Contract with customer

[Tom Sefton]

Olly,

It isn’t too late at all. If you want to make it seem as though you pulling is down to someone else, blame it on you solicitor. Tell them he/she looked over the contract and advised you not to sign it.

This is going to cost you money, time and a relationship with a client.

Best of luck.

[Jonathan Ziegler]

Credit is one of the easiest carrot-stick combos. It’s an easy, free way to lure talent. I have done tons of free film jobs (I’m serious, check my IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3538619/). With all due respect to the people who created, labored over, and financed these projects, I knew damn well there was little possibility of any long-term financial gain. Why? Most of these projects, while POTENTIALLY commercially viable, failed in the final execution – marketing and distribution. Which is more important than any of it, really. Even Robert Rodriguez had planned to distribute El Mariache to the Mexico TV market – he had a specific plan to make the film and release it to Mexico. It wound up in hollywood instead which was a surprise to him even.

Most projects have NO CLUE how they are going to regain any of their expenses. It’s easy, just ask what will happen to the film. The director, producer, and writer may have some vague idea: “a few festivals” or “I know a guy…” This is not a marketing plan and yes, I think a marketing plan is vital. Most films sell at film markets not festivals (think international video distribution not US theater distribution). You can put an artsy, exploratory, or bad film in a festival and still win some awards, but if nobody wants to buy your film, a film market will prove to be an expensive learning experience.

Now, I make sure any projects I work on have a plan of some form. I ask to see it in written form or a PDF. Here’s why: if I am signing a contract to receive monies from a production, that makes us partners. As such, I don’t go into business with someone unless I know they are going to be viable. What have they done? What’s the plan? How will you make money? I need to see the budget, where is the money coming from? Any legit producer will already have this information and may show it to you, but any legit producer would be paying for talent on an as-needed basis to keep profits up (the more you subdivide profits, the less you actually make).

Basically, if you are being promised money at some time in the future, demand a clause that states you will be paid a fixed amount if the production fails to pay you back by a specific date so you can recoup your expenses (labor, equipment – I’ll guess you’re using your own equipment, gas, food, insurance, etc.) and demand they get production insurance which covers equipment with your company specifically named and keep a copy of that policy info on file. Make sure the contract is with your company (not you, personally) so you can deduct expenses. Track all of your expenses including gas mileage and incidentals (oops I forgot a polarizer and I need to go get one at best buy or something). Ask to see a schedule and make sure they know you won’t be at unscheduled shoots – puts the onus on them to have a solid schedule – they’ll have tons of pickups, though, I guarantee it. Lastly, run the numbers to see what you will actually get based on similar distribution numbers – remember, hollywood rounds up quite a bit and the actual numbers are likely much smaller.

Learn from the experiences on this board rather than make the same mistakes.

Jonathan Ziegler
https://www.electrictiger.com/
520-360-8293

[Olly Lawer]

As it turned out within their contract with the franchiser, they must give up all footage with no free at any time to franchiser wants it. Therefore it was pointless me going down the rate of trying to retain the rights to the footage. However, I did get a lot of the other parts changed and it seems they were simply mistakes, which is great.

Let’s hope that in the future has some good returns for me. Only time will tell.

Thanks again for your advice. I’ll be sure to come back here later and tell you the outcome either way.

Olly Lawer

[Malcolm Matusky]

If they had plenty of time to write a contract, and you have very little time to sign it, you are probably going to get screwed.

Providing services, and going into business with someone is a very different arrangement. If you have to ask weather or not to sign this agreement on a forum, sounds like you should not sign or at least get professional (legal) council to interpret the contract and then represent you when things go south.

Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com