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The producer’s representative
Not the same as a sales agent! Producer’s reps are an American phenomenon that has grown enormously over the last five years. They sell movies – usually American independent movies – to U.S.-based distributors and/or sales agents. A rep may be a lawyer, an agent, or, frankly, anyone. Hopefully, a rep is someone with experience.
Unlike a sales agent, producer’s reps generally do not sell territory by territory, incur expenses (such as advertising), or deliver your movie. They may or may not do the legals for you. Their commission is usually much lower than a sales agent’s because they provide fewer services and take virtually no risks (other than spending some time on you).
TIP:
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Gross receipts are disbursed in
the following order: the distribution fee, advance recoupment, if any,
distributor’s costs for creating or correcting any deficient materials, and
distribution expenses. Then the balance goes to the producer.
The local all rights distributor
To use Canadian examples, local all rights distributors are companies like Maple or Alliance Atlantis. They buy as many rights as possible in their territory (typically one or more countries), for as long as possible. If your movie has theatrical potential they will give it a theatrical launch and then move it through its other windows, including video on demand, airlines, hotels, home video and television.
The moneyRevenue streams
It works on a case-by-case basis, but usually the distributor agrees to pay the sales agent a minimum guarantee against future revenue. The distributor must recoup this minimum guarantee, as well as the expenses incurred in launching the movie – print ads, prints of the movie, posters, trailers, the cost of the press attaché, etc.
The two most common forms of agreement are “costs off the top,” where expenses are recouped in first position, and a “fee deal,” where the distributor takes a fee in first position before expenses are recouped. The minimum guarantee is almost never recouped out of gross revenue: instead, it is taken out of the portion that would otherwise be remitted by the distributor to the sales agent. Why? Because the minimum guarantee is an advance against the sales agent’s portion of the revenue.
As an example, here’s how the revenue streams might break out for theatrical box office in a “costs off the top” deal.
- The exhibitor takes a percentage (typically 65%) of the box office.
- The remaining 35% of the box office goes back to the distributor.
- The distributor first recoups distribution expenses from that 35%.
- Typically, he will then split the remaining after-expenses revenue 50/50 with the sales agent.
- First, though, he recoups the minimum guarantee out of the 50% owed to the sales agent.
- If there is any money remaining and owed to the sales agent, the sales agent takes his commission on that amount – and remits the balance back to the producer.
- Usually, there is no money due to the producer, or even the sales agent, until the movie starts to realize home video and/or broadcast revenue.
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International Sales 
