, filming, editing, promoting, etc. That I am sure will be an even longer process!
 
Congrats on the book, Jonathan. Can you divulge anything about it?

I also write short stories and those can take anywhere from a week to a month for a first draft. But this screenplay is kicking my ass...

And yeah, it can be daunting to think about the whole scope of making a film, start to finish. You have guys like Woody Allen who seem to make one a year, and other people who take up to 10 years. The energy it takes alone is mind-boggling. I need a B-12 shot just thinking about it.
 
I wrote my first novel in 30 days (289 pages, but it's only so-so), and my second novel took about 3 months, on and off.

My best script, which was optioned by AMG back in their heyday, was written in about 10 days.
 
haha, yeah no kidding, the kind of non-fiction I write is really not possible to do very quickly. It's just so research-intensive, such a pain in the butt, that there are days where you work for 6-8 hours and only end up writing about 800 words, or a few pages. Other days you might put in 4 hours of work and have 3,000 words, it just depends. The editing seems never-ending, though. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my work, and the thought of having a book out with my name on the cover that has embarrassing mistakes is a nightmare, so I usually end up reading what I have written excessively. I still found errors in the final proof, which was surprising, but they were mostly minor and I think there could not be many left if any. I won't say I definitely found them all, but I'm guessing I came close. Sometimes you have to let it go, though, you can't just keep doing that for the next five years. I messed up a few peoples' names, like I had "Steve" instead of "Steven" once, and had called this guy both Steven (whatever) and Steve (whatever), so I had to fix that. Not a huge deal, but shouldn't be like that. The worst one was Leslie Stahl instead of Lesley Stahl, I had both, that was a potentially embarrassing mistake for sure. Other changes were mostly word choice, just found a better way to put something I didn't like when I read it over again.

thinkbug, the book is a sequel to my first book Anticipation (AnticipationBook.com), which was about the excitement, anticipation, business, and technology aspects of the first Star Wars prequel. This book is a follow-up focusing mainly on Revenge of the Sith, and it is called Revenge. Both books have subtitles, "The Real Life Story of..." (movie). I try to explain to people that the books are not primarily about the movies themselves, as in the content, but about the massive popular culture impact, the business, the marketing, the fan devotion, all of those angles. The first book was shorter, though, 90,000 words (250 pages), the second book is 150,000 words and 386 pages. I expect that page count to change by a few after I fixed the index. This last book does mention the second prequel, too, but I didn't feel that it needed its own book, so it got its own chapter instead. Both films, the first and last prequels, no matter what one thought of them artistically, advanced cinema technology or business and marketing practices in the industry in really interesting ways, so for me it was fun to research and write the books. They are of course primarily for big Star Wars fans, but I wrote them as film history books of general interest to people who love movies or are interested in popular culture. Nothing in the books assumes knowing nerdy Star Wars references, for instance, it's all plainly put so that my dad could understand it! haha.
 
"Typically, a completion bond is required by whoever is putting up the money. The bonding company then has the contractual right to come in and take over the film if it starts to go off the rails"

i don't think they do 200k budgets ?..

many studio's and investment company's do require a bond .. the production pays for a completion bond .. also many will require ( or the production company may decide on it's own ) that you have insurance on your lead actors/actress and some key personal ....
there are many persons that fine tune their skills Directing , DP'ing, PM etc by being on the completion bonds crew list as persons to call when a project gets into trouble ... many do not work under their own names ( many contracts will say Joe Smuck gets Directing credit even though he was tossed out somewhere in the project ) ...
 
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