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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 :)

Request for Business forum section

A

Akin A

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I'm interested in learning more about the business side of filmmaking from those REDusers who have experience in acquiring theatrical distribution, television distribution, internet distribution, the negotiation process, typical revenue splits nowadays, legal issues, etc.

Do you think it would be worth having a business section in the forum instead of digging through OT threads?
 
+1 Great idea.
 
Good idea!
 
+1. Would also be nice to have a few stickies, like the gearslutz forum has a bunch of stickies for questions about finishing, QA, delivery standards & costs which i look up a bunch. Would also like to see some stickies to post production options, there is some real nice stuff that is buried in reduser that could be linked in a sticky.
 
Hm... Joining in here...

We have had some different ideas on how to make such a section "different and with aded value" compared to what is already available in the vast forum...

Any ideas?
 
We had this discussion before when trying to figure out where Humberto's "State of the Cinema" thread should go -- ultimately it ended up in OFF-TOPIC. The current forums don't really cover business issues very well, nor aesthetics, and personally I feel that they are two sides of the same coin. I'm sure if we had separate aesthetics and business forums, most people would be posting in the business forum and hardly about art issues, which is one reason why I think one forum could and should cover both ends of the spectrum.

We DO have two post-production forums, one on Red Workflow and the other on Post Hardware (which is maybe a bit confusing) so I'm not sure if threads on post production options would need a new forum though unless it was about the business of post, rather than technique.
 
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Having released my first feature internationally in over 25 countries, I can tell you, the business side is an art form on it's own man. If you're not on the top of your game and know what you're worth, distributors will take you for a ride. You have to be so careful when you sign a deal, because some of the clauses that these companies use put you in the back seat and allow them to score off your hard work. I think this is a cool idea as a sub forum and I'd be happy to share my experience from shooting a low budget indie film, taking it to Berlin Film Festival, getting signed and the negotiation part, the contracts, final delivery and then having a sales agent rep the film at Cannes and selling it to over 25 territories. I had a lot to learn in the short time between that first meeting in Berlin and then actually seeing the film hit DVD/Blu ray stores, cinemas and pay per view sites.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
We had this discussion before when trying to figure out where Humberto's "State of the Cinema" thread should go -- ultimately it ended up in OFF-TOPIC. The current forums don't really cover business issues very well, nor aesthetics, and personally I feel that they are two sides of the same coin. I'm sure if we had separate aesthetics and business forums, most people would be posting in the business forum and hardly about art issues, which is one reason why I think one forum could and should cover both ends of the spectrum.
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I don't see how aesthetics and business are related, unless you're defining "aesthetics" differently.

I want to know more about the business process and the money. I'm looking to discuss:

1) Film
- entering into festivals, increasing your chances of getting selected, meeting with distributors, negotiations, market value of similar films, specifics of the deals (up front fees, typical box office revenue splits), knowing if the deal is good, home video and internet release deals

2) Television
- producing your own pilot and trying to shop it to networks, negotiations, giving up certain control to the network, upfront fees, typical ad revenue split

3) Internet
- Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. distribution deals. What to expect vs television deals, etc.
 
PatrickFaith said:
+1. Would also be nice to have a few stickies, like the gearslutz forum has a bunch of stickies for questions about finishing, QA, delivery standards & costs which i look up a bunch. Would also like to see some stickies to post production options, there is some real nice stuff that is buried in reduser that could be linked in a sticky.
Click to expand...

I think that wikis are preferable to stickies. Wikis are great for curating knowledge, though they can be quite problematic for discussions. Forums are great for discussions, but not so great for curating. A while ago I proposed to Jules Standen (gearslutz.com) the idea of creating a parallel wiki to try to curate the settled knowledge accumulating on the forums, but he ultimately rejected the idea. Gearslutz is ultimately supported by advertisers--dealers and product vendors. For them, having information in a highly unrefined state (such as a forum) creates a natural dynamic of sorting those who truly have better things to do toward those who are selling solutions. A well-organized wiki can cut through a lot of that clutter, but there are challenges as well, especially how to draw the line between general, neutral information and product positioning.

reduser.net strikes me as much more of a user community and much less of an ad-driven site, so it might be possible that a RED wiki could co-exist with a RED forum.

Phil Holland, Mark Toia, and many of the moderators (too many to enumerate) have done a great job editorializing personal experiences worthy of a wiki, but buried in forums (sticky or otherwise). I propose that before we talk about expanding into new forum topics, we at least consider creating a better repository of more stable knowledge. Perhaps with all the time and cognitive energy that would ultimately save, we'd have more time to truly discuss (and organize) new topic areas that truly need to be discussed.
 
I also think this is a great idea. Consider including financing and marketing as well.
 
Akin A said:
Bump.

Reading articles like this:
http://deadline.com/2017/05/upfront...ip-license-fee-tough-negotiations-1202093986/
leads to a bunch of questions.

Let's get the biz section up and discuss in an organized way.
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Very important article!!

Yes i agree, would love to see a business section here.
As "funny" as we can be talking about business and money
it would only be good for the entire community.

I myself think i'm a fair business guy owning another successful business
but i can tell you i would love to have a mentor.
 
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