California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney
California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson
In any film or television production, there will be a great many production agreements which must be drafted by an experienced entertainment lawyer such as California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson.
Among the “Above the Line” agreements are agreements between the production company, and any co-producers as to their responsibilities and profit sharing. There may be executive producers, a line producer, a supervising producer, co-producers, a production coordinator, assistant producers, segment producers and location producers.
Other above the line agreements include those with the director, the cinematographer, and the primary cast. Additional agreements will be needed with anyone else involved in the creative aspects of the film or television project will also require complex agreements.
Any profit participation contracts with A-list talent or key above-the-line talent must be drafted extremely carefully so as not to give away all the cookies in the cookie store to a few key personnel in the project leaving too few crumbs for the investors, the producer and everyone else who demands a morsel or two from the profits.
Film and Television Development Agreements
Among the types of agreements which need to be drafted and signed during the development stage of a film or television series production include agreements for the purchase of rights to another’s work, e.g a book option or screenplay option, a life story agreement, an agreement to hire a writer to write, rewrite or polish a script, work-for-hire agreements, collaboration agreements, and co-production agreements.
A California Entertainment Attorney and the Law Firm California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson
California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson has been called “Brilliant” and “A Legend” and is a cum laude graduate of UCLA. He has law degrees both from the University of San Diego School of Law and from Cardiff University in Wales where he graduated magna cum laude.
With these dual law degrees in the U.S. and Great Britain, and over 40 years of combined experience both in London and California, Sebastian Gibson is the international entertainment lawyer to turn to for music events, festivals and world tours, music, film, television, songwriting, film music licensing, film and TV production agreements, publishing, modeling, athlete representation, and other creative aspects of the entertainment industry in the U.S., the UK and around the world.
Film and Television Projects for Streaming Services
There has never been a better time for producers, production companies, writers, directors, and creators of projects for film and television with the popularity and growing number of streaming services.
At the Law Offices of California Film and Television Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson, we can review and negotiate your Netflix Film and Scripted TV Series Streaming Entertainment Contracts, HBO Scripted and Reality TV Series Production Entertainment Agreements, Amazon Prime Video Film Reality and Dramatic Scripted Limited TV Series Agreements, Hulu Film Reality and Scripted Limited Television Series Streamer Contracts, BBC Film Scripted and Limited TV Series Production Development Contracts, and your film and television contracts with Disney Plus, Peacock, Discovery Plus, Paramount Plus and Apple TV.
California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson, the Right Choice
Focused on bringing great film projects to UK film producers who recognize the unique voice of British actors, directors and crews and as a California entertainment powerhouse working with actors, musicians, songwriters, novelists, models and athletes from offices just near enough to Hollywood but far enough from the congestion of LA, California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson is the right choice and the law firm to choose for all your entertainment endeavours from California to the UK and throughout the world.
California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson has been named one of the 2020 Top Lawyers by the prestigious Palm Springs Life Magazine for the past 12 years in a row and is one of the most acclaimed lawyers in the Coachella Valley of California. He has written for the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal Newspapers, is a published novelist and wrote and recorded the music and lyrics for the musical, Shake, in London. He has a top rating of “Superb” by Avvo, their highest rating, which rates attorneys all across the U.S.
How A-List Actors and Other Talent Are Paid
A-list cast members, the director and others are likely to demand a profit participation in the film or bonuses if a film reaches certain marks in box office receipts.
To attract an A-list actor to commit to a TV series, however, the “back end” profit participation such stars would otherwise make from theatrical releases can be bought off with a higher fee. In addition, however, daily stipends will be necessary for many of the above the line participants in the project.
How the cast and others will be credited is often a hotly-contested issue. Whose name appears over everyone else is the position the A-list actors demand. Even how the key players are portrayed in the film poster can cause acrimony and disagreements.
While “Below-the-Line” film crew are paid hourly, deal memos and employment agreements for the most important of them must still be carefully drafted as well.
Profit Participation Agreements
It’s a situation filled with great frustration by both sides. Actors want profit participation, while production companies, studios, networks and streaming services feel they need to find ways to limit actor profit participations so they take into account the costs of production.
From the perspective of studios who have seen actor fees and profit participation payouts hitting $75 to $100 million for one actor in a single film, something needs to prevent that from happening. From actors’ perspectives, those numbers look great.
Actors have been known to get from 2.5% to 15% for a well-known celebrity working for scale or substantially below his or her normal fee or his or her quote, but sometimes that’s in addition to a $20 million fee.
Sandra Bullock reportedly earned over $70 million (after more money has been made by the film, it’s now been calculated her amount is closer to $77 million) for her role in Gravity due to her rare “first dollar” gross deal for the film. Her deal, $20 million upfront against 15 percent of first-dollar gross.
However, it’s not necessary for an actor to obtain a first-dollar gross deal to have a huge payday.
Alec Guinness’s deal for the Star Wars franchise reportedly allowed him 2% of George Lucas’ gross royalties along with other royalties and is said to have earned him 56 million pounds. In 1977 when the first Star Wars film was released, the pound was worth $1.86.
Keanu Reeves per-cent profit share from the Matrix films reportedly net him 70 million pounds. However, in a great act of generosity, he gave reportedly gave 50 million pounds of his payday to the film’s behind-the-scenes team.
Harrison Ford profit-share for acting in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull allowed him to take home a huge $65 million paycheck.
Leonardo DiCaprio, however, chose to take a first-dollar gross deal for Inception which turned out to be a wise move netting him an estimated $60 million plus payday.
The best deal of all for an actor, however, is if an A-list actor can take a typical $20 million salary and a good percentage of the gross profits as Will Smith did for Men in Black 3 which earned him a reported $100 million payday.
More recently, in return for buying out the “back end” of three major stars in the upcoming production currently called Red Notice, Netflix is paying Gal Godot, Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson $20 million each and even more for Dwayne Johnson as he is also the film’s primary producer.
That’s more than actors normally receive for a streaming service production, but could they have earned more if the film had a theatrical release and they had a profit participation? Almost assuredly, but $20 million is still $20 million. And if the film is a success, it can lead to even better paying roles for streaming services.
Gross Profits vs. Net Profits
There are gross profits which are a total amount of revenue earned by the film, and net profits which is what’s left over from gross profits after deductions have been made. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple and no actor worth their salt today agrees to a profit participation based on net profits. Even gross profits can be defined a number of ways, and each of those ways is different from a first-dollar gross deal.
Net points, which are what’s left over after expenses, have been called “monkey points,” a term reportedly coined by Eddie Murphy. A number of actors, including Lynda Carter and Eddie Murphy have stated in effect, that anyone who accepts or settles for net points in their contract, is a fool. It’s also been said these are about as valuable as the beads people collect at mardi gras. Everyone covets them, but they won’t even get you a drink in the big easy.
Gross profits can refer to the total amount of money the film makes, but it can also refer to the total amount of money an entity takes in or the total amount of money a film takes in. However, since exhibitors take a chunk of the film’s box office, gross can refer to the amount of money the distributor receives, i.e. the distributor’s gross. Or the term can be modified any number of ways, and then modified even further in a rider to a profit participation agreement.
Net profits can also mean many different things. Depending on how they are defined in the agreement, net profits can mean anything from what’s left over after the distributor takes their fee or their fee and all their costs, to only what’s left after all actual costs are recouped, money is set aside for future costs, and everyone else gets paid. The definition of net profits may also refer to the producer’s net or some other net and the items deducted before arriving at that net is what an attorney must examine extremely closely and negotiate if a net profit deal is even acceptable in the first place to a profit participant.
Other Terms Used In Actor Agreements
There are terms in such contracts as Adjusted Defined Receipts, Adjusted Gross Receipts, Modified Adjusted Gross Receipts, and others. Equally important is what constitutes the word, “receipts” includes, and what the territory of the receipts covers.
By utilizing creative accounting methods, and very often even without utilizing questionable practices, a film can have box office receipts of hundreds of millions of dollars and still be said to have never gone into profit.
Partial Solutions to Previous Profit Participation Issues
One way for actors to ensure they get paid is to insert fixed payment requirements in an actor’s agreement that are due at certain and well-defined benchmarks. Box office bonuses are a good way to accomplish getting an actor paid. Box office receipts can be verified from a number of sources, yet these payments are still often delayed for long periods of time.
Awards bonuses are another way to provide for bonus payments. And they don’t need to be based on winning an award. A nomination bonus is equally useful. A bonus paid on obtaining distribution, on release of the film, on a television series being renewed, are just some ways to draft an agreement bonus. Attorneys who represent athletes are masters at providing bonus payments for their clients. Lose weight, get a bonus. Gain weight, get a bonus.
Other Production Agreements
Location agreements must be utilized to address damage issues, among others. Film music must be cleared and licensed and the editing process can be time consuming and costly, even if the editors are hired on an hourly basis. If new music is utilized throughout the film, television project or for the credits, a composer agreement will be necessary.
Among the film and television production agreements California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson can draft, negotiate and/or review for a film or television producer are these and a great many more:
California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson can draft, negotiate and review production agreements, co-production agreements, executive producer agreements, collaboration agreements, partnership agreements, book option agreements, book and script shopping agreements, script option agreements, life story purchase agreement, copyright transfer agreements, director services agreements, actor services talent agreements, profit participation agreements, composer agreements, and music supervisor contracts.
California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson can draft, review and negotiate distribution agreements, television agreements, video-on-demand agreements, casting director agreements, film sales agent agreement, non-disclosure agreements, work for hire agreement, employment agreements, stunt coordinator agreements, cinematographer service agreements, and LLC operating agreements.
California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson will draft and review location agreements, crew deal memos, merchandising agreements, product placement agreements, hair and makeup services agreements, licensing agreements, extra agreements, stunt performer agreements, stunt coordinator agreements, production services agreements, and costume designer agreements.
California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson can also form corporate entities including C corporations and S corporations, general and limited partnerships, LLC’s and operating agreements, and advise clients with respect to corporate dissolutions, business partner disputes and the winding up of their entities.
The California Entertainment Lawyer and the Law Firm California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson in Palm Springs
From Malibu to San Diego where California entertainment attorney Sebastian Gibson graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law, to his current offices in the Palm Springs area and Newport Beach to London where he has practiced law extensively, California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson is the right choice for all your entertainment film and television productions, projects in development and film and TV agreements for productions in the U.S., the UK and around the world.
With offices in the Palm Springs area where Live Nation will be opening a new arena in 2021 to Palm Desert to the eastern portion of the Coachella Valley where AEG subsidiary Goldenvoice produces the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Music Festival, Sebastian Gibson is the Coachella Valley’s premier entertainment lawyer.
Choosing California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson
The law firm of California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson not only has Southern California covered, from Palm Springs to Orange County, but we have the world covered as well from London where some of the finest films and television series continue to be produced.
For many years one of the world’s most iconic entertainment law firms for modeling and publishing, representing models and writers throughout the world, California Film and TV Production Agreement Attorney Sebastian Gibson is on track to becoming one of the world’s leading law firms for music, film, television, theater and worldwide entertainment events in addition to its expertise in the fields of modeling and publishing.
