Staying connected isn’t always fun like hot fuzzy commercials when it comes to movies, movie spots, deferred payment agreements aka final payment and distribution money. All the filmmakers, actors, and crew have a creative passion, but they also have to earn money from their trade to pay their bills.
Independent filmmakers rely on making money for movie distribution, whether they self-distribute or have signed a movie distribution deal with a company. The financial clock for independent filmmakers is always ticking STRONG.
They have to pay movie investors with interest or, if it’s their own money, they usually can’t afford to break even. There is even more pressure if your main investors in movies are family and close friends. You don’t want to let down the people who are important parts of your life.
You also don’t want to disappoint movie investors, but they know that investing money to make a movie is as risky as stocks. The advantage is that you don’t have to see them if you lose their money. The downside is that they will never invest in another one of your movies.
Money to make movies is hard to come by in the independent film world. When you get money to make a movie, do your best to get it finished and distributed as soon as possible. Get your share of movie distribution money in this entertainment gold rush.
Independent filmmakers are constantly under pressure to perform and generate money for movie distribution. At least that’s the case with most of the independent filmmakers I know. They love making movies like I do, but we all have to earn a living.
The money pressure of producing an independent film is where movie spots and deferred payment agreements seem attractive to independent filmmakers. Independent producers generally assume all financial risk up front. This means that they pay the actors and the crew for their efforts.
Sometimes it’s deliciously tempting for an independent film producer to think about offering movie spots or deferred payment deals in the hope of taking money saved from the movie budget up front and using it to make the production bigger in many ways. different ways.
By awarding Movie Points (a certain-sized slice of the movie’s financial pie), you’re connected to the actors and crew who received Movie Points throughout a movie’s entire sales run. That could be twenty years or even more, depending on whether it connects with new generations or becomes a bona fide cult classic.
A movie spot deal requires a lot of extra work and precious time to keep track of how to split the movie money earned from domestic and international distribution sales. You’ll have to play counter, keep track of who gets how much and how to get to them. That’s a lot of work to take away from working on your next film project.
A deferred payment agreement at least has a defined end point. You are only financially tied to the actors and crew for as long as it takes you to pay them the portions of money agreed upon in the deferred payment agreement for working on the film.
Whether it’s in the case of offering movie spots or deferred payment agreements, some people who work in independent film are rolling stones. This means that you will need to keep in touch with any new mailing addresses, phone numbers, and emails.
If an actor or crew member ends up going off the grid or living abroad, it’s still your job to make sure they get paid. If you can’t find them, you should keep that money in case they show up and say, “Hey, where’s my money?” It seems like a painful job for an independent filmmaker.
In a deferred payment arrangement when the cast and crew are paid in full, you stop being an accountant and worrying about staying connected. The way a movie spot deal is framed, this financial dance continues until the movie stops making money for movie distribution. Offering movie points, deferred payment agreements, and money for film distribution are things independent filmmakers really need to think hard about.
