Hi,
I am about to contact film distributors in Asia (Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand) to offer them the rights to my short film*, and I was wondering what sort of money I should be asking for. And what sort of contract. I have read in Kevin Lindenmuth's "Making Movies On Your Own" that the usual contract is X amount of money for the rights to a movie for 5 years. Is this accurate?
*The film is 23 minutes long, with Greek audio and English subtitles.
I've got these estimated (take/list) numbers for foreign sales estimates based on a box office takings of 2 to 3mil from 30-40 prints so you'll have to adjust it to fit a short that has no sales as I've never seen (nor do I think they exist - with good reason) a sales chart for shorts:
EUROPE
France 50 75
Germany Austria 50 90
Greece 10 15
Italy 50 90
Netherlands / Holland 50 75
Portugal 15 30
Spain 40 75
United Kingdom 60 100
ASIA/OCEANIA
Australia/NZ 35 60
Hong Kong 20 35
Indonesia 20 30
Japan 75 125
Malaysia 15 20
Phillippines 15 40
Singapore 20 40
South Korea 60 100
Taiwan 30 75
SOUTH AMERICA
Argentina/Para/Urug 15 25
Bolivia/Peru/Equador 10 20
Brazil 20 35
Chile 20 30
Colombia 10 20
Mexico 30 75
Venezuela 10 20
China
EASTERN EUROPE
Czech/Slovenia 15 25
Hungary 15 25
Poland 15 40
Russia 50 75
MISCELLANEOUS
India 20 40
Israel 15 25
South Africa 20 30
Turkey 15 25
Middle East 15 25
It's extremely rare that a short get the luxury of making enough to pay for the catering bill. (Yeah, I know even that never really happens). If you get any offer, grab hold of it with both hands and hold on tight. (Any Starfighters out there?)
I wish you luck. I can count the number of shorts that I'm aware of that have sold for money on one hand.
Granted this thing is not even finalized yet, but they've seen a few clips. I'm not expecting much money, but anything sounds better than nothing, maybe I can recoup my food and alcohol costs.
So help me out here, what is involved in selling the rights? Do i still retain any rights myself, or do I wash my hands of the whole thing.
any advice on how to approach this guy and what mistakes to avoid?
First, congratulations on both your interested party and congratulations for hijacking someone's thread.
What happens is a contract/agreement is written up and signed by both parties spelling out the rights and obligations and time line of both parties. The assignment of rights are determined by the contract. All rights worldwide in perpetuity would wipe your "wash your hands" of the whole thing.
Your biggest mistake that I'd see is if it's someone trying to defraud you of your money. Be wary of any request for you to put up money for legal fees or fees to be represented/distribution fees/submission fees and so on. Anything where they're asking you put up your money. If they ask you to give them money, I suggest you come here and ask.