When a production company and a director decide to work together, it’s often after many months of discussions about the work, the director’s hopes for his or her career, and the production company’s plans on how the director’s work is going to be promoted. Once they are finally ready to move forward, they often realize that they haven’t even begun to think about putting together a director contract.
In many ways, when you’re in this situation, you’ve done the right thing by not thinking about “deal terms” before now. When directors shop for production companies based on day rate and profit participations that are being offered, or when production companies begin discussions about a potential relationship by sending off an agreement filled with fine print, they’ve already lost focus on what’s most important. (That’s, of course, finding people that share the same vision and have the right chemistry, so that they can work well together to get the great work.).
When you’re ready to think about the nuts and bolts of the relationship, here are some key questions to get the conversation going. It’s important to remember that there’s no right solution for everyone. You have to come up with terms that are right for you, keeping in mind, of course, that the ultimate goal is to have a happy and successful working relationship.
- What’s the term of the contract going to be? Are you going to make a long term commitment to each other — two or three years or even more — or are the parties going to have the right to end the relationship earlier than that?
- What’s the territory going to be? Is this going to be a worldwide deal, or is the production company only going to represent the director in the United States? As part of this discussion, you’re probably going to discuss the production company’s sales representation and how the company plans to market the director’s work. Presumably, the reps will be a part of this conversation as well. Also, is the production company only going to represent the director for commercials, or are music videos (or other types of projects) going to be included as well?
- What’s the compensation structure going to be? Is there going to be a fixed day rate? How are you going to handle the situation where the agency won’t pay this rate? In addition, is there going to be profit participation? If so, how much? Will it change over time? Also, each production company calculates profits in different ways, and they each deal with overhead and sales charges differently, so when you do start talking about the numbers, it’s important for everyone to be on the same page about how these numbers are generated, so that there there’s no disagreements about this later on. And, when are these payments going to be made?
- Will the director be generally available? Or is the director planning on being involved in other projects, such as films? Will the director also be directing through foreign production companies as well?
- Have you thought about what else is important to you? For example, will you be splitting the cost of director’s cuts? Will the production company be financing spec spots or long form projects? How will treatments be written? How will entertainment costs be handled? What kinds of reports will be provided? Will the director be involved in the bidding process?
Finally, once you’ve reached agreement, make sure you put it in writing. As I’ve said in this column before, you don’t need to have a long, difficult negotiation or a contract that is filled with “legalese.” But after you’ve gone through the trouble to figure these terms out, you want to make sure there no confusion about what you have agreed to down the road.
This column presents a general discussion of legal issues, but is not legal advice, and may not be applicable in all situations. Consult your attorney for legal advice.
Jeffrey A. Greenbaum ESQ. is a partner at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, New York. If you have a suggestion for a topic to be covered in a future column, send an e-mail to jagreenbaum@fkks.com
