Write, produce and be damned

There is a seismic change beginning to take place for scriptwriters, novelists and their agents. They are beginning to say no to option offers from producers.

 In television we have for many years had the example of writer-producers: all the big US shows are led by showrunners and increasingly broadcasters in the UK are demanding showrunners before they will greenlight a television series.

 In film development money is so scarce many producers need properties from writers before they can go and raise funds to pay decent option fees, and frequently they fail to raise any more than the option money.

 Or they have a large slate of properties that they have optioned and when they raise the money for one of them they ignore the others, which lie gathering dust until the option expires.

 Over the last couple of years at Blake Friedmann we have begun to do more joint-ventures and fewer option deals.

 These include Peter James, a No 1 best-seller we had optioned it to two A-list production companies who over nearly three years didn’t manage to get a greenlight from ITV; we decided we wanted more control, chose another A-list production company, offered them a JV and we have serious interest from the BBC and have also attached a double A-list actor as the lead.

 At the other extreme there is GIRL MADE OF DUST, a beautiful first novel by Nathalie Abi Ezzi, set in Lebanon in 1982, showing us the war through the eyes of an innocent nine-year-old living on the edge of the killing fields. We have assembled a team of writers, director and producer while keeping control, with me as Executive Producer. There is great camaraderie and no contracts at this stage, while we attach French and Brazilian co-producers.

 We have also started doing JVs with some original scripts.  To me the notion of writers and agents producing is not that they actually get involved in the minutiae of production, but are able to do two key things

1. be involved in all the discussions about important creative choices and business deals, eg who the coproducers are, and

It is not possible to do this in the same way when you sell an option to a producer. They – in effect – own it.

 So a joint-venture ensures that the producer does bring something to the table (or they get pushed out), and I, as an agent, am better able to protect and develop my clients’ careers.

 Over the last couple of years there has been another interesting and important development: the mainstay script-writer/producer contract – that between PACT – the Producers’ Union – and the Writers Guild – has sort of fallen into a ditch. It is still used but it ceased to reflect the realities of the industry so the Guild’s Film Committee, led by distinguished scriptwriter Olivia Hetreed (Girl with a Pearl Earring and the new Wuthering Heights) devised new guidelines for a partnership between writers and producers, rather than the old-fashioned option which gave the producer total control subject only to them paying some money.

 I am not advocating than a writer or agent, with no experience of the film or television industry, should announce themselves as a producer or co-producer, although that is how many producers start. Like Estate Agents you just need a business card.

 But the relationship between writers and producers is changing and I think that smart producers should embrace the change.

 [This article appeared in MovieScope]