Introduction

From Media & Entertainment Law Wypadkis

• I. Basic Hollywood Information
  • A) Players
  • 1) Actors
    • - represented by Unions
    • o Screen Actors Guild – most things shot on film and dramas and sitcoms
    • o AFTRA – if shot on video
      •  Ex. Tonight Show and Judge Judy
• 2) Directors
  • - Union = DGA
  • - Duties
    • o tell everyone on the set what to do – cameras, actor placement and dialogue
  • o Film = More Power
    •  what scenes will be built and used
    •  major casting decisions
      • • smaller casting decisions are made by the casting director in consultation with the director
    •  overall look of the film
    •  first cut of the film
  • o Television = Less
    •  stuff on set
      •  Exception = director of the pilot
    • • they set the mood and the kinds of shots and lighting that will be used and the creative director will follow that direction
• 3) Producers
  • - NO Union
  • - Executive Producer – CEO of a show or film
  • o Episodic Television Show – decide the fate of characters, where the story art is going, who are we going to bring in, what writers are we going to hire
  • - Two Kinds
    • o Creative Executive Producer
    • o Show Runner – Chief Operating Officer = runs the daily operations
  • - producer credit is commonly given for a variety of duties
• 4) Agents
  • - Specially licenses to get work for people
  • - NO Union – but deal with unions
  • - Limited to a 10% commission generally
  • - they may package writer, actor, director and go around pitching projects to a studio
  • o can be a creative force
• 5) Managers
  • - Not limited in their commission percentage (usually 15-20%)
  • o they have fewer clients than agents
  • - a lot of singers and actors don’t have managers
  • o a lot of parents are managers
  • - California – are not allowed to get employment (with a couple of exceptions)
  • - Personal Manager – tells you how to build your career
  • - Business Manager – manage the investment portfolio and assets
• 6) Studios/Television Networks
  • Movies
    • • 5 left – Sony, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Fox and Disney
  • • What they do:
    • o Financing
      •  executive producers pitch the products to studios hoping the studios will finance it
        • • Exception: Negative Pick Up
        • o inferred from Donahue v. Artisan case
          •  riskiest way to finance a film
          •  you have a final product
          •  the studio buys and distributes it
          •  gets name because the product is a negative of a film (a real negative) and the studio will make positive of it and distribute it
    •  act as banks
    • o Get Things into Theatres
      • • the actual brick and mortar facilities are rented out to whoever – even their own entities are charged
    • Exception to the Above…
      • First Run Syndication
        • • meaning that the first run of the show is syndication
          • o Examples: Judge Judy, Wheel of Fortune, Access Hollywood, Oprah
        • • sold individually to affiliates by syndicates
        • • have their own banking and distribution
        • • Strip – new episodes in the same time slots, five times a week
• 7) Union
  • - 1 of the big three forces regulating Hollywood conduct
    • • The Other Two
      • o Law
      • o Myth of What the Law Requires (obtaining clearances, releases, covering up logos)
  • - Powerful because of collective bargaining agreements
  • - provide rules on the rights of people and the limitations on what studios can do with talent
• B) Themes

1. Big vs. Small
   1. tension between the big players and the small players
2. Merit vs. Non-Merit
3. Creativity vs. Risk Aversion
   1. today it is more about avoiding risk
4. Democratization
5. Law vs. Myth
   1. the "I have to get clearance for things" when you really don't need to; people make decsions about what can be done based on legal myth

• • C) Phases of Making a Film
    • 1) Making the Film
      • i) Development
        • • how the film will be made
        • • cost
        • • all decisions must be made before the studio will give the greenlight
      • ii) Pre-Production
        • • before the cameras start rolling
        • • casting, building sets, scouting locations, detailed budget work
        • • training actors
      • iii) Production (aka Principle Photography)
        • • every day production is scheduled
      • iv) Post-Production
        • • scoring, editing and other things
          • o Ex. looping – which is dubbing in and ADR
    • 2) After the Film is Made
      • i) Marketing
  • D) Television
    • 1) Pilot
      • - expensive = build all of the sets for the show
      • - when it goes into production, the network can buy a few episodes at a time rather than the whole season
    • 2) First Run Syndication
      • - you take a Presentation Reel to NATPE convention sometime around the first of the year
      • - GM’s from stations are there and once enough people commit and order, it will be produced