Producing

Sorry the production had those delays, Sarah Brockmann. Maybe you'll get some great footage of hunting season for your project. :)

Watch THE OFFER about the making of THE GODFATHER.

I mean, at least it's not the Tunisian sand storm they dealt with in Episode One of Star Wars...

Thanks, Sasha! It's great to meet you.

Good question. It seems not, as they "must join" at some point. Unclear if you need to taft-hartly them. Call SAG.

Phillip Wade I have two very important points to make: (1) you would not pay to or on behalf of non-sag people something due to sag people, unless your sag agreement says you must. (2) More importantly - you, as a producer, actually signed the SAG agreement without reading the SAG agreement and understanding what it requires you to do? No, no no, no no..... Literally no opinion expressed by anyone here is pertinent or informed about your situation without reference to your specific SAG agreement and situation.

Phillip Wade to Shadow's point...READ EVERYTHING - twice...and the fine print three times. You're entering (or have entered) into a binding agreement with a large and powerful trade union. Also, when and if you get a distributor, do your best to get them to commit to a detailed Distribution Assumption Agreement whereby they, the distributor, is responsible for all the payouts due to your SAG actors and all others before you in the revenue waterfall.

Contact SAG directly. I've found them to be super helpful.

Hey Martin. My rec: A friendly, professional, and succinct email to the director's manager. If no manager, their agent. If no agent, directly (if you can find their contact info). In the email, a short warm greeting, identify yourself and your role (briefly mention any awards you have but keep it super short; can link out to your website for a full bio/more info about you and/or your company), what you want, logline, brief statement about why this project is important/unique, VERY brief statement about why THIS director (1 or 2 sentences), notable attachments if any, anything notable about the script (awards, placements, excellent coverage, etc), budget, any financing in place, shooting location & dates. After the "why them" statement, keep the rest very short, like bullet points. A key to this is to make it very easy for the manager/agent/director to read it quickly, understand what you want and why, and then be inspired. Conclude with something like, "If it makes sense to talk, what's your schedule like this week?" Similar to a query letter. I recommend calling if they don't respond to your email. If you choose to call (either initially or later), have all this info ready and prepare yourself for anything. You'll get the assistant who may ask you anything or dismiss you completely (of course be friendly and do whatever they say). The goal isn't necessarily to have the assistant patch you through to the manager/agent, but to invite you to send an email with more details. That said, if you're lucky enough to talk your way to the manager/agent, be calm, collected, and ready to make your ask. Brevity is gold. I see that you're a director as well, so I recommend dropping that title completely when approaching these people. Use your title(s) for this specific project. If you wrote the script, then Screenwriter stays. If you're the one approaching the director, then you're a Producer. In this case, Producer is your primary title (they won't care that you wrote it, only that it's good). Side recommendation: if you're going solo and don't have any producing partners, I advise partnering with another producer before approaching a working director (has been paid to direct a feature or has multiple distributed credits). It just looks better.

All this is just one way that I've seen work, I'm sure there are infinite effective approaches. Good luck!

Thanks Doug Conant. That is very helpful.

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Congratulations Sarah Brockmann - now bring it home! All the best!

Bravo!

Sorry you're struggling but CONGRATS ON THE PRODUCTION Sarah Brockmann! That's incredible! Keep us posted on the process!!

Congratulations to you, the cast, and crew on being about half done with principle photography, Sarah Brockmann! Excited to see "St. Jones' Ditch"!

Hi Ugo - in my experience, there are different definitions and sources of being a co-prodcuer based on the project and format. In television, when a mid-level executive or key contributor at a production company hasn't earned an EP credit (or simply can't get one) and they are not physically producing a show, they may be given a co-producer credit. The WGA has a co-producer designation for staff writers that are moving up the ladder from staff writer but have not yet arrived at co-executive producer. On features, a co-producer can be a development executive from a production company - like if Hello Sunshine makes a movie one of the execs at Reece Witherspoon's company that contributed but is not at the top of the food chain may be given that credit. On an indie film, it can be anyone that the producers feel deserves it but won't/can't be given a producer credit - like a line-producer, production manager or even an investor if they are not at the EP investing level. It's a bit amorphous but a very credible credit and it is not given out lightly. It is earned with quality work on a project.

All "producer" titles are ambiguous. On some productions, a coproducer is whoever the senior producer decides to give the title to and is responsible for whatever they are designated to do. Sometimes they could be a separate producing company - ie. a coproduction, sometimes they are a person below other producers on the team.

I've been asking myself what a co-producer is for over a decade, haha! But seriously, both Sam and Shadow answered pretty well

Very good replies. The title has many applications. Traditionally the co-producer title in features was for a junior producer, and most often a credit given to writers. I think Ugo is also referring to Co-Productions. These are financial arrangements spanning multiple geographic territories, whereby producers access funding from a local country. Most countries have mutual "Co-Production" agreements (with the exception of the US.) Generally these co-production funds have come from local television distribution output deals. For example, a German - UK Co-Production would have financial contributions from each country.

thank you guys for the replies, I've learned a lot !

Hungary is a great place to shoot and has accelerated production a great deal over the last decade. Very easy to work with. I have a good deal of experience working with the incentive and the studios, as well as creating the film budget (many) for Hungary. Feel free to connect via www.FilmBudget.com and here as well should you require further information.

Sounds cool and let's explore I can be reached at mukesh@cairsaangri.com

If I am not mistaken, EP themselves have tutorials on the main site.

Thanks, Shadow. I will have to take a second look at the EP website, but I believe there is the Academy for EP's various products. In the case of MMB, this offers only the basics of the software's functionality. However, things may have changed since my last visit to the EP website. Once again, thanks for your help!

Ask EP's, Director, and lead actor who read your script for a manager/tv agent referral. It is that simple.

Thanks for reading my post, Dan. I wish it was "that simple," but it's not. The actor DID hook me up with an agent, but even though that agent loves the script... and he thought about repping me, he just couldn't take on another client because he's a senior agent and is swamped with work for his current roster. The director told me to wait till the strike is settled. And the industry readers I had no contact with... they were in conversations with my EPs, not me, so they don't know me personally, only my work that was introduced to them by my EPs. Not so simple. Wish it was because I have a great show ready to go. Onward and upward though.

It's a "soft pass."

Ready to go is corporate code meaning 3-4 years minimum.

If your director/your partner said to wait for strike to end, then wait. GL

Yes, it was a "soft pass" from the studio, which shocked my EPs as their expectation was that it was going to be a pick up. And it was a pass after they went back and forth for months on it.

The "ready to go" words above are mine, not the studio's. But that's an incorrect assumption about the time period (3-4 years min). Had it been a pick up with that studio it would have moved at a decent pace into prepro because one of my EPs has an overall deal with that studio and he typically has a great deal of autonomy there, and we had already worked the script to his satisfaction through a lengthy notes process, and... he would have been the showrunner.

Largo AI work with the Independent Producers Guild on some projects. I have dealt with them directly. They seem like very nice, real people and they are FAR less expensive and FAR more effective than the "as services" at slated.com

Thanks, Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg . I appreciate the feedback. Just had a conversation with them. Very nice people and a really smart tool. I see the benefits of the analysis but I don't think I'm there yet. It is a bit pricey at $2k + 1% of budget.