Archive for the ‘Film deals’ Category

« Older Entries

“I have failed so you are penalized.”

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

I had several long phone calls this week being leant on by a producer who wanted to pay far less than the going rate for a script by an established client because the producer had used much of his development budget on another writer who failed to deliver a usable script.

Most reasonably experienced writers get hired from time to time to fix failing scripts or to do a page-one rewrite. In some cases there is underlying material and the new writer does not even read the previous draft. If it is an adaptation then there will obviously be some similarities between the two scripts.

Producers tend to use this argument to scale down the fee to the new writer, after all, much of their previously planned budget has been spent, so clearly it is reasonable for the new writer to do the job for far less than the writer who failed? Not.

There are times that writers have to say No. The fee should be based on a percentage of the budget whether it is the first or second go at the script. The percentage should be based on the track record of the writer, perhaps shaved down marginally.

What sadly no longer surprises me is that producers seem to believe that they are entitled to get work done for a lower than normal rate after they (the producer) have failed: they selected the first writer, briefed the writer, presumably provided notes to the writer (one wonders how good or not those notes were and who was responsible for hiring the person who provided the notes)?

When do critics blame producers when they rubbish a film? Not often. But producers should take some responsibility for not coming up with a viable script the first time round and when they hire another writer to get them out of a hole, they should not penalize that writer by offering them less than their going rate.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Film deals | 7 Comments »

Time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Had our first industry screening for INNOCENT (www.innocentthefilm.com), the low-budget film I executive produced, at Twentieth Century Fox today. It was more nerve-wracking than the cast and crew screening at the Odeon in Croydon, because there were serious industry people, journalists and potential investors there.

It went off very well and made me realise how important the big screen is to enhance the viewing experience. It also made me realise that planning the marketing of the film, the festival routes, the sales agent and distributor expectations, the TV sales route, the journalist angles, are all something we should have done well before we shot the film.

The fact that we didn’t but the screening went really well, has made me a happy executive producer because our band of enthusiasts is so committed to the film that we are carrying others with us. The NSPCC and Childline, as well as other childrens’ charities (Act Against Bullying for example) seem to be behind us. We – of course – are definitely behind them and will support them in whatever way we can.

Can a film about bullying have an effect on bullying? I believe that it can and that we will. We got the dramatic interplay of the story right – adults bully each other and also bully children who bully other children. The music in the film is reaching out to teenagers: they seem to respond so well to it. That is something else we got right.

Now to pin down the sales agents, newspapers, investors. The real work starts now!

A client of ours, Ted Allbeury, sadly passed away some years ago, said once that “Time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted”. He was a counter-espionage officer. It applies so much to producers before they start shooting the film.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Agent provocateur, Film deals | No Comments »

Selling script or shooting script?

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Yesterday I had one of those conversations with a client and then with his producer that made me wonder about the manipulative nature of what agents do. Not necessarily bad manipulation, more like the golden oil that ensures that your car starts smoothly.

The writer is anxious the producer won’t understand what he is trying to do in this draft of the script. The producer has issues with the draft. I sit somewhere between them.

I recommend that we get two reports on the script, one from an established script analyst, the other from someone with some knowledge of the history and geography of the location.

I propose that when we have these reports we can all be more dispassionate about deciding how to go forward. What I want is not a script ready to shoot, but a script that will attract a director and start attracting finance. Do they want the same?

My guess is that this is not the script that the writer wants to be shot.

So is there a useful distinction to be made between a selling script and a shooting script? I think so: after all until the director has had some input we cannot have a shooting script. Next week will be interesting.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Agent provocateur, Film deals | 2 Comments »

Writing for money or for yourself?

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

I am doing the research for a book on writing for television and came across this quote (in a tweet): “Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” Cyril Connolly

I re-tweeted, commenting that what Cyril Connolly is saying is rubbish. It is simply not true for 95% of the thousands of writers I have met over the last 40 years. It is cute but makes assumptions about the purity of being a writer that suggests pure self-indulgence.

There are some writers who genuinely do not care if no one ever reads what they write. There are mss and scripts in bottom drawers that stay there. There may even be some masterpieces in those drawers, since writers are often not the best judges of what they have written.

The book on writing for television, which I am co-writing with Christopher Walker with whom I set up the MA in Television Scriptwriting at De Montfort University (check it out http://bit.ly/4BTnVd), is intended to be the best guide to actually getting to work for TV producers and broadcasters.

Why set up a post-grad course focused only on television? Because that is the only place where writers can more easily get hired, earn money and (perhaps as important) get the experience of going through the development process so that they can see how what they imagined ends up on screen, as it passes through many hands, from casting directors to script editors, producers, directors, actors and film or tape editors.

This is the coal-face, this is where the real learning is done, rather than in academia where all too often the teaching is done by academics not very experienced practitioners. And in far too many universities the industry guest lecturers are to few and far between.

I have no problem with writers writing for their bottom drawer. But most are desperate to be read and watched; most have something important to say and most want to earn a living from their writing. Quotes like the Connolly one need to be balanced by the famous Samuel Johnson quote “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.”

Neither are 100% correct, but the Johnson quote is far closer to the reality than the Connolly one.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Agent provocateur, Film deals, Publishing deals | 9 Comments »

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water…..

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

After all the stress of travelling, life returns to normal and problems that seem to be a hill of beans suddenly loom too large to forget them when I leave the office. Today’s was dealing with a producer (producer 1) who commissioned an adaptation, paid the commencement and (eventually) delivery of the first draft, only for us to discover that he didn’t have the rights to the underlying book.

He had warranted in the writer’s agreement that he did have those rights. After lots of discussion with various parties including producer 1 we were no further. He claimed to have an understanding with producer 2 who did own the rights, but producer 2 wouldn’t accept his proposed deal. Unsurprisingly producer 2 said producer 1 wouldn’t accept his deal. Stalemate.

One lawyer came up with the advice that the writer’s agreement wasn’t valid because the writer would not have signed the agreement if she had known that producer 1 did not own the underlying rights, and that clearly fraudulent misrepresentation had taken place.

Another lawyer said that the assignment of rights was actually valid but because of the misrepresentation there was a legal remedy to get the rights back and we could apply to the courts to enforce this.

Before doing that, however, we should send a lawyer’s letter to producer 1 pointing out that he was in breach of his warranties, that there was misrepresentation, that is he agreed to assign the rights back to the writer she would agree that he would be paid back what she had been paid (less the legal fees incurred). If we went to court we would win and producer 1 would end up paying all our costs as well as his own.

Producer 1 would have to warrant that the rights that had been assigned to him were unencumbered so that he could re-assign them, that he had not used them as a charge with his bank or brother-in-law, because without proper re-assignment back of the rights my client could not assign them freely to anyone else, which she dearly wants to do as producer 2 wants to make the movie.

Watch this space. It is good to be back!

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Agent provocateur, Film deals | 4 Comments »

Polish or rewrite?

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

Sorry the blog has been irregular: the last two of five trips in as many weeks are coming up, then I am around for a while. But interesting things keep happening, the latest of which is repeated every few months as a negotiation takes place or a producer tries to vary elements of a contract after the contract has been signed.

I don’t mean tearing it up, just pushing into an area of semantic ambiguity. This happens when there is no clear definition of the difference between a rewrite and a polish. One is bigger than the other. But rarely is there wording that clearly differentiates one from the other.

What happens when the writer shows say the first Act to the producer and director and they provide notes while the writer is still writing the first draft? In this case it made sense for some of the rewrite to be done before the Second Act. So the writer did it.

When the final pages of the first draft was delivered they were well received and the response included the words (more of less) that perhaps there could be some tidying up prior to the rewrite.

This raised an interesting scenario. If a writer writes such a good first draft that very little work is needed for the ‘rewrite’, so little that it is a matter of a day or two, ie much more like a polish? Should writers perhaps deliberately leave in aspects of the script so that the rewrite is substantial and necessary?

In the end the producer behaved perfectly and even though the notes for the rewrite have still to be delivered, they asked for the rewrite invoice to be sent since some of the rewrite had already been done.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Agent provocateur, Film deals | 1 Comment »

The event of the year is a couple of weeks away

Friday, October 9th, 2009

The season of party conferences is over for the public but for screenwriters and those who work with them it is about to start. For months there has been unprecedented bad news from broadcasters and from the traditional sources of finance for film. The recession in housing may be beginning to lift slightly, but in the film and television industry it will take time to trickle down to the creatives, who do their work at least two years before it hits the screens.

MIPCOM – the autumn television market in Cannes – reported this week a sense of optimism that, like the housing market, must be taken with a pinch of salt.

The answer lies in gaining a better understanding of the current problems of the industry: where are there gaps, what do the movers and shakers in the industry believe they need from writers in order to be able to get new shows on air and new feature films funded.

Where can writers hear it from the people who matter? In the UK the answer could be at the Edinburgh film Festival or Television Festival (both passed) or at the Cheltenham Screenwriters’ Festival. The first two events are excellent but not specifically for writers.

They write Toy Story 2, Goodnight Sweetheart and Wallace & Grommit, and they will all be at the Festival

They wrote Toy Story 2, Goodnight Sweetheart and Wallace & Grommit, and they will all be at the Festival

Cheltenham is not only totally focused on writing, it brings together producers, directors, script executives, commissioning editors who are directly concerned with working with writers.

These are the people who need writers to help advance their careers. And there really are more of them than we have ever brought together before. The move of venue to The Cheltenham Ladies College has been to facilitate a far bigger crown of both industry people and writers.

So who will be there? Click on this link to see some of the guest speakers’ biogs: http://www.screenwritersfestival.com/guest-speakers.php

There will be 80 events in 4 days: more than you could possibly attend so you can be sure of finding a great deal that is relevant to you. For the programme click here: http://www.screenwritersfestival.com/programme-2009.php

The gorgeous location for the 2009 Festival

The gorgeous location for the 2009 Festival

You will find new writer friends, bond further with old mates, swap up to 100 business cards (that is only 25 a day) and some of us gain an extra evening by starting on Sunday with two drinks gatherings: a TwelvePoint one and then later the Festival one.

There is no doubt in my mind that these four days could have a greater impact on a writer’s career than the previous 352 days of the year.

It is not cheap: getting all these speakers and all the facilities for a huge scriptwriting event is not cheap. But it is incredible value. Even if you only manage 10 meetings/business card swaps a day it comes out at about £10 a meeting. Many writers do not make 40 contacts in an entire year – here you can do it in four days. What’s not to love. Be there or be left behind.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Agent provocateur, Film deals | 1 Comment »

Why writers feel aggrieved

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

There may be many reasons, some better than others. The Writers Guild has a session this week at BAFTA on the crisis in TV drama that will no doubt air some of these issues.

I am dealing today with a situation in which a writer has worked on a script with the production company for some months and it has got better and better. Then a director comes onboard and all of a sudden the film the director wants to make is at such variance from the film the writer and producer have agreed they are making, that the writer is forced into a corner.

Stand up and argue against the big director, or give in and see the film possibly changed for the worse. The big question is will it be worse? Does the director have a vision that will lift the script, together with the actors, into a higher league than the writer and producer had in mind? Looking at the changes the director wants to make there is little doubt that some will be detrimental.

Did the writer and producer spend too long on the script so that they can only see it the way it is? This reminds me of titles for films and books – the starting title becomes well-worn and comfortable, so that it seems to be good, but to someone who knows nothing about the project, coming in fresh, another title might be better.

I wish I could say that directors always improve matters. They don’t. They sometimes do. So is it a kind of Russian roulette? Must writers lie back and think of England or wherever, just because the film industry is a director-led industry?

The truth is that if directors and producers were really good they would enable there to be calm and detailed discussion about the changes they want. The changes would not be forced upon writers unilaterally, as they sometimes are.

I reall a TV movie written by a client with over 400 hours of top TV drama behind him, including (at that time) the highest rating single on ITV. When an ITV commissioner greenlit the film there was no director; the director was hired after ITV provided all the money and the director promptly fired the writer and brought in another, so in effect even undermining the decision of the ITV commissioner.

So much depends on the management of people, on the diplomacy by all concerned. In my experience writers feel aggrieved often because they are simply not treated with respect but like naughty children who must be told what to do. Because the director might be right there is no reason why what the writer wants must de facto be ignored or rejected. There is every reason for the process to be as collaborative as possible, rather than firing the writer simply because the director thinks they know better. Who will rid me of this meddlesome writer? Unfortunately is is not necessary to get a bunch of mercenaries as producers ensure that is possible to fire the writer in the basic contract.

No wonder writers want to be producers and directors. It is one of the reasons agents also want to produce. The moment that any of the players pull rank rather than behave in an inclusive way, the rot is in danger of setting in and the Writers’ Guild and all writers and agents need to stand up and be counted.

This is another obvious reason why getting several hundred writers together at the Cheltenham Screenwriters’ Festival and why the Guild are so important. We need to build bridges and to work together so that the fragmented freelancers who make up the scriptwriting community can have some cohesiveness. That is exactly why ScriptWriter magazine and TwelvePoint.com were set up.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Agent provocateur, Film deals | 2 Comments »

Story – not script-writing is the key, Cheltenham the place

Saturday, September 19th, 2009

The longer I am in the biz the more I believe that storytelling not scriptwriting is the key. Writers should simply (ha!) try to tell stories; the format – prose, script, long or short – is very secondary to the story to be told.

But for scriptwriters, there is so much emphasis put on structure by so many of the people selling courses and books that writers are forced into a painting-by-numbers and artificial way of writing that will usually result in bad writing.

This distorts the learning about writing. The truism, seldom followed, that plot comes out of character, is usually thought of after the basics of the plot have been decided. Instead, who the characters are should determine what happens, so know your characters first and worry about the three-act structure or 22 steps later.

Why am I bothering about this on such a lovely weekend? Because I am preparing for a session at the Screenwriters’ Festival on publishing. I believe that screenwriters should also consider writing prose, that novels are an important way of progressing your career as a screenwriter.

Apart from the many obvious reasons (novels generally make more money, they are easier to write, you own the film adaptation rights, you can describe what characters think and feel and so on), there are also many more novels published than films made and self-publishing is a great deal easier than making your own film (never mind so cheap with print-on-demand that it is laughable).

When I look through the lists of courses on offer that promise a short cut to being able to make a career as a writer, I am surprised how few have a health warning: “This course is almost statistically guaranteed, despite the few notable successes we have had, not to enable you to have a career as a writer, unless you arrive here with a great deal of talent, since we cannot teach you to have talent.”

Don’t get me wrong: many of the courses contribute in many ways to the lives of those taking them. The years (or weekends) with like-minded people, sharing values and friendship, is important. But you can’t learn to write in the same way as you learn either brain surgery or plumbing.

swf_logo_1jpg

So at this year’s Screenwriters’ Festival there will be a series of TwelvePoint sessions geared to the bits not usually taught in screenwriting classes: how to network, how to market yourself be good at your own PR, how to have a better website, how to negotiate, how to write prose documents that will sell your work better and how to tell stories in another format, namely prose, where there is a proper industry (the publishing industry) that is always on the lookout for good writing and good writers, an industry that publishes over 100,000 books a year (not counting a similar number of self-published books).

And that is quite apart from over 70 other sessions. Check the Festival website (www.screenwritersfestival.com) for an up-to-date listing of speakers and events. And if you are a TwelvePoint.com member you can join our booking group and get a big discount. After 4 days you will leave having had the best masterclass in fast-tracking your career that I can think of. And hopefully a lot of fun as well. When you then see an ad telling you that this or that organization or person offers you the secret of success as a writer, you will remember what you heard in Cheltenham: there is no secret way. It requires talent and perseverance. Why 80 sessions in 4 days? So you can tailor your choice to what you need. This could be the best investment you ever make for your career. Now, why would you believe me?

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Agent provocateur, Film deals, Publishing deals | No Comments »

Genre and the recession: is this the way forward?

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

It is always interesting to see if the world stopped while you went on holiday. Pleasingly it seemed to go on working (though some producers were not finalizing contracts as fast as desirable). The WGGB blog has the interesting story from Nick George, media partner, PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, who said:

“The recession has sent hoards of consumers to the cinema and therefore large scale, expensive films, such as Harry Potter, remain in production and eagerly awaited. However, due to the credit crunch, sources of financing for smaller indie films have dried up – meaning many plots remain on the story board.”

However, with digital technology bringing the costs of film-making down all the time, Nick George says that things should improve.

“The credit crunch has clearly made fundraising tougher for independent film makers but things tend to move in cycles, and the distribution of films like Colin and success of non-mainstream films like Juno and Slumdog Millionaire demonstrate a strong appetite for original, creative work, so in time we ought to see investors returning to the market.”

But on the upbeat side, in an interesting discussion about adaptation (I will chair a panel on adaptation at the Frankfurt Bookfair Film and Television Centre in October) I discussed with a writer that fact that some writers are good at adaptations, perhaps because they have the ability to stand away from the original material so instead of being tied to it they are inspired by it. www.frankfurt-bookfair.com

Thousands of editors attend every year and increasing numbers of producers are going, mainly in search of that novel which will make their next film. The Film and TV Centre is a hub of activity for anyone interested in books as the basis for films or TV.

An interesting discussion earlier in the day was about the fact that the British producers, under the cosh in the recession, are trying to develop material that is saleable to the US of A. This has always been a holy grail and with the exception of PBS channels not much British drama gets network showing in the States. But the cable channels over there are hot on genre and with the apparent lessening of ITV as a funder for Brit independents, there is a move to do high-concept TV movies that will work on small US screens.

Anything that helps us write and produce better genre stories is to be welcomed. After the UK Film Council’s not entirely successful 25 Words genre competition (ScriptWriter magazine published many articles explaining the different genres at the time) let’s hope that we do better this time round.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Agent provocateur, Film deals, Publishing deals | No Comments »

« Older Entries