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Got it. Thank you!

Question for directorick: When you are paying an actor more than SAG scale, how you go about it exactly. Say I'm shooting a 150K SAG ULB feature and some B-lister agrees to do a week for 10K. I pay him the $125 daily rate, of course, but as to the rest of the money promised, how do I get that...

Not sure what PA's rules are, but here in NY the payroll service is the Employer of Record. I've had actors file for unemployment and was never even contacted by the state. It was the payroll service that dealt with it. If NY State had contacted me I would have told them to contact the payroll...

Old-school guy here. I have broken down a number of my features the analog way (production strip-board) before reaching out to investors over the years. On a couple of occasions the films got produced, and were re-broken down by an AD, who basically came up with the same results that I did. I...

I've not personally used Distribber, but here is an interesting article from someone who has: http://beyondcinemaprod.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-of-distribber-indie-gogo-company.html

I'm assuming you have seen the candidates' reels and know what format you want to shoot on? Have the candidates had a chance to read the whole script? If not, I would get it to them before the interview, if possible. There is no set checklist for interviewing a DP. It depends on so many...

I used it on a feature that I directed and also put money into. Since I was an active investor I was able to deduct my investment from my earned income. My accountant also was able to get me rebates from two prior years using Section 181. I don't know what the mechanics of getting money back...

Do yourself a favor and just use a payroll company. Not sure what the laws are in CA regarding Workers Comp and Unemployment Insurance, but here in NY if you pay your crew by check and don't take out taxes figuring the crew/actors are independent contractors, you are setting yourself up for a...

Legit reps don't ask for an upfront fee. Check out this article I found a while back, it is written by a guy who used to work for a producer rep who charged an upfront fee: http://filmfestivalsecrets.blogspot.com/2007/07/producer-reps-warning.html

I've made two ULB features that have received distribution. The first was acquired by a small distributor in an all rights deal and played theatrical in several cities in US and overseas too. It then went to dvd and even had a run on Showtime. Not one penny of residual has been paid to any...

Yeah best not to bait potential crewmembers with money that they'll never see. A 23-year old just out of film school might feel more confident telling his parents that he/she is working for deferred pay, as opposed to free, but in propagating the "deferred pay", or "points" myth, indie...

Who is asking you for a child performer permit? As far as I know, the only agency that could do that is SAG, but you are not signed with SAG are you? If you did sign up with SAG for Experimental contract it doesn't mean you have to use a SAG child actor. If you need a kid just put a casting...

Moonshieldmedia gives good advice. Best to keep as much "legal" out as possible at this point. In theory every BUSINESS in NYS that is for-profit must cover employees and volunteers with Workers Comp: http://voices.yahoo.com/when-business-required-workers-compensation-9225281.html But do you...

You don't need a payroll service because you are not paying anyone at this time. I imagine you have production insurance because you can't get a shooting permit in NYC without that. Standard production insurance in NYC covers injuries and such, should they occur, at whatever location...

Congrats, the rerun is well regarded here in NYC. You should ask the theater if they send out screeners of your film to the media for review. If they do then that's great. If they don't then you need to get cracking on your own to get screeners to the film critics at the Times, Voice, etc. If...

Following all the responses to your post I feel like I'm "piling on" at this point...but I can't help it. You should get a new DP. I have seen it often where a DP tries to override a newbie director and it is a bummer. The time to avoid these kinds of situations are during crew interviews...

I don't know Old Skool, I hit the link to their site and there is certainly a lot of stuff going on there with the links to their production services and such, but that could be a good thing, who knows. If they can shepherd their students into working indie shoots, that's great. You wrote that...

Thanks EuropeanDistrib and Directorik. No, don't worry, I'm not planning on doing this myself, I just asked because I know two separate producers who did just that and I don't think either case turned out well. Neither producer was terribly forthcoming with me about what exactly happened, but...

Great thread. Thanks for the posts EuropeanDistributor. A question to you regarding the 10 percent deposit on name-salaries, if I may. Are those contracts typically play-or-pay? So the producer raises 50K to sign 500K worth of name-talent. If the project should fall apart that 50K is gone, but...

I would go the DBA route or form an LLC. The LLC is slightly more expensive to create than a DBA but offers protection of your personal assets if somebody sues you. A DBA does not.