Producer/Exec Notes

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  • Producer/Exec Notes

    I just sold my 1st spec to a major studio, and now I'm working on a small rewrite with the producers and the exec. They are excited and pushing really hard to get the new draft ASAP. So I'm curious if the way we are working on this is standard in this type of situation.

    In particular, one of the producers (who is also a successful writer) took it upon himself to rewrite a pivotal section of the script and propose it to me. And the studio exec came up with some lines of dialogue that they basically told me to put in. I actually like what both of them came up with, so I agreed put it in the script.

    But is this common after selling a spec and moving towards greenlight? Feels a little weird having them actually write parts of the script, but maybe this is par for the course...

  • #2
    Re: Producer/Exec Notes

    I got nuthin' on this, just wanted to say congrats, wonderful!

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Producer/Exec Notes

      There is no standard, and this course has no par... but yeah - in my experience, in development everyone involved tries to shoehorn in a bit or two. Most produced movies have fingerprints all over the script. Consider yourself lucky that both notes (or the changes made by the writer) you've received thus far jive with your own sensibilities... that ain't aways gonna happen.

      PS - congrats!

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      • #4
        Re: Producer/Exec Notes

        ALSO: If you can, ask to implement the notes yourself vs letting the writer/producer do them... if you have a sole credit bonus in your deal (most do), you might wanna be protective of it. Notes don't count towards credit - actual writing does. So, when the studio turns in the credit determination, if this cat's name ends up on it and he ends up doing a lot of writing of his own on the script... he might be elbowing his way into your credit and you might lose that bonus.

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        • #5
          Re: Producer/Exec Notes

          The only thing that raised a flag for me was "took it upon himself". The people I work with always always ask any writer they work with if they can take a stab at something before doing it.
          "Take the thing you love, and make it your life"--Californication. [email protected]

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Producer/Exec Notes

            Thanks for the insight!

            ylekot - My producer actually did tell me he was going to take a stab at it, and I told him to go ahead. I didn't want to slow down the process.

            It would suck not to get sole writing credit. Thanks for the heads up on that biglips! But I still get the production bonus regardless of credit.

            Does anybody have an idea how much writing would give someone else writing credit? I've never been clear on that. So far it's only been writing on about 2-3 pages of the script...

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Producer/Exec Notes

              It's fine for execs and producers to pitch ideas and lines of dialogue, but it's not cool at all for them to open your Final Draft file and take a crack. In the future, only send PDFs. Also, if you do like their ideas and what they are pitching, find a way to put your own spin on their stuff.

              As for credit, you don't have to worry in this situation for a few different reasons... such as they are not being employed as writers, the studio is not acquiring literary material from them, they are execs which carries a higher standard and it's only a couple of pages.

              In general though, the guidelines are listed following the link below under VII...

              http://www.wga.org/content/subpage_w...aspx?id=153#10
              https://twitter.com/#!/moviewriterJeff

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Producer/Exec Notes

                I’ve been on the both sides of this, having been hired by directors and producers to write notes and rework outlines so they can pass them onto writers. I don’t think your experience is all that uncommon.

                I think the main concern of most people is making sure they maintain the original charm of the piece while lowering risk and exploring opportunities wherever possible. It’s a different mentality from honing a final draft for an all-or-nothing read.

                Everyone has a specific line they draw for acceptability. The best thing you can do is be clear about what your boundaries are.

                I recently had a situation where someone I was working with asked to have my Final Draft file so he could “play around” with a few scenes. He wanted to rewrite entire segments of the script. I told him that made me feel uncomfortable. I also said that if it was a sticking point I would send him the Final Draft file right away.

                He had no problem with my objection, apologized, said that I didn’t have to send the file over, and we’ve continued working together with no issues.
                ****

                I am a critic first and a writer second.

                I have a background in development and currently provide low-cost coverage.

                More info here: www.FourStarNotes.com

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                • #9
                  Re: Producer/Exec Notes

                  Thanks for the insight y'all. Very helpful.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Producer/Exec Notes

                    If this is a WGA gig, then I think there are rules to cover all things related to credit.

                    This is what happened to me... I sold a low budget spec to a production company (non-union). They loved the script and brought on board their director. He wanted changes, of course, so he red-lined the script and I agreed on a lot of the things he wanted changed and disagreed on a few other things. Most of his comments where minor along the lines of making the script a bit shorter by tweaking the paragraphs and changing the dialogue here and there. Nothing really big. The whole plot never changed expect for a minor plot point where he had a comment and I put my spin on it which he liked. He never physical wrote in my file, all of it was his "suggestions" which either I accepted or I had a damn good reason to not want to do it and gave him alternatives.

                    This went on for a few rounds until we had script lock. But, again, at the end of the day all very minor points, plot never changed, nor did the character arcs, motivations and just had minor dialogue edits.

                    Well after all of this, he wanted co-writing credit. Half... he wanted half. I said HELL no. He had not written anything and really just gave me notes. This was a big sticking point between me and him. I finally told the producers that I did not work on this script for years to have someone come in and work on minor tweaks for a month and get half the credit. I told them I would have no problems walking away from this deal (since all of the monies owed to me had not been payed yet and they did not out rightly own the script yet).

                    After a while they decided with me. I still have sole credit. Since the project is in pre-pro I have no doubt that the question of credit may come up again. Since this is a non-union project, it's like the wild west out there.

                    So be vigilant because all you have at the end of the day (hopefully some money) is the credit which will help you get your next gig.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Producer/Exec Notes

                      Originally posted by UnderDog View Post
                      If this is a WGA gig, then I think there are rules to cover all things related to credit.

                      This is what happened to me... I sold a low budget spec to a production company (non-union). They loved the script and brought on board their director. He wanted changes, of course, so he red-lined the script and I agreed on a lot of the things he wanted changed and disagreed on a few other things. Most of his comments where minor along the lines of making the script a bit shorter by tweaking the paragraphs and changing the dialogue here and there. Nothing really big. The whole plot never changed expect for a minor plot point where he had a comment and I put my spin on it which he liked. He never physical wrote in my file, all of it was his "suggestions" which either I accepted or I had a damn good reason to not want to do it and gave him alternatives.

                      This went on for a few rounds until we had script lock. But, again, at the end of the day all very minor points, plot never changed, nor did the character arcs, motivations and just had minor dialogue edits.

                      Well after all of this, he wanted co-writing credit. Half... he wanted half. I said HELL no. He had not written anything and really just gave me notes. This was a big sticking point between me and him. I finally told the producers that I did not work on this script for years to have someone come in and work on minor tweaks for a month and get half the credit. I told them I would have no problems walking away from this deal (since all of the monies owed to me had not been payed yet and they did not out rightly own the script yet).

                      After a while they decided with me. I still have sole credit. Since the project is in pre-pro I have no doubt that the question of credit may come up again. Since this is a non-union project, it's like the wild west out there.

                      So be vigilant because all you have at the end of the day (hopefully some money) is the credit which will help you get your next gig.
                      Good job, don't be afraid of "no". I once developed a project from scratch with a writer and sold it to a pretty well known company. They wanted to kick me off and I said "no." They wanted to not pay me and I said "no." They wanted to pay me something insignificant and I said "no".

                      I was on the phone with the SVP at the company and she was telling me how this was something "to build on", that we could be in business a "long time" if I were to make this "gesture". I literally started to laugh at her. She said "I can't believe this deal isn't going to happen because of this".

                      I said, "I know. And if you were in my shoes there is no way you would ever agree to forego payment for your work. Crazy, right?"

                      We made the deal, I got paid.

                      Another friend of mine was on the verge of selling a script for 500k in an auction situation i which a smaller company beat out two studios by being more aggressive. The lawyer and the agents and the company all agreed, that was that. Then on Friday at 6:00 they called my friend's agent and said "oh, there was a miscommunication, we never said 500k, we said 400k. If he doesn't take it, we're not doing the deal." Of course, at this point, the heat was dead and going into the weekend they knew they wouldn't be able to go back to the other companies, so they tried to do this.

                      My friend told his agent to tell them to go **** themselves. He would literally walk away from Hollywood before he'd agree to be ****ed like that.

                      He got the 500k. Of course, he wasn't bluffing

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Producer/Exec Notes

                        Cool story, that guy's got some character, and some balls to go with it.
                        It's the eye of the Tiger, it's the thrill of the fight

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Producer/Exec Notes

                          Originally posted by Geoff Alexander View Post
                          Good job, don't be afraid of "no". I once developed a project from scratch with a writer and sold it to a pretty well known company. They wanted to kick me off and I said "no." They wanted to not pay me and I said "no." They wanted to pay me something insignificant and I said "no".

                          I was on the phone with the SVP at the company and she was telling me how this was something "to build on", that we could be in business a "long time" if I were to make this "gesture". I literally started to laugh at her. She said "I can't believe this deal isn't going to happen because of this".

                          I said, "I know. And if you were in my shoes there is no way you would ever agree to forego payment for your work. Crazy, right?"

                          We made the deal, I got paid.

                          Another friend of mine was on the verge of selling a script for 500k in an auction situation i which a smaller company beat out two studios by being more aggressive. The lawyer and the agents and the company all agreed, that was that. Then on Friday at 6:00 they called my friend's agent and said "oh, there was a miscommunication, we never said 500k, we said 400k. If he doesn't take it, we're not doing the deal." Of course, at this point, the heat was dead and going into the weekend they knew they wouldn't be able to go back to the other companies, so they tried to do this.

                          My friend told his agent to tell them to go **** themselves. He would literally walk away from Hollywood before he'd agree to be ****ed like that.

                          He got the 500k. Of course, he wasn't bluffing
                          Love this. Happened to me, too... Before I had a manager, I got an option agreement from a Big Studio Based Production Company. Read it. Had a lawyer read it. We agreed that two paragraphs in it screwed me, very cleverly worded paragraphs in the middle of the 26 page option. I told them the two paragraphs had to go or I do.

                          The Exec of said Production Company asked me to dinner and I agreed. I brought the agreement with me. He showed up with three assistants. Three. So I figured it was going to be a group effort. After some discussion where I did not budge, he told me these were standard and he couldn't remove them. I smiled and said, "Wow. That's too bad. I can't sign it this way." I pushed the agreement toward him. One of the assistants actually got aggravated and said, "You'd walk away from a deal like this, your film getting made, over something as petty as this?"

                          The Exec looked me in the eye for a few seconds them turned to his assistant. "Yeah. He would." He knew I was not bluffing, that I was fully prepared to walk out and not look back.

                          I said, "It's nothing against you, I'm just not some starry eyed writer who's going to sign anything you put in front of me. I have to protect myself and my family's best interests. Thanks for dinner though."

                          I stood up and he gestured me to sit down, then turned to his toadies. "This is how you negotiate." I sat back down and we worked out our differences and I signed it.

                          Movie never got made. Not because of this though. I did keep the generous option payments. And reoptioned it to someone else. We'll see if it gets made this time.

                          You have to stick up for yourself and your interests even if it means walking away. If you don't, it's like blood in the water for sharks.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Producer/Exec Notes

                            I love these stories!

                            They're as action-packed and heroic as anything on the screen these days starring Liam Neeson. Maybe more.

                            Thanks for the insights, all!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Producer/Exec Notes

                              I really like this topic. Some good stories for inspiration to stick to your guns. Curious if there are many stories where not backing down led to a fallout, or to things falling apart?
                              Last edited by Eric Boellner; 11-03-2014, 01:08 PM.

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