Dealing with idiot agents

A

applebyfilms

sorry, to post that but they are..

i am constantly geting the same message from any agent i contact..

get back in touch when the film is financed..

can you imaginge..

going to an investor, and saying, no i got no names, because they wont talk to me until you pay 3 mil for the film...

DOOOOOH...

let me explain.. I contact agents, and explain im a film maker, making a new film, and wondered if their star would be interested.

i get a message, back.. get in touch when its financed.

now from what i can tell, its harder to get finance if you dont have a name.

What do you do?
 
Welcome to the film business.

If you're not in their rollodex, agents know your ability to get enough financing to afford their star is next to zero. Go with plan "B".

Good luck.
 
That is the catch 22 of the industry. You have to find ways around the agents to meet the talent in person.

The agents are doing their jobs to protect their clients because the chances of getting funded are slim.
 
Last edited:
I would imagine you would get an initial financing based on YOUR name first.
After you get some big numbered budget that it solely based off of your name, you can start calling agents and negotiate their $$$.

I don't see why would an agent or big name actor would bother working on a no budget movie with an unknown director. It won't make em any money.

That's just my thinking outloud. I ve never contacted any agents or have any experience with seeking finances. I might be wrong :)
 
dlevanchuk said:
I would imagine you would get an initial financing based on YOUR name first.
After you get some big numbered budget that it solely based off of your name, you can start calling agents and negotiate their $$$.

I don't see why would an agent or big name actor would bother working on a no budget movie with an unknown director. It won't make em any money.

That's just my thinking outloud. I ve never contacted any agents or have any experience with seeking finances. I might be wrong :)
Click to expand...
+1

Yup!
 
applebyfilms said:
sorry, to post that but they are..
Click to expand...
Being a savvy, smart business person does not make an agent an
idiot. You want their client to give (for free) their name to you so
you can, on the strength of the actor name, get financing. That
makes the actor essential to getting YOUR project financed. Not
a project the actor is passionate about, but a project by a complete
stranger who want to use their name and reputation - for free.

Poor business.

Dima, I have contacted agents and I have a lot of experience seeking
financing and you are exactly right.

Sorry Keith, you are expecting too much. Agents book their clients
for jobs, they do not book their client's into a position where the
financing of a movie for a complete stranger depends on their name.
An agent who doesn't put their client in that position is a good agent,
not an idiot.



applebyfilms said:
now from what i can tell, its harder to get finance if you dont have a name.

What do you do?
Click to expand...
You are correct, it’s infinitely harder to get financing if you don’t
have a name. What you don’t do is expect a name to help you, a
complete stranger, by attaching their name to your project.
 
i would say use the actors you can and submit your films into festivals. if someone likes your work they could offer to buy the film or offer you a position starting out as a low budget director or producer.
 
I'm wondering if applebyfilms ran into the same people in London I met a few years ago when I took a trip to London to meet a gentleman who give filmmakers quite a sales pitch about making great studio productions for action movies. The man I met, first over the Internet, then in person in London claims to own expensive high speed 35 mm cameras and knows the stunt coordinators and players from The Matrix and will talk to them to get them into a film with filmmakers he is pitching to win over.

He also has a very rich executive producer friend who had a small part in Who Framed Roger Rabit?

He will write a business plan for you and give it to his friend. But then, his friend expects the filmmaker to get big name studio actors attached to a script written by an unknown as well as a big studio attached.

THEN, his friend the executive producer will give you the money to make your movie.

He claims he owns hotels and sells some of them at times. And yet, he never allowed me to see where he lived.

Does this sound familiar?

A name studio executive producer can call agents and they will jump and get their talent to read a script.

An unknown writer / producer cannot.

Start off small. Build a resume before reaching for the top.
 
Last edited:
applebyfilms said:
sorry, to post that but they are..

i am constantly geting the same message from any agent i contact..

get back in touch when the film is financed..

can you imaginge..

going to an investor, and saying, no i got no names, because they wont talk to me until you pay 3 mil for the film...

DOOOOOH...

let me explain.. I contact agents, and explain im a film maker, making a new film, and wondered if their star would be interested.

i get a message, back.. get in touch when its financed.

now from what i can tell, its harder to get finance if you dont have a name.

What do you do?
Click to expand...

Contact the agents and tell them that you are fully financed (even though you're not) and make their client an offer.
Once there is a deal memo or an agreement drafted you go to the investor and tell them you have a name actor attached, give me some money. You only need 10% of the agreed salary once you've signed the agreement.
After you've gotten money from your investor you pay the actor the 10% and sign the contract.
It is perfectly reasonable for this all to take a couple of weeks, and you don't tell them that you don't have the money yet when you make the offer.

The other way to do it is to raise 10% of the name actor fees before you contact their agents.
For example if you are making a $1M-$1.5M movie you figure you're going to spend $500k on star's salaries, all you have to do is raise $50k beforehand, that's all you need to attach the names to your movie. After that you go get pre-sales, investments etc.

Agents and managers like to get firm money offers, most of them don't do LOI's at all anymore.
You might get some C-level actors to sign you LOI's, but unfortunately having those kinds of names in your movie won't make much of a difference when you are trying to get financing.
However, you have nothing to lose, if you have nobody attached to your movie yet, it won't hurt to get some of these recognisable names attached before you go after the bigger names.
 
Agents and managers also want proof of funds. Some ask for a check with a steep deposit of the actor's fee to accompany the script. They are very leery of parties they have never worked with before. They do due diligence. They have an obligation to protect their clients.
 
Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
Agents and managers also want proof of funds. Some ask for a check with a steep deposit of the actor's fee to accompany the script. They are very leery of parties they have never worked with before. They do due diligence. They have an obligation to protect their clients.
Click to expand...

I'm sure they would like to see proof of funds, but all they really can do is to ask you if you're fully financed and they just have to trust your word.
Anything more than that would be unreasonable. They aren't going to ask you to show them how much is in your bank account, and even if they did you certainly would not need to show them.

10% deposit is pretty standard, I have never heard of anyone paying more than that on signature.

It's true, it's always easier to deal with people you have an existing relationship with, but in my experience dealing with managers and agents of B-list actors has been very easy, they don't really care about the script or who's directing or who's producing, all they care about is that they get their fee and that's it.
 
That's because B-List actors will tell you they have to do the work to get work while their reps collect their fees. A-List actor don't have to look for work because they are booked with productions five to seven years in advance.

You're better off raising some cash to pay them for a one day appearance in a ten or twenty minute short to show distributors to get LOI for when the full version gets made. Their appearance in the footage id proof the filmmaker can get them.

I guy I use to know paid Julie Strain $2000 for a one day appearance. People cam hate her acting. But, she has a fan base that attracts B movie distributors
 
Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
You're better off raising some cash to pay them for a one day appearance in a ten or twenty minute short to show distributors to get LOI for when the full version gets made. Their appearance in the footage id proof the filmmaker can get them.

I guy I use to know paid Julie Strain $2000 for a one day appearance. People cam hate her acting. But, she has a fan base that attracts B movie distributors
Click to expand...

I'm not really seeing how this would work.

Most of the names who are big enough to guarantee distribution or even pre-sales generally don't like to do short films, unless the script is phenomenal and/or there is an A-list director, producer or writer involved or if the star is good friends with someone involved in the production.
All they want to do is decent budgeted full length direct to video productions.

Also these bigger names don't do one day cameos at all, because they know that the only reason they get hired is that they guarantee distribution, so they don't want to get exploited. They want to do gigs that are min. one week or more.
You might get them to do three days but only if you shoot somewhere close to where they live.
If they have to travel a long way a two or three day gig usually equals a week's salary.

Also if you are producing a feature length film, all distributors and investors want to know if you have the name actors attached to that production, they don't really care if you have done a short film with them prior to that, because they know that they are gettable, anyone who pays their fee can get them, you don't have to have a personal relationship with the actor, allthough that doesn't hurt.

I would only hire a name actor to star in a short film if he or she would do it for scale, because you can't really make money with a short film, even with a star attached. And it doesn't really help you to secure the name to your full length movie, of course you would at that point have a relationship with the star, but he would most likely still want to get paid his normal fee. so in that scenario, the short film was useless as far as helping to produce the full length film.

Someone like Julie Strain, or pretty much any C-list actor, TV actor, Celebrity etc. is pretty much worth $0 nowadays. They're basically worth scale and nothing more.
A good indication of that is to look at their imdb, for example Julie Strain hasn't been in a movie in three years, if her name was worth anything as far as distribution goes, she would still appear in movies, but her name unfortunately means nothing. And the same is true with so many actors who were in high demand in the 90's and 00's.
 
Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
That's because B-List actors will tell you they have to do the work to get work while their reps collect their fees. A-List actor don't have to look for work because they are booked with productions five to seven years in advance.

You're better off raising some cash to pay them for a one day appearance in a ten or twenty minute short to show distributors to get LOI for when the full version gets made. Their appearance in the footage id proof the filmmaker can get them.

I guy I use to know paid Julie Strain $2000 for a one day appearance. People cam hate her acting. But, she has a fan base that attracts B movie distributors
Click to expand...

Do you think this would work for crowd funding too? Say hire the actor for a day, do a half day shoot with them to cut a trailer then do an interview with them discussing their character etc?

Could be an idea that appleby could use
 
Imagine if the actors you want would be interested in doing a film that has a high probability of not being made....they would want producer credits, back end, writing credits....They would own your film. Get your financing or you yourself need to get an agent to pitch your script.

Those "idiot" agents are also the ones that can help make you make your movie.
 
Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
Julie's one day appearance is proof that she does.

Jackie Chan's Special Starring appearance in The Vampire Effect is proof that he does.

And, they are not alone.
Click to expand...

I don't know what sort of Deal Jackie Chan had with that movie or how long it took to film his scenes, so can't really comment on that.

But I would not classify Julie Strain as a big name actress, names of this caliber can be hired for only one or two days, and they are glad to get the job, but these names are not enough to guarantee distribution these days. You need bigger names, and like I wrote earlier these bigger names know their worth and won't do one day cameos at all, unless of course they're good friends with the producer or director etc.

One good example is Jean-Claude Van Damme, he did a two day role in the movie "Dragon Eyes" but that was a favor to the producer, If I as a producer and no prior relationship with him would try to hire him for two days for the exact same rate, he would most definitely not do it.

I could hire these c-listers and celebrities for one day cameos as much as I'd like, but truth is their names don't mean much at all if you want distribution.
 
You mentioned B-List actors. So, I gave examples in kind.

Julie will get B movie distributors attached.

Obviously if you want bigger distributors attached you need bigger stars.

You have to crawl before you walk. An unknown producer cannot start off from the top. They have to work their way up.

In the words of a studio exec, "What have you done before?"

Do not believe for one second the agents and managers of the talent won't run the unknown producer's name through IMDB! because they will.

When nothing turns up, they will be very suspicious and want to see money up front.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top