PRODUCER COMPENSATION: 20 percent?

What is your role? Investor? Read this BEFORE you work with any producer!
http://www.yourinvestmentadvise.com/film-investing.htm
Beware that the role of a "producer" could be everything from A to Z or nothing in between. Sounds like you don't know much of anything about this producer besides what he has told you. Have you researched his name on one of those computers they have in the clerk's office at court houses? There's a lot of shady producers in LA.

I am the writter and and part investor.

And yes i have researched him. He is legitimate I work with people that have worked with him. That begin said I dont know what is fair in terms of compensation.

I guess it would depend on what producer (VS line producer) work he will be doing. Beware that problems arise in the middle of these projects and relationships go bad. We hear about these disasters all the time in this forum. You need to be protected and have remedies before you put your money at risk. If you're doing a microbudget movie it's understandable that you can't pay out a lot of money to have a lawyer draft up a contract, but for one $300 consultation a lawyer might point out a few critical points (in this producer's contract) that you need to address. The most important points are that you (the investor) own and get to possess the footage, you own the copyrights, and you physically handle the money. The investor should always be in the driver's seat.

How much are you paying him to produce the project?

If you're not paying him up front and he is bringing tangible benefits to your film that YOU couldn't bring yourself, it might be a good deal because odds are overwhelming that you're not going to sell your film.

I am not paying him anything. The only thing we are agreeing on is the 20 percent.

He is deeply involved in the production. So i feel he is putting in a lot of commitment in the project. The only thing that concerns me is that everyone is giving their commitment and not getting a large percentage.

PIMP said:

He is deeply involved in the production. So i feel he is putting in a lot of commitment in the project. The only thing that concerns me is that everyone is giving their commitment and not getting a large percentage.

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You could keep your points (percentage) discussion to yourself, nobody really needs to know who is getting what.

I completed a feature film, cast and crew unpaid (plenty of food!) and nobody gets any percentage of the DVD sales. Had I given away points, it's have to sell a heck of a lot more DVDs to earn any kind of money at all -- might not even be cost effective for you.

The smart thing is to not give away points to people that didn't bring money to the table.

Good luck!

If the 20% is after all investors are paid back, it isn't bad.

It really all hinges on WHEN the 20% kicks in. Is it gross revenue, is it net profit, how is net profit defined, etc...

They pass out "points" like candy in Hollywood. They just define "net profit" so narrowly that virtually nobody ever sees a cent.

PIMP said:

I am not paying him anything. The only thing we are agreeing on is the 20 percent.

He is deeply involved in the production. So i feel he is putting in a lot of commitment in the project. The only thing that concerns me is that everyone is giving their commitment and not getting a large percentage.

Click to expand...

And not every one is the producer.

Not every position is equal. The gaffer, for example is essential to
the production, but might not deserve the same percentage as the
DP - who is also essential. And editor who puts in 12 weeks might
be entitled to more of a percentage than the composer who puts
in 8.

Perhaps you should offer percentages based on days committed to
the entire project.

They pass out "points" like candy in Hollywood.

Click to expand...

A producer should not be allowed to give out points without the investor's permission. Shady producers will give out points (to various people involved) in lieu of up front money payment so that they can pocket that money for themselves. One of many reasons to have a film attorney draft up your contract.

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#27-0000
Figure out how many people are going to get paid for doing what.

Figure out their job titles (ambiguous and cross-disciplined as some of them will be, especially on smaller productions).

Figure out who's getting paid straight pay, who's getting percentages only, and who's getting straight pay + percentage.

Figure budget before promotion and advertising, which you will need to account for unless you believe you have a serious chance of finding a distributor at a film festival (cough, cough, BOL!) leaving you with a production budget.

Multiply production budget by 0.85 because no one EVER doesn't run over their budget.

From your jobs titles list figure payment up to 100% of your 85% of production budget.
Earmark 10% for dumb sh!t.
5% for super-dumb sh!t.
Anything left over could be waggled as a "on time & under budget production incentive".

From the BLS link above figure out what percentage your peeps oughtta get paid.
For anyone getting paid in percentages of NET income (NEVER EVER EVER NEVER EVER gross income) figure out the percentages according to BLS stats, don't forget overlapping jobs.
No one wants to do two jobs at the rate of one. They likely won't come back and play with you on your next project.

It's easier for you to argue your position with objective government stats than using subjective "I feel... " and "Someone said... " arguments.

Make the other guy figure out who ought to get stiffed by him hoarding a larger percentage.
Then check in with the other guy.



Or you could just cave in and start handing out your whole bag of Halloween candy to the biggest trick or treaters.

20% is not much since hes not getting upfront pay. So your good.