The road to a “successful” distribution plan is seemingly full of roadblocks and self-distribution is no exception - exhausting, expensive, and time-consuming are the first descriptors that come to mind. So if you decide to mull self-distribution over, we’ve compiled some info that may or may not be helpful

Sundance, Slamdance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Austin, Bentonville, Telluride…. the list goes on. Before premiering your film at a festival, there’s a bunch of stuff to think about. We untangle some of them.

The Empire State has a very generous tax incentive program - 30% back on qualifying expenses! As of January 1, 2023, there’s a new diversity requirement for eligibility. We break it down for you.

As we tend mostly to work with indie films (i.e. non-AMPTP affiliated movies), our past few weeks have been a crash course in the SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement. So, in the interest of not hoarding information, here’s a bunch of stuff we’ve learned along the way.

Given the fast paced nature of production, much of the time producers might be tempted to just sign a location agreement handed to them, but like any contract, it’s important to read through and keep a couple of points in mind! We’re noting down a few that we think about with each film, but as always, this is a non-exhaustive list, and every film and every transaction is different.

There’s a lot going on, so here’s a super quick, super digestible breakdown of the upcoming WGA negotiations with the AMPTP.

E&O Insurance, short for Errors and Omissions, is the end goal if you’re making a movie and everything you do to get to that point is really just lining up one duck after the other until your insurance is in place. You might say, well hang on a sec, the end goal if I’m making a movie is actually butts on seats and eyes on screens. We would agree with that, but without E&O, you can kiss that general commercial release goodbye.

Music is awesome. Music licensing? Not so much. Mostly because it’s tricky business, with a lot of moving parts. Even we get stuck sometimes so here's a quick rundown of how music licensing works and why you should never underestimate the amount of time, effort or cost involved.

Collaboration Agreements might sound counter intuitive – after all, isn’t the bedrock of collaboration, trust? Totally. But when you’re dealing with what is essentially a business venture, it’s important to set some ground rules so that everyone’s on the same page and there’re no miscommunications down the line.

As someone working in the film biz, you might hear CAMs or CAMAs thrown around during financing, production and/or the delivery phase. If you’re a producer, financiers or talent reps might be asking whether you’re planning to engage a CAM. If you’re a financier or a non-financing profit participant, you might be wondering how will you ever know if the film is generating revenue and whether you’re entitled to be paid as a net profit participant. The answer to all your prayers is the CAM/CAMA.

Movie budgeting is definitely an art-form and while we 100% are not self-proclaimed budgeting Van Gogh’s, we’ve worked on enough productions to see which line items are sometimes overlooked, or under-budgeted. Here’s our take on the 7 most under-budgeted items for film & television productions.

With the recent wins for the Australian screen industry, and specifically the retention of the Gallipoli Clause in the Producer Offset legislation, it might be time to revisit this little gem.

It’s been over a year now since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The film and television industry has come a long way but unfortunately, production insurance isn’t covering COVID-19 related interruptions, leaving productions exposed to potential loss. So, how do you mitigate risk in this new ‘normal’?

In the course of pitching, negotiating, musing, over the financial set up of your production, debt finance and investment shouldn’t be used interchangeably because to do so can create mess and confusion down the line. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously disrupted the media production industry worldwide in so many different ways. One such impact has been on shooting budgets. So, let’s get to it - how do film and television budgets change when factoring in COVID-19?