What Would You Do? - Distribution

[stephenlevi]

Hey everyone, I'll keep this post short and sweet.

Last year, I filmed a feature film (wrote / directed) and now I have someone interested in acquiring the creative rights of the film. By doing this, they want to have the film re-edited, re-scored, they will pay for all future marketing materials and enter into festivals and try to secure distributions. I'll get paid on front end and receive portion of sales on back end. Sounds good right? Well here's the catch. When they sent me a contract to fill out, they want all copyrights of film along with rights for reshoot's, re-makes, sequels, etc. RED FLAG. I'm not interested in selling off rights to film.

Since I've never done this before, before I waste money hiring my attorney to review contract, I want the terms to be agreeable before hand. Is there a way to sell limited rights that just allows someone to re-edit for purpose of distribution? It doesn't seem like I'd have to transfer complete copyrights.

Thanks so much !!

 

[mlesemann]

If the price is right, I would definitely do it, largely because it would allow me to make another movie sooner rather than later.

I'm NOT saying that you should...just that I would.

 

[stephenlevi]

If the price is right, I would definitely do it, largely because it would allow me to make another movie sooner rather than later.

I'm NOT saying that you should...just that I would.

It's a decent amount of money, but not enough to really do anything. The weight being taken off my shoulders is another plus. The reason I don't want to give up full rights is because I don't want them to re-shoot my script with another director and or sell as a TV and kick me to curb. Stuff like that. But if they want to clean it up and find distribution, then hell ya, I'm all for that.

 

[2001 Productions]

When they sent me a contract to fill out, they want all copyrights of film along with rights for reshoot's, re-makes, sequels, etc.

From my understanding of such things (caveat: I've never been so fortunate to have entertained such an offer), this is standard practice in such a situation. It's somewhat anachronistic, but think they still use the phrase "negative pick-up". It does not mean they will necessarily exercise any of those rights, but it is not unusual at all for them to expect to acquire them.

If you feel that you have sufficient leverage, you are of course within your rights to try and negotiate, but if it's a deal-breaker you must weigh the importance of retaining those rights against the possibility of not getting distribution. Most of us - myself included - would feel lucky just to receive any offer at all!

 

[Sweetie]

It sounds about right. From the sounds of it, this is a smaller production company/smaller local distributor putting in the offer, right? Most likely the latter option.

When they sent me a contract to fill out, they want all copyrights of film along with rights for reshoot's, re-makes, sequels, etc. RED FLAG. I'm not interested in selling off rights to film.

You'll have to sell off at least some rights, otherwise, they're just paying you money for the sake of paying you money and no company ever just does that.

What they're doing is offsetting their risk amongst their portfolio. The value in a movie isn't necessarily in each movie by themselves, the value is often in the ability to make sequel and future exploitation if it becomes a hit. A studio might commission 20 movies with the hopes that 5 of them are good enough to warrant sequels, and 1 of them runs away to become hot property (for instance a Twilight). It's that Twilight run away that pays for a lot of the failures.

When Paramount bought Paranormal Activity, they also bought all rights in all territories in perpetuity that went along with that. That way Paramount can make, distribute and merchandise the sequels. They can even resell the rights to another studio if they wish.

You can counter their offer removing rights to remakes, sequels etc, but they may not be interested in the gambol as they're taking the risks and you're keeping the long term upside. Maybe you can negotiate to get a piece of backend of any remkes, sequels, merchandising, tv series etc and/or a producer credit (and cheque) for any project or product associated with it.

Any more questions?

 

[mad_hatter]

Food for thought - Oren Peli was kept on as producer for the PA series after he sold the original film under similar rights to yours. You could try to obtain a similar deal. His success also allowed him to produce other successful films (Insidious, for example) and his second directorial film (Area 51 - budget of $5mil) is due out this year.

 

[redcarpetmedia]

If I were you, I would be tempted take the deal. it's tough to get any offer at all. But only you know what your goals are. Do you want to try and get distribution yourself? Do you want to face the possibility of having to self-distribute?

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

 

[kjones]

It sounds about right. From the sounds of it, this is a smaller production company/smaller local distributor putting in the offer, right? Most likely the latter option.



You'll have to sell off at least some rights, otherwise, they're just paying you money for the sake of paying you money and no company ever just does that.

What they're doing is offsetting their risk amongst their portfolio. The value in a movie isn't necessarily in each movie by themselves, the value is often in the ability to make sequel and future exploitation if it becomes a hit. A studio might commission 20 movies with the hopes that 5 of them are good enough to warrant sequels, and 1 of them runs away to become hot property (for instance a Twilight). It's that Twilight run away that pays for a lot of the failures.

When Paramount bought Paranormal Activity, they also bought all rights in all territories in perpetuity that went along with that. That way Paramount can make, distribute and merchandise the sequels. They can even resell the rights to another studio if they wish.

You can counter their offer removing rights to remakes, sequels etc, but they may not be interested in the gambol as they're taking the risks and you're keeping the long term upside. Maybe you can negotiate to get a piece of backend of any remkes, sequels, merchandising, tv series etc and/or a producer credit (and cheque) for any project or product associated with it.

Any more questions?

Wow, great short tutorial for these situations, Sweetie, thanks!

 

[mus]

i guess it would depend on the price.

Personally, I would want final say on the edit no matter what

 

[Blade_Jones]

Hey everyone, I'll keep this post short and sweet.

Last year, I filmed a feature film (wrote / directed) and now I have someone interested in acquiring the creative rights of the film. By doing this, they want to have the film re-edited, re-scored, they will pay for all future marketing materials and enter into festivals and try to secure distributions. I'll get paid on front end and receive portion of sales on back end. Sounds good right? Well here's the catch. When they sent me a contract to fill out, they want all copyrights of film along with rights for reshoot's, re-makes, sequels, etc. RED FLAG. I'm not interested in selling off rights to film.

Since I've never done this before, before I waste money hiring my attorney to review contract, I want the terms to be agreeable before hand. Is there a way to sell limited rights that just allows someone to re-edit for purpose of distribution? It doesn't seem like I'd have to transfer complete copyrights.

Thanks so much !!

If they're gonna pay you a lot of up front cash then I can see how they would want to own the copyrights before doing a lot of work. Just BE SURE and talk to a film attorney. They might say "no way". At the very least they will want to word in protections so that you get paid on the back end. So many distributors are so sneaky about screwing people over on the back end that it's actually the norm. "Hollywood accounting"... or just run the company into bankruptcy but not until after they paid themselves a hefty "salary" for running the company. This is why ONLY a lawyer can create a contract with "teeth" that will protect you.