I recently emailed a producer who I met via Stage 32. Checking his IMDb page (which he suggested I do) proved he was legit (although to be honest, his background really isn't in my genre), but that's neither here nor there.
Anyway, he filled me in what I'd need to do in order to work with him -- after his initial approval, he would send me a non- disclosure agreement that would last for five months. The cos: A one-time facilitation fee of $3,000, which would be reimbursed to me if no sale is made. I would retain all rights to my work, and if sold, I would receive 5 percent of the total production budget, full writing credit and possible executive producer title and back-end profits, if agreed to.
My question: Is this par for the course in the industry? Is $3,000 a reasonable fee to ask for such work, which would include casting, director and crew consultation, agreement on budget and marketing.
I'm especially interested in hearing from those of you who have sold feature properties. And would you recommend a producer experienced in your genre?
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No, that's not how it works. I would politely decline.
2 people like this
Not how it works. Scam.
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It appears the Nigerian Prince has branched out into faux-film making. Your so-called producer is a complete fraud.
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I had a similar approach a while back from a person pretending to be someone else with an impressive imdb page. The words 'facilitation fee' and 'reimburse' can be roughly translated to 'scam'.
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The scammer appears to have stolen the name of a legit producer. If possible, tell the legit producer that there has been an identity theft. So the legit producer can tell the police.