Claim OwnershipMovies Inc: The Business of Film
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© 2023 Charlotte Howley; Revingstone Street Films LLC DBA E/S Collab.
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Movies, Inc: The Business of Film is a podcast that dives deep into the intersection of the key elements that make up modern filmmaking - the business and the creative. Each episode, we are joined by awesome guests - producers, executives, lawyers, and creatives - who speak to their experiences in the biz. From first features to first look deals, we probe the guests on anything and everything business related, the things that went wrong, and what they learned from it. Movies Inc. is hosted by Sara McFarlane and Charlotte Howley.
18 Episodes
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We chat to NY based producer Rachael Fung about the high’s and low’s of independent producing, being picked as Variety’s top producers to watch, the practical realities of different budget levels, balancing competing business and creative interests and we talk a lot about the business behind making FREMONT, Babak Jalali’s fourth feature film, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
The second half of season 2 is back! We kick off with Patrick Walters, Executive Producer of Heartstopper from See Saw Films! Pat chats to us about what it means to be an Executive Producer in Television, working with broadcasters and streamers, creating unique stories for global audiences, and the importance of building the right team. Pat’s cats also make a brief appearance.
We all know documentaries can take certain liberties that scripted film and tv shows can’t and those of us operating in the unscripted world are thankful for it! Meet the culprit - U.S. fair use laws. We were joined by Katy Alimohammadi Crown current business and legal affairs at A24 and former partner of Donaldson Callif Perez, a firm renowned for specializing in unscripted and documentaries. Katy carved out some time to run us through the pros and cons of fair use, how it plays out in scripted vs. unscripted productions, using music in music documentaries, and the main topic that made us reach out to her - do people appearing in a documentary need to sign releases or is implied consent enough? Safe to say - the answer was not a simple one. Note: We reference this very helpful website in this episode! https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/fair-index.html
There are 2 things we can’t escape - death and taxes. When it comes to making movies, distributing them and collecting gross receipts, having a good tax accountant on board from beginning to end is key. They’ll do more than just file your annual tax returns for you! We were joined by industry veterans Paul Finegan and Andrew Chow from Lutz & Carr to talk us through their average Tuesday, film tax credits, collection accounts, foreign investments in films and the tax implications, as well as much more!
What in heaven’s name is an NFT and how are filmmakers using it to finance their films? We had absolutely no idea so we went to the leading NFT attorney in the country - Jeremy S. Goldman at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz. He talks us through the different ways NFTs are being used to finance film and what we should be thinking about in doing so, how effective entertainment law is in keeping up with the changing tech landscape, and his views on the Quentin Tarantino/Miramax lawsuit.
It's Oscars week and we chat to Hollywood publicist Sylvia Desrochers about her 20 year career in Tinseltown. From what publicists actually do, to how valuable For Your Consideration campaigns are, and why you need to invest in a production photographer, Sylvia gives us the lowdown on creating buzz in a crowded distribution market.
After 2 years of us pestering Jess Kwan to join us for an episode, she finally agreed! We kick off Season 2 with the current VP of the Concordia Fellowship and chat to her about the evolution of her career from supporting executives, to being the executive, differences in the biz between narrative feature films and docs, what business development in the film industry actually means and the importance of building a network and genuine relationships.
We chat to Sasha H. Levites and Marcie Cleary who are partners at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, one of the leading firms in the U.S. We pick their brains about keeping up with emerging technologies and new formats (NFTs! Podcasts!), the benefits to talent having an all inclusive team of manager + agent + lawyer, the importance of those long winded indemnification and insurance clauses, and 2 fundamental rules - get it in writing and don't sign anything without having a lawyer look it over and give it the OK.
We chat to Academy Award nominated Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford of Aquarius Films about first starting out, lessons learned early on, the benefits of having the right producing partner, the realities of foreign productions vs. domestic productions and the importance of always listening to that gut instinct.
We chat to Stephen Fitzgibbon about starting his own production company and building a slate, how he transitioned from acquisitions to producing everything from music videos to feature films. We find out how he picks his co-producing partners, the learning curve of navigating rights and transparency as the fundamental value when doing business in this industry.
We chat to Matt Vitins, COO of Matchbox Pictures, about going from corporate law to running an NBC backed global production company. He takes us behind the scenes of what his day-to-day is like, his perspective on different negotiation tactics, producing Australian productions for a global audience, and muses on whether lawyers are keeping up with emerging technologies.
We chat to Sharon Menzies, Managing Director of Fulcrum Media Finance, about going from a small start up to one of Australia and New Zealand's largest specialist film financing companies, the benefits of tax incentives and gap finance, film financing strategies in the age of COVID, the key differences between investment and debt finance, where problems arise before and during production, and the stuff global debt financiers really care about.
We chat to Emile Sherman of Academy Award, BAFTA and Emmy winning See-Saw Films about his 20 years’ worth of experience going from a boots on the ground producer to leading an international film and television production company and the lessons he’s learned along the way. We pick his brain about co-productions, indie film financing, being one of the first companies to transition to cinematic television and the importance of trust in the film business.
We chat to Andrew Mackie, Co-Founder of Transmission Films about the risks of distribution, the rise of SVODs and the changes to theatrical windows, acquiring films where the director has final cut, the importance of filmmakers knowing their audience and how to train yourself to predict box office numbers!
We chat to Virginia Whitwell and Nick Batzias from Good Thing Productions about starting up their very own production company. We pick their brains on how to pick your co-producing partners, the important conversations to have with those partners and your creatives early on, the human element to the film business, the importance of building your team around you and the commercial differences between documentaries and narrative productions.
We chat to Alexis Galfas about her average Tuesday at the very unique, Cinetic Media, current industry trends and the impact of COVID-19, what to do if someone else is making the same movie you’re making, and the importance of understanding the fundamentals of the business of film. She gives some seriously good advice and we are 100% on board.
We chat to our mate, Monica Zanetti about writing, financing, making and selling her first two feature films - the challenges she faced, from early conversations with distributors, to navigating the Australian tax incentives, contracts, production accounting and finding the right co-producing partners. She shares the things she wishes she knew before coming into the industry, the things she’s still learning, her go to’s to have her questions answers and much, much more.
Movies Inc: The Business of Film is coming soon! Launching February 16, 2022 wherever you get your podcasts!
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