Would you take 100k for your first sale?

Question

So, if someone wanted to option your screenplay for free, with a payment of 100k should the movie be made, and you knew that there was a very high probability that the movie would get made in the next six months, would you take it? Budget on the movie is about seven million.

Just wondering.
G

Usenet · Accepted Answer

@reader1.panix.com:
[nq:1]So, if someone wanted to option your screenplay for free, with a payment of 100k should the movie be made, ... would get made in the next six months, would you take it? Budget on the movie is about seven million.[/nq]
If the script is already written and the alternative is letting it rot in a drawer, then...
jaybee

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]So, if someone wanted to option your screenplay for free, with a payment of 100k should the movie be made, ... made in the next six months, would you take it? Budget on the movie is about seven million. Just wondering.[/nq]
And if it isn't made?

A woman can be anything the man who loves her would have her be. James M. Barrie

Usenet · Answer

First sale and a really good chance? Yes. But I wonder why a person who can attract $7,000,000 for a production can't attract $5,000 for an option.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]So, if someone wanted to option your screenplay for free, with a payment of 100k should the movie be made, ... made in the next six months, would you take it? Budget on the movie is about seven million. Just wondering.[/nq]
I'd have to think about for... OK, yeah sure, I'd do it.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]First sale and a really good chance? Yes. But I wonder why a person who can attract $7,000,000 for a production can't attract $5,000 for an option.[/nq]
Amen.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]First sale and a really good chance? Yes. But I wonder why a person who can attract $7,000,000 for a production can't attract $5,000 for an option.[/nq]
That's the real kicker, isn't it?
I might take the deal, but it depends on a lot of other factors. What other leads do I have? Is there the potential of other offers? Etc.

The right answer is going to vary from person to person and from time to time. Right now, I wouldn't take that deal. A year ago? I might have. In a year, I might again.
Here's the thing, though:
If they don't have the money, then there is not a "very high probability" of the movie going into production. When you're six months out, if you have money and cast attached, then you have a good chance. If you have money and no cast, you have a reasonable probability. If you have cast and no money, you have a smaller chance (you can usually get money based on your cast, but until you do there's a realistic chance of the cast dropping out.)
If they have $7 mil then they can afford $10k for a year option against that $100k purchase price.
If they don't have $7 mil, then they're lying when they say they have "a very high probability" of going into production.
(And they may remove whatever residual value your script has by showing to everyone trying to get it made.)
-Ron

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]So, if someone wanted to option your screenplay for free, with a payment of 100k should the movie be made, ... made in the next six months, would you take it? Budget on the movie is about seven million. Just wondering.[/nq]
Me, personally sure, what would I have to lose?

RonB
"There's a story there...somewhere"

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]From "The Complete Book of Scriptwriting", by J.Michael Straczynsky:[/nq]"Here's one of those stories: A friend of mine was contacted by an independent production company I shall refer to as the DoubleCross Corporation. He had a few produced plays under his belt and was thrilled at the prospect of being in the Movie Biz. So he agreed to and signed a contract for one percentage point of the profits, what was then Guild minimum for a screenplay. But the payments were to be made on a deferred basis, the terms of which are given here verbatim: "Producer agrees to pay Employee the sum of $14,000, which shall be distributed in the following manner: Ten percent on the date whereon the budget for the motion picture is allocated to the Producer; forty percent on the date of the Employer's commencement of principal photography of a motion picture based on said property; and fifty percent to be paid on the last day of actual photography.

In addition to this fee, Producer agrees to pay to Employee one percent of the net profit from the motion picture. Producer agrees to use its reasonable efforts to effect production of a motion picture based upon said property. In the event, however, that Producer is unable to begin or complete production of the Photoplay, Producer shall provide to the Employee the compensatory sum of $1,000." (This kind of arrangement, by the way, is patently forbidden by the Writers Guild.)
"It was", my friend has said on many occasions, "the biggest mistake I ever made in my entire life." Here's what happened: The DoubleCross Corporation was never able to receive financial backing for the project, since the alleged producer had never worked in the industry before and was recognized as a less-than-reliable character. That took care of the $14,000. So the writer tried to get his $1,000 kill fee. But the producer had an out, a loophole: The contract specified that the kill fee only went into effect after all reasonable efforts to secure production of the script had been made.

So whenever my friend tried to get his money, all the producer had to say, truthfully or otherwise, was that he had shuttled the script to yet another studio and that they were looking at it. This constituted reasonable effort. Translation: It would be impossible for the writer to ever collect his kill fee, since the producer could claim indefinitely that reasonable efforts were being made to produce the screenplay. And since no time limit was attached, the reasonable efforts could go on forever.

The result of all this? The writer wrote a very good script, for which he never received a single penny and probably never will. He cannot market the screenplay as is because even though he was never paid for his work, it contractually belongs to DoubleCross. Now, he could almost certainly break the contract in court, given the circumstances, but at first, the cost was prohibitive. Finally, the producer, along with the DoubleCross Corporation, simply vanished.

Telephone disconnected, no forwarding address and a solid year of work down the drain.
The writer, of course, has said that he harbors no grudges. "But if I ever find that guy," he added in a recent conversation, "I'm gonna chew on his eyes."
Moral: Whenever dealing with an independent production company, check it out with the Writers Guild and the Better Business Bureau, unless, of course, it has some kind of track record or is known personally by you. Do not sign any contracts until you have talked to an attorney. A little caution can save you years of heartbreak."
If whoever wants it is reputable, they will pay you a fair fee. If they or whoever they are representing are MBA signatories, they have to pay you a fee.
Good luck, and watch your six.

Would you take 100k for your first sale?

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