Hello,
I've had an idea for a film which seemed pretty original. I've written it in a few pages, in quite a raw synopsis form.
The production firm was interested and even seemed rather enthusiastic about the idea. They said the want to move on with it, hire professional writers to write a more developed synopsis, do some graphic work and than take it and present it in festivals, looking for investors.
However, they said they can't pay me at the moment. They've offered to pay me according to industry standards if and when the idea gets produced, which they said would probably take a few years.
They said that the industry standards is not above 1% (of the production budget, and from the profits), but from what I've checked things are pretty different.
For this reason, before I give them my answer I ask here: How much is the industry standard for a concept idea for a movie? Is 1% a rip off? How much is the normal rate?
Thank you,
Ido
Here's the deal.
Legally, "ideas" have no value at all. That is, I have an idea about a gorilla who develops human intelligence and becomes President. How much is that worth?
Nothing. Not as a measure of whether it is a good idea or a bad idea -- it isn't worth anything because "ideas" are not copyrightable.
In order for an idea to be copyrightable, it has to be expressed in what is known as a "fixed form" -- you have to write it down, and not merely write it down as I have above, but in sufficient detail so that it possesses some aspect of having, in effect, a real form, as opposed to a sort of vague -- well, just a kind of an idea, a notion of something that lacks a real form, a true expression.
Now, whether the few pages that you have written rise to the level of a fixed form is an open question. Maybe it does. But if it does, what we'd be dealing with would hardly even be considered a treatment in screenwriting terms -- which generally lays out every key sequence of a movie, if not every scene, in pretty fair detail. They run anything from six pages to twenty-five or thirty pages.
If you read a treatment you're going to have a pretty fair sense of how the movie is going to lay out.
A treatment would be copyrightable -- it would be an expression of an idea in a fixed form.
But a treatment, even under guild rules, doesn't get you very much in terms of money. And if you try to find how much "ideas" sell for, you're out of luck, because there's no market for ideas -- because they can't be owned.
Professional writers can go in and pitch -- which is to sell a project on the strength of an idea. I've actually done this myself -- on a project that never ultimately got made, but they did pay me for the script.
But they are not, in that case, buying "the idea" -- they are buying my ability, as a known writer, to execute the script based on the idea that I've described to them. Could they take the idea that I've given them and go give it to some other writer? No. Not because the idea is copyrightable, but because of contract law. I've gone in to pitch the idea on a certain basis -- and the basis, in terms of standard business practice in our industry is that I'm willing to share my personal ideas conditionally. And the condition is, if they agree to develop those ideas, they have to hire me to write them.
That's one of the reasons that producers don't want to take pitches except from professional writers whose work they know and who they know are going to be able to deliver work of professional caliber.
What others have told you is basically true. The chance of any script getting produced is extremely small. The number of movies being made is going down. And if you getting paid (as you seem to suggest) is dependent on the movie getting made, then the chance of your ever getting paid is essentially non-existent.
If you do get paid, you likely will not get paid much. The key question of whether you will get story credit is another matter -- because if you get no on-screen credit you will not be entitled to any residual or royalty payments. Whatever they pay you -- that one percent of whatever they've calculated the one percent to be of -- that will be it.
This all seems like you're going to get a lesson in reality. All of us in the business have gotten these boot-in-the-ass lessons, so maybe this is going to be yours (presuming of course that you're interested in pursuing a career and you haven't simply stopped by to get a boot in the ass on your way to do other things).
One -- whatever you have written - those few pages. Register them with the Library of Congress. That is -- register the copyright.
Two -- there will be a contract (which I hope you haven't signed already). They will have a lawyer draw up that contract. The purpose of that contract, drawn up by their lawyer, will be to give them as much as possible and to give you as little as possible. That, after all, is what they pay their lawyer to do.
I'm presuming that you can't afford an entertainment attorney. They're pretty pricey. But most states have what is known as a Volunteer Counsel for the Arts, where lawyers provide free or inexpensive legal services to members of the arts community. You should check in your state to see if there is such a service. If so, call them up and see if you can get representation through them to go over that contract and properly represent your interests.
Three -- in the best of all possible worlds, the chances of your seeing any money -- ever -- from a deal like this, are slim. Your leverage is non-existent and it is leverage that you need to pry money out of the hands of those that have it.
The alternatives -- writing this idea into a screenplay and trying to sell it, doesn't necessarily offer a much brighter alternative -- since it would require you to master the craft of screenwriting and would then bring you into competition with every other screenwriter, both aspiring and professional. That's a long road. I don't discourage you from pursuing that if that's what you want.
But you should do it because you want to do it, not as a means of facilitating a sale.
NMS
