Aug 30, 2019 Dov Ss Simens Workbook Pdf – livinguide. A Roadmap to Success Not everyone has the time or money to attend Dov’s sold-out 3-Day Film School classes in person, but now you can get the entire class on DVD to follow along at your own pace and as time allows. Dov ss simens workbook pdf; everworld fear the fantastic pdf; barrios choro da saudade pdf; fotofusion tutorial pdf; emily remler bebop and swing guitar booklet pdf; jay umble pdf; carl fischer guitar grimoire pdf; adam kadmon bass grimoire pdf; allan holdsworth legato pdf. Dov Simens' workbook for his famous crash course. A variety of information, articles, sample budgets, trade associations, and other vital know-how to make a movie. From screenwriting & budgeting to marketing, Simens provides encyclopedic, precise, & creative instruction for putting your vision up on the screen. × Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date.

Chapter #48
THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION
“Negotiate The Deal””
You are nothing without a distributor! And, every chapter up until now has been involved with taking the idea-dream that is in your head, making it into a real 90-minute narrative film and getting some awards at film festivals. But, you are still nothing without a distributor.
WARNING: This chapter will be a “Bummer”. All the positive energy I created, by demystifying Hollywood, will be instantly forgotten once you realize how distributors screw first-time filmmakers. However, don’t be depressed. For once I give you the realistic information, then I’ll show you how to obtain a distributor with a deal that allows you a profit. But first, let me depress you.
I’m sure you’ve heard that distributors are sharks who prey on naïve first-timers. It’s true! But, I don’t like this analogy for it reeks of the pity-pot and the poor-me syndrome. To me distributors are more comparable to attorneys. Everyone hates them. Everyone has an attorney joke. But, like it or not, we needs attorneys. And, like it or not, you need a distributor.
WHY YOU NEED A DISTRIBUTOR?
There are two reasons why you need a distributor: First, they have the P&A money to make your film into a movie. YOU DON’T! Second, they have the ability to collect from theater owners. YOU DON’T!
Distributors, middlemen between filmmakers and exhibitors, take your product, create an advertising campaign, place newspaper ads, set up interviews, strike prints, book theaters, freight prints, make your film into a movie and oversee the collection and distribution of revenues.
A distributor, with three to thirty films/year, has the power to collect from theater owners because they want the distributor’s next film. You only have one film. Attempt self-distribution and you’ll spend your entire life in small claims court trying to collect from each and every theater owner. Therefore, it is imperative to have a distributor who can collect --Your problem then becomes collecting from the distributor.
Remember, marketing a film most times costs more than making the film. Thus, the P&A money is imperative. Without it your film is only a film. And, remember, no one buys films. You ain’t got any P&A money, you barely had enough money to make the film and attend a festival. But the distributor does. And, (SECRET) He who has the P&A money has the power…and distributors have P&A money.”
THE BASIC DISTRIBUTION DEAL
Let’s assume you’ve done everything right. You got a great script. Picked the right actors. Shot on-budget. Entered the proper festival. Audiences came. You won an award and are talking with distributors.
The deal you’ll be offered 19 out of 20 times is called “The Standard Distribution Deal” which, on the surface sounds fair. This is what distributors claim everyone gets for his first film. Don’t believe them! The deal will appear equitable, but it isn’t. The distributor will offer it by saying: 'I love your film. Let's partner. I'll distribute, take my standard distribution fee, recoup expenses, and split 50-50 with you.”
It is technically called the “50-50 Net Deal” (aka: Standard Distribution Deal) and you’ll never see a penny. Let’s take a deeper look at what the distributor is really saying with, “Let’s partner, I’ll distribute, take my standard fee, recoup my expenses and split profits 50-50 with you”.
A. LET’S PARTNER: “You pay for the film. We collect the revenues.”
B. I’LL DISTRIBUTE: “We make all decisions and stay in control”
C. STANDARD FEE: “Our standard fee is as much as we can get”
D. RECOUP EXPENSES: “That pied-a-terre in NY, Condo in Gastaad, hooker in LA, etc.”
E. PROFIT SPLIT: “50% of nothing is nothing.”
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Assume you pitch an idea to a distributor and get $1,000,000 to make the film. Once it’s done the distributor agrees to put $3,000,000 into a P&A campaign and on the opening weekend the film grosses $10,000,000. Wow! Don’t count your chickens. Thirty days after the $10,000,000 weekend you get an accounting statement showing that your film is losing $3,000,000. Your jaws drop. You’re astonished. You ponder, “How can this be?”
Simple, here’s how: Assuming you accepted a Standard (50-50 Net) Distribution Deal with the production money. The good news is that on its first weekend of release your film grossed $10,000,000. It’s a hit. This is great, but remember that the word gross is not the word profit and you split profits not grosses. And the accounting statement you receive will look like this…
BOX OFFICE GROSS $10,000,000
(Less) Exhibitor’s Fees (50%) ($5,00,000)
DISTRIBUTOR’S GROSS $5,000,000
(Less) Distributor’s Fee (35%) ($1,750,000)
PRODUCER’S GROSS $3,250,000
(Less) Production Expense ($1,000,000)
Production Interest ($250,000)
Prints & Advertising ($3,000,000)
Overhead ($2,000,000)
($3,000,000) NET LOSS
Gross, specifically box office gross, refers to the money theater owners collect from audiences. Now, distributors, being the marketing geniuses they are, know that many people didn’t see your film this weekend. So how do they get them to see your film on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc? The answer is, they market what the film grossed. Not what the film profited or lost. This is because the gross dollar amount is always a large number. Ask yourself. What would you rather see, a film that grossed $10,000,000 or a film that lost $3,000,000?
Let’s follow the money trail and discover how a $10,000,000 grosser becomes a $3,000,000 loser. First, the theater owner collects the $10,000,000 (not the distributor) and takes his cut (usually 50%) of the Box Office Gross and sends the remaining money, now called Distributors Gross, to the distributor who has paid for all the prints and ads. Your $10,000,000 Box Office Gross has just become a $5,000,000 Distributor’s Gross.
The distributor now deducts 35% ($1,750,000) for his distribution fee from the $5,000,000 leaving a $3,250,000 Producer’s Gross.
Next, remember, if the distributor gave you $1,000,000 to make the film. They want that money back. Actually distributors don’t give you money, they loan it to you and want their loan back --with interest that is usually at 25%. Now, deducting the loan ($1,000,000), typically called a Production Expense and interest ($250,000), from the Producers Gross leaves $2,000,000. The number is getting smaller and smaller and…
Next, the distributor recoups his $3,000,000 P&A costs. Subtract a $3,000,000 expense, from a $2,000,000 gross and there is no form of new math that will show a profit. Your film is now at $1,000,000 in losses. Add to the $1,000,000 in losses $2,000,000 in distributor’s overhead and your film is now at $3,000,000 in losses. I told you this chapter would be a bummer.
LET’S GET REAL
Directors and/or producers are like architects in the real estate world. Builders option a property (idea/story), hire an architect (writer), get the blueprints (scripts) and construct (direct/produce) the building. When the building is done, the builder (distributor) sells and if there’s a profit do you think an architect expects to split 50-50 with the builder? No way! Not even IM Pei or Frank Gehry, world famous architects, expect to participate in profits. They are happy to be well paid employees.
If you get funding from a distributor to make a film, be happy. Stop being naïve. Don’t expect profits. Be happy with the funding, the excellent salary, the celebrity exposure and the ability to launch your career. But don’t expect profits – you never took any financial gambles.
Distributors rationalize, behind closed doors (I lean towards agreeing with them), that since they take all the financial gambles, pay you well and make you into a celebrity, that that is enough. “Forest Gump' has grossed almost $250,000,000, and director Bob Zemeckis hasn’t seen profits yet. Is Zemeckis bitching? Probab