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Tag Archives: producer

Entertainment Industry Insights Podcast #004: Nat Mundel

Entertainment Industry Insights Podcast #004: Nat Mundel

 Entertainment Industry Insights Podcast
Episode 4:  Nat Mundel


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Voyage Media CEO and Founder, Nat Mundel
Voyage Media CEO and Founder, Nat Mundel

In this episode of Entertainment Industry Insights, I speak with Nat Mundel, Founder of Voyage Media, and Co-Founder of TODpix.Mr. Mundel's vision is to streamline and democratize the entertainment industry by creating new business models, services and tools that help filmmakers more effectively develop, produce and distribute their projects.

Voyage Media, established in 2002, has helped filmmakers develop, package and sell over 2000 entertainment projects ranging from movies, TV series and branded entertainment. In addition to hundreds of emerging filmmakers, Voyage and its team members have served A-list organizations such as Anonymous Content, Jerry Bruckheimer, Paramount, Lionsgate, Dimension, Alcon Entertainment and more.

TODpix, launched in 2012, is the industry’s first theater on demand (TOD) distribution platform and partners with filmmakers and studios to digitally deliver movies in theaters to match audience demand.

In an earlier life, Nat was a professional rock climber and high altitude mountaineer, owning and operating a successful guiding company, Global Explore. He is a pilot, surfer, and life-long learner. He is married, has a daughter, and lives in Topanga, California. Continue Reading

4 reasons why receiving Producer Credit may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Producerchair4 reasons why receiving Producer Credit may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

It’s a common practice in the entertainment industry. Producers operating on shoestring budgets will, in an effort to secure the property and/or services of talented individuals, ofer them some kind of producer credit in lieu of the usual compensation those people might normally command.

This kind of thing is, somewhat surprisingly, quite attractive to many in the business. Perhaps it’s the prestige of being a producer, or perhaps it’s taken as recognition of one’s value to a project.

But, receiving a producer credit on a film, play, musical or album is often a bad idea. Here are some of the reasons I advise my clients against accepting credit.

The Lead Producer doesn’t have any “skin in the game”

If you’re taking producer credit in lieu of compensation, the lead producer is getting a huge bargain. As such, he (or she) is taking a much smaller risk with the project than would be the case if you were being paid what you’re really worth. And, if there’s less at risk, the lead producer may feel freer to take bigger risks elsewhere, thus leading the project into peril. By contrast, when a producer has money on the line (whether his own or investors’), he’s less likely to take unreasonable risk or maintain untenable positions with the project.

Undervaluation of the recipient’s contribution to the project

If the lead producer isn’t willing or able to pay you an appropriate fee, it should tell you something about the value he or she places on your services. Essentially, the lead producer is telling you, “hey, I don’t think you’re worth what you charge for your services, so let me give you something that doesn’t cost me money, instead.”

More importantly, however, if you’re willing to take less than ‘normal’ compensation, it shows the lead producer and the rest of the world that you think the same way. Your services really aren’t worth what you charge.

Of course, sometimes you’ll get involved with a project you feel passionate about and be willing to discount your fees to be associated with them. And that’s fine. Just be sure you’re discounting for the right reasons.

In my view credit alone shouldn’t be one of them.

Control Issues

Time and again, I’ve seen situations in which a “producer” on a project has absolutely no control. He or she is getting producer credit, but exercises no real authority to influence the direction a project takes. It’s a little like being at the helm of a ship, holding the steering wheel, but not being permitted to turn it to avoid a collision. Without a meaningful degree of control (or at least a right of consultation) producer credit can be pretty meaningless. Even if the film wins major awards, it’s typically only the lead producer and the core producing team that actually benefit from the recognition.

Exposure to Liability

As I’ve written about before here, recipients of producer credit can find themselves in the crosshairs of litigation from angry contractors, unpaid vendors, disgruntled investors, and anyone else with a beef against the project. Being identified as a producer tells the world that you are a person responsible for the production, and everything that flows from it, whether good or bad. It doesn’t matter whether you are really responsible. If someone has a problem, they’ll go after all of the producers. In one recent case, for example, a credited producer with a minority financial interest in a theatrical production (and thus no real control over the project) was held vicariously liable for copyright infringement when the lead producer unilaterally decided not to pay the playwright. He hadn’t, the jury concluded, done enough to prevent the infringement. So, under the principle of joint and several liability, he’s responsible for the entire $250,000 judgment. ( See Keeling v. New Rock Theatre)

Conclusion

So, receiving producer credit may actually be worse than not being involved in a project at all. At the very least, acceptance of such a proposal can send subtle signals about the parties’ valuation of the recipient’s services.

Of course, there are plenty of valid reasons to receive a producer credit. Foremost among these, though, should always be that you’re actually a producer of the project, not a mere figurehead, but wielding real influence over the project, and thus earning the right (and responsibility) of being called “Producer”.

 

Entertainment Industry Insights Podcast: Ken Davenport

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 Entertainment Industry Insights Podcast
Episode 3:  Ken Davenport

 

 In this episode of Entertainment Industry Insights, I speak with Broadway Producer  Ken Davenport.

Ken davenport headshot thumbnail

Ken Davenport is a Broadway producer whose credits include Macbeth, Kinky Boots, Godspell, Chinglish, Oleanna starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, Speed-the-Plow, Will Ferrell's You're Welcome America, Blithe Spirit starring Angela Lansbury, and 13, as well as Altar Boyz, My First Time, The Awesome 80s Prom, and Miss Abigail’s Guide to Dating, Mating, & Marriage Off-Broadway.
He also produced the award winning These Magnificent Miles: On the Long Road with Red Wanting Blue, a documentary on one of the top unsigned rock bands in the country. Ken was featured on a national commercial for Apple's iPhone, named one of Crain's “40 Under Forty” and is one of the co-organizers of TEDxBroadway.
Combined, Ken's productions have grossed more than $100 million worldwide and are being produced internationally in over 25 countries including Germany, Mexico, France and Korea. He created and developed the Broadway board game Be A Broadway Star, as seen on “The Today Show,” and a smartphone app called AT THE BOOTH,  which has been featured on Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List” and called “Ingenious! The best thing to happen to New York theater since, well, the introduction of the TKTS® booth!” He also runs a number of theatrical websites including DidHeLikeIt.com and YourBroadwayGenius.com.

His blog, TheProducersPerspective.com, has been featured in Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, The Gothamist and more. He has written articles for Forbes, Mashable, Imedia and others. Current projects include his adaptation of the novel and film Somewhere in Time, premiering at Portland Center Stage this spring; Garage Band premiereing at George Street Playhouse in the fall as well as bringing the first ever revival of A Few Good Men to Broadway. For more information,

visit www.DavenportTheatrical.com.

 

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What is an “Accredited Investor”? Why you should care.

Background  If you’re setting up financing for your next film, theatre, or new media production, and you’re planning to talk to potential investors, you need to know the rules.  Whenever a company sells investment opportunities, in which the investors will be ‘passive’, not taking any meaningful role in the management of the business, the transaction… Continue Reading

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