Media Techniques Exam 2 Notes 02 21 2013 2 21 13 Get an agent to represent you send it out to studios and production companies Agency might package actor director clients Get the from investors to produce it route for non studio films Sell to studio s to produce it studio films Same or another studio to distribute Movie Credits When you see company logos and so and so and such and such Present at the start of film they are the production companies that paid for the film Many of the Executive Producers listed own or work for those production companies If studio name is in there they paid for film Executive producer credit Kick starter What is a distributor They get the film into the theatres you have to convince somebody to put money up to get It into theatres Cost making the prints cost 1000 of dollaers each more and more it has been turning to digital which is just a file on the computer helps reduce piracy and also cheaper Another cost publicity for the film the distributor has to pay movie theatre chains to play the trailers Who makes the money Coverage o Sharing the money with the movie theatre o With a hit movie distributor will get 90 of ticket sales 10 to theatre o Concessions help theatres make money on new movies o Agent sends out to production companies Reviewed by reader who reads your script and do a 2 page report called Coverage o Pass reader feels the script fails to make the grade in most areas and that the production entity should not proceed with it o Consider reader feels the script has a considerable number of strong points and is good enough to proceed with o Recommend reader feels that the script is extremely strong in all respects and that the production entity should proceed without reservations o If not recommended youre pretty much dead in the water Kiss script goodbye Who does the coverage o Done by unpaid intern o Or by freelancer who gets 50 100 per script o Then to development executive looking for the new hot scripts company o Then to whomever is next up the pyramid at the production o Have to say no 90 of the time and yes 10 but God forbid you say no to something that gets produced somewhere else and becomes a hit o D Girls developer girls o Need to balance everything out o NO ONE WANTS TO BE WRONG Ex Forrest Gump was passed up several times before a couple studios picked it up made near 400 million worldwide Samuel Goldyn No one knows about nothing Tension I don t want to pass up on a hit Coverage goes into a database about this script and this writer You and I do not have the same view point on projects o Even if script is not bought writer might get rewrite work out of it Production Company Studio Production companies are owned run by producers or directors or They find and develop and produce films and TV shows for Film TV actors studios Production company for film needs to find a studio to produce and then the same or another to distribute domestically and internationally Bloomhouse does all the paranormal activity movies would not send romantic comedy to them What determines whether a studio wants to buy a film Key thing marketing How will it be marketed What is the poster o If marketing does not life it almost impossible to sell o The 4 quadrants o Male under 25 male above 25 female under 25 female above 25 o How many quadrants does it hit o Want to hit all 4 quadrants International is equal to or larger than north American box office now Some actors have international box office Some genres work better internationally action vs comedy baseball not big internationally Surveys are done to figure out a lot of this stuff marketing research For every 2 action movies the woman can get the guy to see the notebook Tax credits States compete for production Some states give future credits Other states rebate cash Louisiana Michigan North Carolina successful Sometimes for current movie sometimes for your next movie Problem in California New York there are a lot of experienced and good crews basically you be flying in 100 people for the crew to work on your movie all of a sudden you are eating away at your rebate money How an idea for TV series gets to the screen Almost always need to have a track record to have a series bought That s because TV series writing is prospective To be a TV writer Need 2 spec scripts to get an agent Then your scripts are sent to series staffs You get to pitch ideas for a freelance script o Honest and dishonest show staffers Your script is bought and you do a good job of writing it o Made staff s work easier grow golden rule o Didn t make more work for them Perhaps sell more freelance scripts to that or other series Get asked to join staff o Weekly episode contradict paid per week or episode to be on staff o Usually guaranteed a script assignment for extra writing credit residuals o Often start with title of staff writer Then you receive title escalation which in the past was to tied to salary increases o Staff writer to story editor to executive story editor to co producer to supervising producer to co excecutive producer to executive producer o Actual job itself is unchanged In TV you have an A story and a B story If your script is CRAP you will more than likely be fired because you made their lives harder and put more on their plate working around the clock o Its how good you make it by with the time youre given Good freelance work gets you a job as a writer After a few years of moving up the track ladder you would have a sufficient track record to pitch series ideas Pre WGA strike you might get a development deal for 2 years to just pitch and write ideas for series During the strike many of these deals were terminated Those that still had development deals mow had to either sell a series idea or else they would be put on the writing staff of someone else s series so that the studio or network got something for their money NBC series The Event example on slide So script is bought and revised and then a pilot is shot Origin story Sixth episode story Budget larger than it will be for the series each network does dozens of pilots yields maybe 6 10 series Arms race for big budget pilots maybe 2 3 will get a second season Pilot is tested Las Vegas and other cities Testing process Some highly tested series flop and some of the lowest tested shows become hits eventually Cheers o Lowest test scores in NBC history Will have a focus group after the screening Asking advertisers millions of dollars to advertise your …
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