The Hollywood Career Coach - ASK ME SOMETHING/ANYTHING ABOUT HOLLYWOOD CAREERS

The Standby Painter - Portland Confidential

The Manager - Ascent Hollywood Speaking Engagement on Film Finance and Distribution

Hi All,

Announcement: I will be speaking at Ascent Hollywood on November 18th on Film Finance and Distribution and if you are in LA you should come check it out!

 

 

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Ascent-Hollywood     Time: November 18, 2009 from 6pm to 9pm
Location: East-West Lounge
Organized By: e-Scension.com

Our featured guests for this month’s event:

Rachel Miller
Talent Manager
Tom Sawyer Entertainment & ShowMeTheScreenplay.com (IMDB)

&

Simon Lamb
Entertainment Attorney
SRL Law, A Professional Corporation

Rachel & Simon have been doing joint presentations on the art and science of independent film finance, distribution, and sales at film festivals all over the world during the last several months, and have agreed to recreate this presentation for our audience.

East-West Lounge
featuring
2-for-1 Drink specials on all drinks & Food specials for Ascent – Hollywood attendees from 6:00 – 7:30 pm
8851 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
http://www.eastwestlounge.com

$15 – Flat Rate

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM – General networking
7:00 PM – 7:30 PM – Featured guests presentations
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM – More Mixing, Networking

General Notes of importance:

~ Valet Parking is available for $8 beginning at 6 PM
~ Self-parking is available in lots immediately behind East-West Lounge on both San Vicente Blvd and Larrabee Street for $6
~ A limited number of Residential Guest Parking Permits (3R & 5R) will be made available on a 1st come,1st served basis – Simply stop at the front door and pick one up from Registration when you arrive.
~ Street parking is available after 6 pm for free of charge at all metered spaces
~ Easy access to mass transit Lines 4, 304, 704, 105, 705, and 302 along Santa Monica & San Vicente Blvds.

See more details and RSVP on e-Scension.com:
http://www.e-scension.com/events/event/show?id=985095%3AEvent%3A33720&xgi=4ERfVdSs78XjCP

Tags: Actor, Director, Film, Hollywood,

The Casting Director - SHOPPING THE DEAL

 September 29, 2009

My colleague whom I share an office with was on the phone with Producers about two films that the Producers wanted to hire her for. Sometimes, I sit across from her, because we like the energy between us and it can get lonesome in our own offices. On this day she was talking to the Producers, doing a lot of eye rolling and saying things like, “I think that you should talk to Matt (me) as he is more available then me right now.” My office-mate is in the middle of two big budget features and she was kindly suggesting that the Producers discuss the possibility of working with me on their films.

She puts them on hold (no doubt, listening to our new hold music, programmed by yours truly on our new super-duper phone system) and looks at me very seriously: “Matt, these Producers are on the phone, they are financed with two films to cast, I can’t do the jobs, they want you to do the deal right now.”  I ask, “Are they good scripts?” She smiles at me and says, “They are financed,” casting code for, “who cares, and it’s a paid gig.”

I get on the phone and introductions are made. They were very intense and they wanted to know if I would cast both films for a flat fee of $8,000 dollars each. For one script it would be “offers only” and the other would require offers and auditions. I explained to them that I would have to do both deals separately and that I am a member of the Teamsters Local 399 and that depending on how many weeks we expressed in the deal, there would be additional contributions added on top of the fee, something that they were not really prepared to comprehend. They told me that the budgets for both films were 2 million dollars each. Depending on the size of the cast and the requirements of the film, a Casting Director/Casting Department usually occupies 1%-2% of the total budget. This means that within that percentage a Producer should be looking at the (1) The weekly fee for the Casting Director (2) The weekly fee for the Casting Associate and/or Assistant (3) Weekly H/P/W contributions to the Casting Director and Associate based on the amount  of weeks that they are working on the film (Assistants are not part of the Casting Union and therefore do not get H/P/W contributions) (4) Office usage fees (5) Expenses, etc… All of this can fit within 1%-2% of a total budget. On a 2 million dollar film you are looking at between 10-15k for the Casting Director and the rest going to the other deal points outlined. This is in an ideal world and since we don’t live in that world, Casting Directors have to be creative about their deals. The one thing I am non-negotiable on is Union contributions.

Initially, they started the conversation with telling me what each film was about and where they were shooting and that, “There would not be that much work to do…” Producer-code for, “We are under-paying you and require your full attention for the next six months of your life while we put this film together that eventually falls apart or nobody ever sees…”  Without reading either script, I agree to do each film for $8,000 over a five week agreement, with the health, pension and welfare contributions. I did not ask for an assistant, office fees, phone usage: I was obviously high on crack that morning, but, what the F—, I could do it, I have done it before and I was happy to help out. I thought I was being more then generous! Usually when I donate my office fees, expenses, etc… I ask for a back-end and an Associate Producer credit in the end titles. I didn’t do that for this deal, again really good Crack that day. It seemed like the deal was done.

October 5,2009

An email comes in: “(We) are in meetings most of today and tomorrow, is there a good time for you to talk on Wednesday?” I give them times.

October 7, 2009

An email comes in: “Matthew, (We) are going to have to reschedule our call. I’ll let you know when we are available. I write back, “OK.”

Now in the meantime, I am casting three films, all of which are keeping me busy and I kind of know that when being brushed off, that, in general, it is not a good sign and I truly wasn’t that worried about the fact that I was not hearing from them, because (A) I was busy working and (B) the scripts were nothing to rush out and cheer about.

 October 23, 2009

I send them an email: “Hi, Anything further on the films?”

An hour later I received this: “Hi Matthew, I apologize for not getting back to you sooner, our investor was going through resumes of the casting directors we talked to and also had concerns about your Pension and Welfare requirements. Anyway we went with another casting director. Hopefully we can work together on something in the future.

Best regards, “Mr. Producer”

I write back: “Who did you go to? Just an FYI - if your film goes 399 - Casting Directors are automatically included in that deal. I am disappointed that you asked me to negotiate such a low rate and then did not have the courtesy to come back to me to let me know what was going on, as I did agree to work well within what you were asking for in your offer to me.

 An hour later, I receive the following email:

 “Matthew, I’m well aware of the 399 requirements, it had more to do with experience and I did send you an e-mail, lets leave it at this and perhaps we can work together in the future.”

 Ouch!

Well, I get on the phone to my agent friend and ask him to look up if any of the two films are listed in their grid. They were and the Casting Director is a colleague of mine.

Please understand that, yes I admit on some level my ego was bruised, but truthfully I was more distressed about the fact that another Union Casting Director, according to the Producer’s email, allegedly took the gig and agreed to do the job non-union. What you have to understand is that, Casting Directors fought for a long time, long before I became a Casting Director, to join a Union and receive benefits. If a member of the Union agrees to do a film non-union there had better be a good reason for that agreement to happen. Usually Casting Union members are paid their benefits on anything with a $500,000 budget or higher. But I have negotiated benefits on a short film and on budgets well below 500k. On a two million dollar feature, there is no reason why a CD should not be receiving benefits and every time a Producer gets away without paying the benefits, this only hurts the collective bargaining power that Casting Directors may or may not have in the future.

So, I was confused by the email from the Producer, because initially it was about the benefits and then it was about my experience (again - Ouch!).

Well once I found out who the Casting Director was, I called him and told him my story. I started out by saying, “I am glad that you are working, and this isn’t about that they picked you over me, I am just calling to make sure that you are getting benefits with your deal.” We had a very friendly conversation and he said that, yes in fact the deal took a while to negotiate, but that he was doing the films for 10k each and receiving 5 weeks of benefits on both films and that the Casting Union was copied into the emails about his deals. They told him that one of the films budgets was five million dollars, they told me 2 million.

WAIT—10k each?! Mother-F—ker! Now here is the thing: The Casting Director that got the job is someone whom I consider a peer. In fact, I know that we both have a mutual admiration for each other’s work and that we look at one another as having equal experience. I am the first to admit that I am no Bernie Telsey, but my colleague who got the job is defiantly in the same casting strata that I am in, we go up for the same gigs all of the time. So, honestly I am happy that he is working and getting more then I negotiated. What I am learning and what we had a laugh about was that this Producer felt the need to express to me that the reason I did not get the job was because I wanted Union contributions, which ultimately they did agree to and that I had less experience; something I am not going to argue here.

What I think happened is that I negotiated a deal and where they where, at the time, they were not prepared to give the Union contributions and that when they went to another Casting Director and negotiated the deal, when he asked for the Union dues, they realized that they were going to have to budget for that and instead of coming back to me (and paying me less overall) they went with the CD that they were negotiating with because they would rather close that deal then admit by hiring me that I was being reasonable by asking for the Union contributions on top of my fee. What is not cool about the Producers (and this happens a lot with Casting Directors) is that they thought it was okay to negotiate a deal and then see what they could negotiate with another Casting Director at the same time. Essentially they are lying to the Casting Director they are negotiating with by not telling them that they are non-exclusive on the offer, because why would they be negotiating with someone else at the same time? This is called “Shopping The Deal” and some Producers think that it is negotiating, but in fact it is being dishonest and because it is clouded in the word, “negotiating” they think that it is okay to behave this way. Well, it’s not. If you think it is, please don’t call me to do your film. I don’t want to work with people who behave this way, it’s not cool and it just means that you will be dodgy when dealing with agents and managers and talent and I’m not into that…

 October 24, 2009

I just negotiated my deal for the most amazing script! I am getting my Union Contributions, 2% of Producers Profits and Associate Producer credit. It’s good to feel appreciated and it will inspire me to work hard on the film.

Tags: , Film, Movie, Hollywood, Filmmaking

The Storyboard Artist - HANGING IN LIKE JIM KELLY ON HAN’S ISLAND

It is really slow folks, for everyone. I’ve gotten a few gigs. Did some boards for my buddy Maurice Marable who directed a promo for H.B.O.’s BIG LOVE. Mo is always greatttt to work with. He’s a true friend and a great artist. I’m also doing boards for my buddy, Malcolm Lee, a talented director and another good friend. They’ve come thru, and help helped me take off the rust.Meanwhile, I am still looking for a feature. My friend Josh hipped me on to some Bollywood people about to do a super hero film. They were set on an artist who had done super hero films. What they should have done is look for an artist who is a greta storyteller, knows angles, lens and action. Too bad.

Tags: Film, Actor, Movie Bloggers, Oscars, Movie Blog

The Manager - The Boy In the Balloon: Or What Lengths People Will Go to for Publicity

I am sure you have been following the “boy in the balloon” news story and all the hype, drama and craziness surrounding it.  Now, I am not going to weigh in on whether it was a hoax or if it was really just a desperate ploy to get a television show, but it does bring up an interesting point:

And that is: If the only way to sell anything these days is to generate publicity, how far is too far in trying to generate your own publicity?

Because to be fair, if indeed the parents staged the whole escapade to generate publicity to sell a tv show,  they are correct in understanding how hard it is to sell anything these days and the only way to do so is to generate a lot of “buzz.”

In fact, if you study the past 12 months of what has been selling in the book, tv or film arenas — almost everything is based off something that generated a lot of publicity.  Take one recent example — my friend Andrea Wachner.

Andrea hired a stripper to pose as herself at her 10-year-high school reunion.  She filmed the experiment,  edited it into a 40-minute documentary, and posted a trailer on Youtube.  Suddenly the trailer was spreading virally and the press ate it up. She appeared on news outlets everywhere and now has an agent, a manager and is shopping a movie script, reality series and more.

Another example is our own client Spencer Walker and his blog cooktobang.com. Spencer started this blog for fun and suddenly audiences around the world found it and were posting their own success stories due to his recipes.  He started getting incoming calls from media outlets (Cosmopolitan, Playboy, etc.) and we ended up selling his book to St. Martin’s Press and it will be coming out in May.  More importantly, because of all this press, studios and networks have been interested in developing a movie or a tv show based on his site.

Clearly publicity can help or hurt you. My own opinion is that you have to be honest with your audience and you can’t come off as contriving anything –  audiences are just  too smart to lie to. You have to believe in your product and push as much as you can (by designing a great site or telling all your friends and using social media to help you) AND THEN you have to let viral word of mouth do its work for you.

You must let the process unfold naturally — you can’t just make it happen by lies and false pretenses.  But if you are patient and do it correctly, you could reap the rewards.

Tags: Film Blog, Film Industry, Filmmaking, Actor, Oscars

The Standby Painter - Hurry Up and Wait

Hmmm…  Thought I’d have news from my work on the Gus Van Sant show, didn’t you?  Well, I haven’t started yet, probably because they haven’t locked down the locations, which is where most of the painting will come in.  It looks like we may be in for a marathon overtime …

Tags: Film Industry, Director, Hollywood, Actor, Television

The Genre Director - DON’T YOU HATE INFOMERCIALS? HERE’S A HALLOWEEN TREAT!

Director Adam Green sent this full-blooded infomercial to the Masters of Horror circle. I thought I would pass it on. I laughed, but then I am a sick and wicked puppy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adam Green and Paul Solet have interesting IMDB profiles. They are determined fellows. Watch them rise.

Tags: Film Industry, Filmmaker, Movie, Actor, Film Blog

The Production Manager - A rose by any other name…

Last week I met an unprecedented number of producers. True I was at an event sponsored by the Producers Guild of America (of which I am a member) but really!                                                                  

 

As I mentioned last week, I met several people who introduced themselves as producers who clearly know nothing more about the role of producer than that it is an important title.  And following on from this in my DV camera class I met another actor turned producer and in my Final Cut Pro class a film student calling himself a producer and an utter twat that is bound to be calling himself an executive producer before too long. No doubt asking hard working professionals to work for free so he can create his masterpiece, an utterly self indulgent vanity piece.

Does that sound harsh? Well good it should, I’ve seen far too many upstarts come in and flood the industry promising the world and delivering nothing. This would be all fine and dandy but it has an impact on the rest of us in several ways. Firstly it muddies the water allowing far more people to be taken onto projects at a vastly reduced rate and woefully under skilled in exchange for a favorable credit. This in turn brings the overall quality down by flooding the market with under qualified by credited people who make huge errors due to their inexperience and compromise those who have worked hard to obtain their title of producer through hard work and the experience that is essential for them to do their job well.

For the record the Producers Guild of America has a breakdown of title and the responsibilities that come with those titles.

In case you’re wondering why a Production Manager is a member of the PGA, I’m part of the AP Council of Assistant Producers, Production Managers and Coordinators. However as a sometimes Line Producer managing budgets and delivery shows I’d fall into that category too. Happy reading!

 

 

DISCLAIMER THIS IS TAKEN FROM THE PRODUCERSGUILD WEBSITE – IF YOU WOULD LIKE IT REMOVED PLEASE CONTACT ME.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

1. The credit of Executive Producer is to be granted to the individual whose only reporting responsibility is to the entities financing and distributing the series.
2. Subject to the control of the Owner (see Rules of Arbitration, section I.B), the Executive Producer has final responsibility for the creative and business aspects of the production of the series, with direct participation in making decisions concerning a majority of the producing functions.

CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

1. The Co-Executive Producer reports directly and immediately to the Executive Producer, from whom the Co-Executive Producer assumes direct supervisory responsibilities for above and below the line operations.
2. The credit of Co-Executive Producer is granted solely at the discretion of the Executive Producer (previous producing credits are not required).
3. The credit of Co-Executive Producer shall apply only to primary creative contributors to the series that qualify under one of three categories:
   1. If performing services as a writer on the series, the contributor also must perform, in a decision-making capacity, a preponderance of the producing functions listed in PCOC Section 3; OR
   2. If performing services as a director on the series, the contributor also must perform, in a decision-making capacity, a preponderance of the producing functions listed in PCOC Section 3; OR
   3. If performing “Produced By” services on the series, and so long as no other person receives the “Produced By” credit on the series, the contributor must perform, in a decision-making capacity, a majority of the producing functions described in PCOC Section 3.

SUPERVISING PRODUCER

1. The Supervising Producer reports directly to the Exec. Producer and/or Co-Exec. Producer.
2. The credit of Supervising Producer is granted solely at the discretion of the Exec. Producer.
3. The credit of Supervising Producer shall apply only to primary creative contributors to the series that perform, in a decision-making capacity, a substantial number of producing functions.
4. The credit of Supervising Producer only shall apply to primary creative contributors to the series that qualify under one of three categories:
   1. Having received the credit of Writer-Producer for no less than two full seasons of this or other series episodes that have been nationally telecast; OR
   2. Having received the credit of Producer or “Produced By” for no less than two full seasons of this or other series episodes that have been nationally telecast; OR
   3. As a director who has responsibility for supervising all episodic directors on the series.

PRODUCED BY or LINE PRODUCER

1. The individual receiving the Produced By credit reports directly and immediately to the Executive Producer.
2. There never shall be more than one Produced By credit on any episode of a series.
3. The individual receiving the Produced By credit has the primary responsibility for the logistics of the production of the series, from pre-production through delivery of each episode; all Department Heads report directly to the Produced By.
4. If the individual who performs the Produced By functions is granted the title of Co-Executive Producer, there shall be no Produced By credit afforded on the series.

 

5.      PRODUCTION PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR/MANAGER1. The Production Supervisor/Manager reports directly to the person performing the Produced By functions.2. The Production Supervisor/Manager is responsible for the coordination and oversight of the production units assigned to him/her by the Produced By, including all off-set logistics, day-to-day production implementation, locations, facilities, equipment, budget, schedules and personnel.

 

PRODUCER, CO-PRODUCER or SHOW PRODUCER

6.      1. The Producer, Co-Producer, or Show Producer reports directly to the Executive Producer or Supervising Producer.

7.      2. The Producer, Co-Producer or Show Producer is responsible for the preparation and production of a single complete episode of a series.

 

8.      SEGMENT or FIELD PRODUCER

9.      1. A Segment or Field Producer reports directly to the Executive Producer or Supervising Producer.

10.  2. A Segment or Field Producer is responsible for producing one or more individual segments of a multi-segment production, also containing individual segments produced by others.

 

11.  ASSOCIATE PRODUCER*

12.  1. Reports directly to the Producer, Co-Producer, Show Producer, Segment Producer or Field Producer.

13.  2. An Associate Producer is responsible for assisting the Producer, Show Producer, Segment Producer or Field Producer by performing those producing functions assigned to them. This does not include positions whose primary function is research or talent booking.

14.  * May also be given the title of Associate Segment Producer or Associate Field Producer.

 

15.  PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

16.  1. The Production Coordinator reports directly to the Executive Producer, the individual receiving the Produced By credit, and/or the Production Manager or Co-Producer.

17.  2. The Production Coordinator interacts with various studio and production departments concerning any and all logistics of production and is responsible for facilitating production requirements including, but not limited to, equipment contracts, purchase orders, film inventory, insurance, day player contracts, crew deal memos, travel and shipping, call sheets, production reports, cast and crew lists, and compliance with various union report requirements.

 

 

Tags: Movie Bloggers, Movie Blog, Television, Oscars, Hollywood

The Casting Director - IT’S NOT ALL GREEK TO ME

On a current breakdown I wrote: “Film will be shot entirely in Macedonian. Only submit if you can speak Macedonian.” I was not expecting a lot of responses. In fact I kind of knew I would only have a few choices and I sort of know that if you speak Serbian or Croatian, you can probably get buy on Macedonian. My neighbor was a famous German actress from the former Yugoslavia, so I got on the DL about the Slavic States and the various languages and dialects in the region. So I was expecting a few Serbian/Croatian language speakers to chime in.

However, and, I need help with this, and I am speaking to you – the Actors who are out there who read this blog – why would you submit to a Casting Director for a role that you cannot possibly ever play? Do you think I am asking for a Macedonian speaker just because I think it will be fun and, “oh exciting” I get to sit up to 3am scrolling through submissions on Actors Access of actors who hardly speak English let alone a second language! Yes, I am pissed off about this. I got no sleep last night, because I do, do my due diligence and go through every submission, which means sorting through hundreds of resumes to make sure that I am not missing the fact that someone who obviously grew up on the corn fields of Iowa, somehow, may, speak Macedonian fluently! Actually, there is one actor in Chicago (as close to a corn field from LA as I can get) who speaks Macedonian.

I go to workshops, I know some of you know me which means that I don’t understand why in the world if you speak FRENCH FLUENTLY you would even think about submitting for a role that I have a specific request out for. It is annoying and not helpful to the casting process and especially if I recognize you from classes that you take with me, I am wondering, “what are you thinking?”

Actors in general say to themselves, “I can do anything, I am an actor,” I get that, my point is, at what point do you respectfully not submit to a Casting Director when it is very clear in the breakdown that you will not in ANY WAY be able to perform the duties that are required. When you submit electronically via Actors Access or Now Casting, take on the responsibility that you truly think that you can play a role. Speaking Hindi, Urdu, Spanish, Spanish (Mexican), French, Arabic, German, Hebrew and Tagalog are not, I repeat, not the same thing as speaking Macedonian…

 

 

Tags: Oscars, Movie Blog, Film Industry, Filmmaker, Filmmaking

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