FILM DICTIONARY
Your guide to common film terms! Will continuously be updated as you ask more questions and we share more industry anecdotes.
A • B • C
D • E • F
Equity Financing: cash. When people say they are looking to raise equity, they are looking for cash to put in a bank account, right now.
Not all movies are financed with just cash. They can be financed with equity and debt — e.g. a loan against foreign pre-sales, the value of a tax credit or a domestic pre-sale.
Foreign Sales Agent: an agent that represents your independent movie at film markets throughout the year, whether it’s complete or just a package, to solicit offers.
Longer description:
On indie films, you usually make a movie without distribution, not only in the US but around the world. When making a movie independently, that means that on the domestic side, you have the major agencies (CAA, WME, UTA) working as sales agents on the bigger film packages, the more industry-independent films, searching for distributors. There are also several boutique agents, like Cinetic, Submarine and others.
When you make a movie with a streamer or a studio, they usually have international output deals around the world that get your movie distributed outside the US. Streamers like Netflix are already available in most countries.
Foreign sales agents are representatives of your project, whether it's finished or just a package with elements attached. They are representing it at markets throughout the year — Berlin, Cannes, AFM, FilmArt, Toronto. They spend anywhere from 5-7 days in meetings all day long with international buyers and distributors from every territory buying movies around the world. They pitch their slate, show promos/sizzle reels, usually send out scripts in advance and solicit for either pre-buy offers or if they're selling a finished film, they show the film and take distribution licensing deals.
Sales agents usually come up with an ask-take sheet: the lowest number that they would take and the number they are hoping for, usually higher to sell the film for in any given territory. That range of value is usually what financiers use to decide whether or not they'll finance a movie for a certain budget. For example, if the worldwide takes are $1M and the asks are closer to $3M, but the budget of the film is $10M, it's not likely that an investor will invest in the film with a budget so much greater than the value of the film itself. The foreign sales agent is essentially saying at BEST you'll only get $3M for the world (or world minus US), which wouldn’t cover your budget.
G • H • I
Horizontal Networking: networking with peers at your level.
J • K • L
M • N • O • P
Packaging: putting all of the elements together e.g. attaching a director or talent to your movie.
Private Equity: the investment of equity capital in private companies, oftentimes from high net worth (HNW) individuals.
Producers Guild of America (PGA): not a labor union. It’s a trade organization of creative producers. This group also helps determine who gets the p.g.a. mark on a film, which distinguishes who the real, day-to-day producers of the movie are, based on an extensive list of qualifications.
P&A: Prints and Advertising. The costs of theatrical distribution.
Q • R • S • T
Script Coverage: a condensed report on a script usually containing a logline, summary, assessment (did you enjoy it, where does it live in the marketplace, did you connect with the characters), and recommendation (pass, consider or recommend).
Spec: an unproduced screenplay that someone usually wrote without another party paying them.
Studio Deal: an arrangement under which a film studio pays compensation to a producer in exchange for the use of that person's creative services. This enables producers to pay their employees salaries and provide health benefits, without going out-of-pocket.
Overall Deal: you become exclusive to a studio or financier. You can only bring your projects to them and they can also bring projects to you as a producer. This gives studios and financiers the ability to keep working with people they have great relationships with.
First-Look Deal: less restrictive for producers. You have to bring the studio or financier your projects before going anywhere else, giving them the opportunity to engage with you on a project first e.g. optioning a book or buying a screenplay.
Tech Scout: a run-through of every filming location, usually taking place 1-2 weeks prior to the start of the shoot, to prepare all technical departments for the logistics of filming on-location. Tech scouts are attended by the director, ADs, line producer, producers, grip and electric, production design, art department, sound, etc. For example, electric will determine where the power supply will come from and sound will assess the noise levels of each location. Tech scouts don’t always occur when filming on a stage, since the environment is controllable.
U • V • W • X • Y • Z