Film Strategy

I recently wrote an article about why it is a good thing for certain filmmakers making certain films to share the wealth with profit participation instead of deferred compensation. A caveat: that has a limited use. However, I wanted to revisit that idea and clarify what that means for a filmmaker looking to adopt a profit participation strategy to paying their cast and crew. The truth is that while paying your cast and crew with profit participation instead of deferred compensation can lower a producer's and investor's out-of-pocket production and postproduction costs and improve morale/motivation, it has limits. Here's why: A producer makes multiple contracts throughout the life of a film starting with the writer and ending with the distributor. Along the way, she decides to offer back end participation (or net/gross profits or profit participation) to the cast and crew and signs a contract with them promising to do so. When the producer meets with the distributor

Sometimes when a no-budget filmmaker can't afford to pay a cast and crew what they are worth, then "profit participation" > "deferred compensation "     So many filmmakers struggle with the challenge of making their film because it is such a complex artform with a gaggle of logistical and artistic elements to it. One minute you are figuring out locations the next you have to decide on wardrobe then your DP is asking you about lenses and lighting (hell you might have to be the DP too) and your lead actor wants you to help him understand the crux of the scene. That's not even taking into account the budget and the legal and the food and the... you get the picture.  Filmmaking is hard work to do all by yourself which is why most don't. Filmmakers raise money to cover the costs of their cast and crew and those who can't raise sufficient money promise deferred compensation to their cast and crew. But even those who can't afford to pay cast

If you missed Tribeca 2015 this year, check out the films that won the competition. World Narrative Competition   The jurors for the 2015 World Narrative Competition sponsored by AKA, were Paul Attanasio, Sophie Barthes, Whoopi Goldberg, Dylan McDermott, and Burr Steers. The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature Virgin Mountain , written and directed by Dagur Kári [Iceland, Denmark]. Winner receives $25,000, sponsored by AT&T, and the art award “Ash Eroded Film Reel” by Daniel Arsham. The award was given by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal joined by Marissa Shorenstein, President, AT&T New York. Jury Comment: “With its mixture of humor and pathos, this film captured our hearts. Beyond the deceptively small frame of a mismatched love story, the film deals with the issues of bigotry, loneliness, bullying, mental illness, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit and the meaning of love.”  Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film  Gunnar Jónsson  as Fúsi

Like most people in the arts you are probably waiting to do your taxes at the last minute. You would much rather be creating art, writing a script or shooting a movie then crunching numbers and poring through old receipts. If it helps, consider it a civic duty to pay your taxes since those funds are used to cover many of the communal goods we use. But, the truth is even if you do not think it is your civic duty, you simply can not avoid them. As the Benjamin Franklin saying goes, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Therefore, you have to get them done. And it is worth taking the time to understand the process even if you are hiring someone else to do your taxes for you. Understanding taxes as a filmmaker (producer, director or screenwriter) can help you with your tax goals of paying what you owe (if anything) and getting a nice refund or tax write-offs. Employee vs. Self-Employed When it comes to taxes, you are either an employee or sel

Economics of the film avant-garde:  networks and strategies in the circulation of films, ideas, and people by  Kathryn Ramey How do experimental filmmakers survive? And not just in tough economic times, but routinely? Can they make a living from their creative work, and if so, how? If not, how do they keep going? What social networks, communities, and institutions do they make or work within to continue their art-making? What ideas do they have about their chosen profession? How do they evolve and change with changing technologies and new opportunities? These are the kind of questions that motivated me to do an ethnographic study of the avant-garde film art world. Here I want to lay out one aspect of that project. Methodology* This essay was originally written as part of a multi-sited ethnography on late 20th century experimental filmmakers in North America focusing primarily on New York and Chicago and their environs in partial completion for a Ph.D. in socio-cultural