The beginning of the year is a great time to think about the basics, and to start planning. What are the things that your production company needs in order to keep it healthy in 2006 and beyond? Here are some key things to consider.
Update your forms
Are you using hand-me-down production forms, such as talent releases, location releases, and prop releases, that a producer brought you 10 years ago when he or she left another production company? Have you read them since then? It’s very important to have up-to-date forms, which give you the rights (and the protections) you need. Review your form releases now with your lawyer, to make sure that they still work for you. You don’t want to find out that something is missing from a form when there’s a problem.
Review your insurance
Another aspect of your business — that you may not want to think about — is your insurance. It’s critically important that you make sure that you’ve got the right insurance that covers the production risks you may encounter. And that’s not as easy as it used to be. With clients and agencies frequently providing the insurance today, you need to be prepared for situations when you’ll be insuring the job, and when you won’t. (Remember, even when the client or the agency is providing the insurance, you’re still going to need some additional insurance as well.) I’d also suggest, in particular, taking a close look at your errors and omissions coverage. Copyright and other intellectual property claims can involve big dollars and big headaches. Make sure you’ve got the coverage you need.
Start dealing with late payment
One of the big issues affecting the stability of production companies today is late payment by advertising agencies. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to the problem, and it appears that the problem is not going away. What can you do? There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for every company, but you do need to find the solution that is right for you, whether it’s charging interest on late payments, changing your payment schedule, charging more, changing your credit arrangements, or just reaching a different understanding with the agency about how you will be paid. If late payment has been a problem for you in the past, talk to the agencies you work with right away, and come up with something that works for both of you — before it’s too late.
Plan for what’s next
You can’t go to a conference today, or pick up a magazine, without people talking about the threats to the television commercial as we know it. Regardless of whether you believe all of the gloom and doom, Tivo and branded entertainment are here to stay. If you haven’t already, it’s time to start addressing the threats to your current business, as well as all of the exciting opportunities that this presents for you and for your directors. For many companies, expanding their ability to create other forms of content (and understanding the business and legal challenges this presents) is going to be critical to survival in the coming years.
I wish there were easy solutions. There aren’t. But if you get back to basics, and start thinking about how to protect yourself better in 2006, you should see some real benefits this year and for many years to come.
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
