Two Questions

[ramirras]

We're generating some serious steam raising the money that we need to get our indie off the ground. Thanks for all of the help and ideas. Looks like we'll be working with nearly $10 million.

The first question that I have concerns letters of intent. We're about to set up an escrow account with about 20% of those funds. I've been told that now that we have money that we may need to pay a fee to have some of the better known "B-List" talent to sign letters of intent. Is this customary?

Secondly, I was told by one of our investors that because we are doing this film independently we could possibly snag a willing A-List actor for far less than what they would charge a major studio. Is this normal?

Thanx in advance,
Ramirras

 

[directorik]

We're generating some serious steam raising the money that we need to get our indie off the ground. Thanks for all of the help and ideas. Looks like we'll be working with nearly $10 million.

The first question that I have concerns letters of intent. We're about to set up an escrow account with about 20% of those funds. I've been told that now that we have money that we may need to pay a fee to have some of the better known "B-List" talent to sign letters of intent. Is this customary?

An LOI is worthless to investors because the talent doesn't need to actually follow through. More likely you'll need to sign a pay or play deal.

Secondly, I was told by one of our investors that because we are doing this film independently we could possibly snag a willing A-List actor for far less than what they would charge a major studio. Is this normal?

Quite normal depending on who this "A-list" person is. True A-list talent are hard to get. But if you have a great script, an experienced director and producer, a known distributor and the right contacts you can do it.