How to divide the profits?

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DELTA_Rotary

Active member
First of all let me say that right now there are no profits and likely never will be. Now my situation. Myself and a few friends have done several shorts together in the past and are continuing to make them. We have all started talking about making features and trying to get distributed. Now I know the chances of that happening are slim to none but the last thing I want to do is for us to make a film and then it get picked up and we start fighting over money. So here is my question. How do we divide this up fairly? I have no clue how the business works. There are two main crew members. I shoot, edit, and supply all the gear from cameras, lights, audio, edit suites. This allows us to make our films fairly cheap and with little risk. The other guy will be writting and directing. A few other friends are the actors and friends that help out and lend us cars, locations etc. We are in the Midwest so locations are easy to come by and most local businesses fall over themselves to help when you tell them you want to shoot a movie. So how do we do this fairly so we can all be happy and keep working together. I've always heard not to mix friends and business so I know I'm playing with fire here.
 
I'd keep you two as 50/50 partners.

Allocating profits to the cast and crew down the road is an admirable thought, isn't it ? (Ala George Lucas)

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J.R. Hudson said:
I'd keep you two as 50/50 partners.

Allocating profits to the cast and crew down the road is an admirable thought, isn't it ? (Ala George Lucas)

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Thats kinda what I had in mind. We all have been working together for a long time and I'd like to keep it that way.
 
hmm

hmm

Well it depends what exactly the arrangement is, but I would bill for your equipment separately if you two are spending equal time on the project. I mean, let's say you figure that your equipment would fairly rent out at $500/day to the production, and you shoot for 20 days, then if the film makes a profit it should only be fair that you make the first $10,000 to pay off your equipment usage, which after all represents a significant investment. Then after that, a 50-50 split is perfectly reasonable.

That's how my business partner and I were doing it, where we'd split the production company profits, and we'd pay each other a salary on each project fairly, then I'd rent my equipment to each shoot.
 
DELTA_Rotary said:
Now I know the chances of that happening are slim to none but the last thing I want to do is for us to make a film and then it get picked up and we start fighting over money. So here is my question. How do we divide this up fairly? I have no clue how the business works. There are two main crew members. I shoot, edit, and supply all the gear from cameras, lights, audio, edit suites. This allows us to make our films fairly cheap and with little risk. The other guy will be writting and directing. A few other friends are the actors and friends that help out and lend us cars, locations etc. We are in the Midwest so locations are easy to come by and most local businesses fall over themselves to help when you tell them you want to shoot a movie. So how do we do this fairly so we can all be happy and keep working together. I've always heard not to mix friends and business so I know I'm playing with fire here.
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Your chances of selling can be high, if you're smart about your movie and what type of movie you want to make.

I agree with Jon (unfortunately we tend to agree alot. hahaha) But after equipment costs 50/50 sounds good. And I wouldn't pay actors. Sorry, not for the first one or two times you get distribution on a below 20K budget. you'll need the cash to invest in new projects, so only the main principal people need to get paid.
 
Well I dont exactly own the equipment. I work for a very large retailer producing training videos. My boss is nice enough to let me use the equipment in my spare time. Still think I should charge for equipment? I personally will end up dumping anything I make back into funding my own equipment so we don't have to rely on my present employer forever.
 
DELTA_Rotary said:
Well I dont exactly own the equipment. I work for a very large retailer producing training videos. My boss is nice enough to let me use the equipment in my spare time. Still think I should charge for equipment? I personally will end up dumping anything I make back into funding my own equipment so we don't have to rely on my present employer forever.
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Well if you don't own it, then no. Maybe at most a small 5% for yourself because of the connection and the risk of damaging your employer's equipment. I definately believe in buying your own equipment though.
 
jls4 said:
Well if you don't own it, then no. Maybe at most a small 5% for yourself because of the connection and the risk of damaging your employer's equipment. I definately believe in buying your own equipment though.
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That sounds reasonable. It does make me nervous at times using their equipment. I plan to keep reinvesting in my own gear with every production.
 
Also you may need to look at the rights to the story. If your friend is the writer, the words that the actors are speaking are his just as the equipment is yours. Don't try to say that your equipment is worth more than the script on your first feature. Because without the script you will be shooting an all adlib movie.

STICK WITH 50/50 or better yet to be fair 40/40 and the other 18% for the crew and cast. The additional 2% for my advice. :) LOL
 
Whoops I skipped a post or two. Even though the equipment is through one of your connections that does not make it yours. If you got permission to use it from your boss and he agrees that their is no charge for it that wouldn' entitle you to a full 50/50 split, IMHO. That is a tough one.
 
Cedric Akins said:
Whoops I skipped a post or two. Even though the equipment is through one of your connections that does not make it yours. If you got permission to use it from your boss and he agrees that their is no charge for it that wouldn' entitle you to a full 50/50 split, IMHO. That is a tough one.
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My hook up on free gear no. My hundreds of hours in production time.... I think so. I'm looking at it as though neither of us can get the job done without the other. That and its not his ass if something expensive gets broken on set.
 
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