Film Strategy

The independent filmmaker is inundated with so much to do that even when she tries to do something right, she will make mistakes.  Mistakes are unavoidable and we learn from our mistakes so, in some sense, we learn to live with them.  For some filmmakers, mistakes actually force the director to make a creative decision that enhances the film.  But there are some mistakes that must be avoided at all costs or they will sink your production.  One of the mistakes a filmmaker must be sure NOT to make is failing to have a contract. In its simplest form, a proper film contract records in writing the agreement between the filmmaker and everyone else involved in the production.  It should define things like each parties' rights and responsibilities, compensation, length of service, and other matters important to protecting the parties and the production.  Those contracts then become a part of your chain of title which any distributor who wants your film will want to see before they buy.  W

REPOSTED FROM MY OTHER BLOG: LENSATIC I have always admired the low-budget filmmaker who can make something beautiful or daring or entertaining with the tiniest budget.  Unfortunately, the low-budget filmmaker is not the rarity but the norm.  There is no shortage of filmmakers trying to create even if it means at negative cost to themselves because there is so much potential financial and personal reward in the end.  Maybe that's why the industry has been able to get away with paying nothing for highly creative and technical services and expensive equipment.  That's done more harm than good in the grand scheme of things.  That is why Charles Davis has done the industry a service by reporting on the internship abuse in the entertainment industry.  In a post for The Baffler, he  tracks and outs  the production companies that continue to perpetuate one of the worst practices of the film and TV industry: failing to pay workers a real wage by offering instead "pay on an