Hi All,
This is one of those questions I really hate to ask, because the answer could really kill me.. but. I'm about 2 years and 250-300hr into shooting my first doc.. this is the first "general release" thing I have ever tried to do. I had an entertainment lawyer draw up various docs for me including location releases, talent releases, media releases (photos), and music.. I've been pretty religious about keeping up with all these things.. The doc is a "positive" one.. no one is made to look like an ass, or anything derogatory, however I'm 50 and lived long enough to know that somehow, someway, someone will be offended.
I've produced this thing completely out of pocket, and yes, I realize that getting a hit documentary is like getting into the NBA, except the chances are better to get into the NBA. However, I never aimed for second best, and really want to TRY to get this into a major venue. I'm putting out a teaser now to about 12 or so film festivals, hoping to get someone to pick it up to get the 300K plus to professionally finish it as opposed to me (competent, but not to the level that many great docs are done).
Though I've talked and worked with a bunch of different filmmakers and professionals during this, no one seems to have this experience of what comes next, they are mostly artists, not on the business end.. so I feel like a blind man with a stick about to step into a man hole most of the time. I've read tons, but my ignorance still runs deep. Among these things is Errors and Omissions insurance. Is this something I *SHOULD* have had before starting? Or something you get when you finish. I understand what it's for, just nothing about how much, and when you should get it. I also know if I call one of the companies, I will be told I need it rather I do or not, so that's why I am asking. I haven't been in touch with my lawyer for some months as every time I pick up the phone it puts me deeper in debt.
Any help is greatly appreciated, along with any ball park guess that you may have on it's cost (glup). I'm almost (finally) finished filming, and am hoping to generate some interest by the teaser, but if not will take it to market myself.. no regrets and still financially solvent, but have pretty much hit my limit given what I know what my expenses to take it to market are myself are.
I would *LOVE* a mentor to talk me though some of the logistics and financials on this, someone who has been through the process a few times and could really help me avoid some costly or film killing mistakes (other than doing this in the first place).. win/lose/draw no regrets, just wanna give it my best shot.
Re: Errors and Omissions Insurance by David Roth Weiss on May 1, 2008 at 10:44:26 pm
Brian,
Very good question, and something that everyone eventually has to deal with.
Errors & Omissions Insurance is not something you typically should have had from the beginning, but you should have been taking care of things such as getting signed releases and such from the start, with any eye toward getting that E&O policy when you do need it.
Okay, when do you need it???
The answer is, when you've made a sale. The buyer, distributor or licensor will typically require an E&O policy in their contract, specifying that you must deliver it in good time, preferably at the time your deliverables are due. However, what they won't tell you and I will, is that like everything in the contract, its all negotiable.
You've just spent years of your life and loads of cash making a powerful work of art. Now that its done, some guy, ostensibly offering you just pennies on the dollar for an exclusive license to exhibit your project for like 2 to 3 years, is demanding that you go out and pay cold cash for an insurance policy. Talk about adding insult to injury...
So, whaddya do???
So, now's your time to do the acting thing that all directors really want to do anyway... You start crying... and you tell him that you're completely tapped-out, and you'll have pull out of the deal. If you're lucky, that buyer, licensor, of distributor person will make you some type of deal, which hopefully comes out of their share and not your hide.
Hope this helps...
David
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW's Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
Re: Errors and Omissions Insurance by Brian Findlay on May 2, 2008 at 2:11:45 am
I breath a huge sigh of relief.. THANK YOU DAVID...
If I am fortunate enough to have any interest in the film, I will try this (hey I know it's great, it's just getting other people to understand this ;-).. I just had this long sinking feeling that it was something I needed two years ago. So I'm feeling much better, and will definitely try to work that approach. I'm a SW engineer by trade, and worked at Avid and other video related places, so I (had) alot of good contacts for technical issues.. it's just that making this has been my real (non paying) job for the last two years of my life, and I rent myself out in the daylight hours.
I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to an agent (not mine, I have none) who had just sold a doc to HBO, who gave me sort of a low down on a general route to take and helped me estimate some of the costs involved.. I was stunned at the expense of top shelf talent to finish a film, about 300% more than I would have guessed. Even though I got about 1/2 hour of her time, there was 1,000,000 things I didn't think to ask.
But the economy stinks right now, probably be out of work again shortly, so I should have enough time to finish filming and get some of the other stuff done like transcription, etc.
This forum and the people here are the greatest resource I can imagine.. what did people do before the internet?
Re: Errors and Omissions Insurance by Brian Findlay on May 2, 2008 at 4:03:57 pm
Hi David,
When I set out to do this thing, I was pretty paranoid about it, but I've since come to the conclusion that if anyone anywhere is also doing it, it would probably help not hurt as the topic is relatively unknown, and unknown topics usually need some amount of education to compel people to pick it up and watch it in the first place. Also, the community is pretty tight knit, and if anyone was doing anything of the scope that I have attempted, I'd know about it (I do know of something else, but its from a different angle). I've been though about a dozen states on both coasts and Brasil, shot the whole thing with Canons XLH1, XHA1, HV30, and a Sony HVR-A1U that gave up the ghost in Brasil. The last year was pretty much a reshoot as I was really starting to "get it", and used a 12 ft. crane with a motorized turret, various steadicam setups (I love my Fig Rig), and a Letus Extreme. The quality really came up of everything alot. The topic is Capoeira in the US, if you don't know what it is, you're not alone. It is best described as an Art, not a Martial art, because it's heavily involved with its own music, expressionistic dance movements, philosophy, and still has some attachment to Samba and Candomble a spirit possession religion. I recorded alot of the events shot with a dual system, and 24 bit recorder using a Crown SASS up on a 15 ft tripod (I highly recommend the Crown SASS.. killer for event sound). Anyway, here's my 1 page description below.
That Brazilian Dance Fight Thing
: Capoeira in America :
We've traveled through a bleak decade. Social isolation is the norm, class stratification widening, basic rights nullified, and government corruption and misinformation raised to an art form. With corporate rights made sacred, human rights desecrated, anti-immigrant sentiment rising, the economy is struggling, and the middle class is in mass migration to the lower class as the lower class meanders lower. It was born and thrives in an environment like this.
In this negative downdraft, there has been a positive movement and the significant expansion of a vibrant art, one missed by most Americans and existing in a media vacuum. In every major US city and small towns as well as in 150 countries, it's unlike any before and eludes categorization. To play requires everything you have, but it costs nothing. No special gear, no graphite clubs, no Kevlar cloths, just body and mind. Deep and subtle, the genius of the poorest people on the planet, it was their tool to battle oppression and preserve their culture. Capoeira. Outside of a few major metropolitan areas in the US, perhaps 1 in 100 has heard the name, maybe 1 in 1000 can pronounce it. Almost everyone has seen some stunning yet unattributed sequence in a Hollywood movie.
For many Americans involved, they don't just practice, they merge with it. Artists, athletes, rich, poor, educated, illiterate, illegal aliens, the inner sanctum and inner city. It's a world that still draws together and binds those in it the same way it did with escaped slaves hundreds of years ago.
Its origins are unclear. It may have begun among slaves in Brasil, or in Africa. For most of its history it was underground. Practitioners were at the bottom of the society, sometimes criminal, always feared. Both heroes and murderers, they were hunted and imprisoned, crippled, killed. Their art has been used to free and protect, to win battles, to rig elections, to cheat and rob. Some say it is 300 years old, some say 500. It's second in popularity only to soccer in Brazil; its blood relatives are Samba and Candomble, a spirit possession religion. Both still mingle with it.
It has been taught in the US since the early 1980's and slowly expanded; in the last decade it has accelerated with a large influx of Brasilians into the US. There are hundreds schools across the US now, over 40 in NYC alone, yet it still remains largely unknown.
This documentary is the culmination of two years of travel though over a dozen states on both coasts, and in Brasil. It's the distillation of over 50 interviews with capoeira Mestres, professors, and students. Over 250 hours of interviews and events were filmed in HD with 24 bit soundtracks in both in the US and Brasil. It's technically concise, artistic, and engrossing.
This is the story of the game, its history, students, and the people who brought it here. It's the story of Capoeira in America.
Re: Errors and Omissions Insurance by David Roth Weiss on May 3, 2008 at 4:16:36 am
Brian,
Funny thing is, I actually know a bit about Capoeira because I color corrected and mastered a video project for a client friend about Bahia. Its a most interesting art/dance/martial art. The guys that do it are in the best shape of any athletes on the planet.
David
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW's Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
Re: Errors and Omissions Insurance by Brian Findlay on May 3, 2008 at 4:48:40 am
The women are in great shape too :-)
Small world on that.. I was in Bahia in March, second time, I love the place. My wife is Brasilian so it really helps.
There is a ton of stuff on youtube (like everything else in the world).. some of its mine.. pretty raw, un CC, alot of it put together quickly as sort of a thank you to many of these mestres Search "giria capoeira". Alot of them will throw out anyone with a camera, but I was lucky enough to meet a couple of the right people in the beginning who made introductions for me. Great people.. I'm going to miss filming this when I'm done.
Even though I still have about a year left to finish this (if I end up doing it all myself).. But I do think it's an amazing thing.. really has saved alot of peoples lives.. you hang out at these places it totally different than at other martial arts classes.. it really is a family. The music just won't leave my head anymore.
Re: Errors and Omissions Insurance by Brian Findlay on May 3, 2008 at 9:25:30 pm
Hi David,
I forgot to ask, and it's been digging at me, what was the Bahia film you CC & Mastered? I've probably seen it, maybe I own it. The only one I can think of at the moment is a series called O Samba, but I had thought that was French..
Its getting pretty "long of tooth," and looks it, but if you think licensing some of it might work for you, just let me know. I'm still in touch with the producer.
David
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW's Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
Re: Errors and Omissions Insurance by Brian Findlay on May 5, 2008 at 5:00:28 pm
Hey Thanks!
I'll let you know when I get down to edit, I think we got a lot in Salvador from two visits.. once during Carnival, we got a lot of candomble, capoeira, other african arts, a berimbau maker (made one from start to finish while my wife shot).
I'm working on getting rights to a bunch of archival photos now, and hopefully it will come together in the not too distant future.
But ya never know.. I really appreciate the offer.
