salary on 300k film

Patryk_Rebisz

Patryk_Rebisz

Veteran
I would have no problem coming up with a salary from DP's perspective - 24 days f shooting at x/day plus the prep, but as for directing? The prep will probably be more intensive, the shoot is what it is and i estimate at least 2-3 months of post (min). So based on that what should one ask as director's salary?
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
I would have no problem coming up with a salary from DP's perspective - 24 days f shooting at x/day plus the prep, but as for directing? The prep will probably be more intensive, the shoot is what it is and i estimate at least 2-3 months of post (min). So based on that what should one ask as director's salary?
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DGA minimum is 14k a week, according to the interwebs. You'd be above the line, so get some of those back end points and residuals! Get some!
 
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Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
DGA minimum is 14k a week, according to the interwebs. You'd be above the line, so get some of those back end points and residuals! Get some!
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Agreed. I sacrifice a lot of upfront cash for ye olde 'slice of pie'.

But push hard for those points, low budget movies rarely make big enough cash for the points to change your life, but when they do... epic win achieved!
 
Wilbur Eddings said:
Agreed. I sacrifice a lot of upfront cash for ye olde 'slice of pie'.

But push hard for those points, low budget movies rarely make big enough cash for the points to change your life, but when they do... epic win achieved!
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I am a bit sceptical here, but I don't work in the USA. Producers/distributors are usually very good in what is called "Martian accounting" - the author of "Forrest Gump", Winston Groom, also wanted less "first money" in the hope he would get real cash after the film was then the most successful ever.... and ended up seeing not very much because the revenues where split and hidden in other sub-companies.

Can you get certain fees coupled to the admissions in a contract in the U.S.? This would imho be the only way to give you some security. We usually do this over here - have certain "corridors" in relation to the amount of tickets going over the desk. Have a good agent would be my advice. Had a successful movie in our market some years ago and was very happy.... until the (US major) distributor's statement came rolling in.... :-(
 
Yeah, the problem with 'back ended' deals is that the same people who would (theoretically) be paying you if/when the thing turns to gold are also the people who collect the funds as they come in, and the people who determine how much of those funds are allocated to "expenses" of the production. Any accountant worth his green eyeshade can jigger the numbers to show that virtually every dime that came in was 'needed' to cover costs. All he's got to do is make a nice big zillion page list of everything legitimately spent, then add in every roll of scotch tape, bottle of aspirin and cab fare, throw in a few thousand mysterious "professional fees", season with insurance, contingency and personal psychic fees, and...voila:

INT. - DAY - BIG, GLEAMING HIGH RISE OFFICE BUILDING IN L.A.

GARY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, 60s, slick, handsome, wears a big, gleaming SMILE as he sits behind a big gleaming DESK. JOE "BACK END" SCHMUCK, walks in and takes a seat in front of it.

GARY

"Gee...we're soooo sorry, Joe...yes it is
true that we grossed $67M at the box
office, but darned if we didn't spend
$67.001M doing it! Isn't that just the
*craziest* coincidence? Who'da
thought, huh?"

(a beat, in every sense of the word)

Joe accidentally farts.

Gary smiles even bigger...

FADE TO RED
 
A back-ended gross deal is vastly better, but (I'd imagine) vastly harder to get, and still potentially subject to "funny money" games by the clever and devious folks who oversee the accounting of the "gross"...
 
Ted Spencer said:
A back-ended gross deal is vastly better, but (I'd imagine) vastly harder to get, and still potentially subject to "funny money" games by the clever and devious folks who oversee the accounting of the "gross"...
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That's why we try to connect our "corridors" over here in Germany to the admissions sold - you get a certain sum of extra money if you hit a certain mark (1000.000 admissions sold) and this happens every time another 250.000 people enter a cinema up to a certain point - not to what is actually in the box of the box office. Which is very open to interpretation by the "Martians".
 
tipota said:
I am a bit sceptical here, but I don't work in the USA. Producers/distributors are usually very good in what is called "Martian accounting" - the author of "Forrest Gump", Winston Groom, also wanted less "first money" in the hope he would get real cash after the film was then the most successful ever.... and ended up seeing not very much because the revenues where split and hidden in other sub-companies.

Can you get certain fees coupled to the admissions in a contract in the U.S.? This would imho be the only way to give you some security. We usually do this over here - have certain "corridors" in relation to the amount of tickets going over the desk. Have a good agent would be my advice. Had a successful movie in our market some years ago and was very happy.... until the (US major) distributor's statement came rolling in.... :-(
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No matter which Country you are in, producers are prone to taking as much as they can and giving you as little as possible.

Doing any points deal without an entertainment lawyer is not wise at all!

Definitely make sure that your deal for production work done is off the Gross profit.

Remember, you are doing them a favor by allowing them to defer your payment for PHYSICAL work done.
You need to be part of the expenses payout, not part of the profit pie. Your points must be paid out BEFORE profit is calculated!

Again, do everything in your power to get an entertainment lawyer on your side - offer them a percentage of your deal if you have to.

Extremely important:
Without being a nasty douche, make sure your client is fully aware that you are not a soft target.
Having an entertainment lawyer is like wearing a gun on your hip in plain sight! It says "I am a great guy, just don't piss me off!".
 
Let's forget about the points debate. I have points on three films that i shot and even though i was compensated more-or-less fairly i don't even care how well (or rather how bad) they are doing financially as they are nowhere close to "Blair Witch Project" success.

This film won't be brilliant because the script is just OK and the lead actress (the financier) is just OK too, but rather then to allow some 3-rate director mess-up yet another project this time i'm willing to take on directing roles in hopes for the film to at least turn out ok. Thus i'm curious with $300k how much money you guys would allocated for directing?
 
Everyone is different; When I have hired Directors for different projects in the past, not one of them has charged the same rate or made the same deal as any of the others. One guy hit us for 40% of the production budget but he was well worth it. He already had relationships with Distributors and was really an asset to the project.

Peter Jackson on King Kong: $20 mil and 20% of Gross yet he got $10 mil for all three of the LOTR films (not sure how many points).

I usually charge 15% of Production budget as my Direction fee and 15% of Gross profit.

Hope that helps.
 
Wilbur Eddings said:
Peter Jackson on King Kong: $20 mil and 20% of Gross yet he got $10 mil for all three of the LOTR films (not sure how many points).
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Not a bad payday for him then; according to the-numbers.com, worldwide gross on Kong was $550M so Pete's take would be $130M. Nice work if you can get it...

I usually charge 15% of Production budget as my Direction fee and 15% of Gross profit.
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Very useful info. Thanks
 
If you are a director for hire and there is a line item for the director, above or otherwise then you should be paid accordingly. If it is your baby, writer director/producer etc. Investors tend to frown on anything more than a survival stipend, if you can even get that. They like to throw out words like sweat equity.
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
Thus i'm curious with $300k how much money you guys would allocated for directing?
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If I was the producer on that budget.

I'd only want to spend about 5% of the budget on the director. Of course, I'd give a couple extra points on the back end to compensate.

So roughly 15K cash to a director.

-M
 
Look into cash-break / cash break-even deals. These are a good deal easier for agents and attorneys to collect against than a typical adjusted gross receipt model.
 
Why not try to break it down to say 4-6 weeks of pre-production and then your shoot which I am guessing is 3-4 weeks. Figure nine weeks total! On a project like this I'd pay yourself at least $3,500 a week. Do the math! Though I've heard a director gets about 7% of the budget or so...
 
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