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I am being advised to use a credit card to pay my film rental to Sony because of their 7-10 day pay requirements for Spiderman. We have never done this before and I wonder if anyone else has done this and how well it has worked?
Also, for the first time in a long time I am putting down a guarantee up front. How does this work against the first couple of weeks film rental? I used to send in paperwork showing the amount I owed and writing them a note saying to take this off the amount already on deposit (That was when we were first starting out and put down deposits on everything). Does it still work this way?

This is really important to us as we are under the microscope with all film companies now with our new competition open and competing for film. I don't want to mess this up!!!!

Just be sure to ues your Airline Miles Award Credit Card so you can rack up the miles and get your next vacation paid for.

Hello,

I only used a credit card once--and that was because I accidentially did not sign a check and they wanted the money--worked fine, but at the time I did not have a business credit card, just personal, so did take a little extra bookwork.

The first year I was in business most film companies wanted a deposit--the biggest I have ever paid to date were for "Titanic" and "Star Wars Episode 1" both were $5000, I just used the credit towards first week run, or until credit was used up--They did not complain about that even though in most cases the picture is still on the screen when credit is used up.

I do not. But I have a friend who pays on his Delta card and says he has not paid for an airline ticket in 2 years. If you think about it : it's a good idea as it extends your pay anyway. And Let's see: Sony will have Spiderman, MI2, Stuart Little just this summer! Let's say you gross 40K on the 3 films and you pay 50% x 2 miles per 1.00 there's 20,000 miles on 3 films. Yikesa! I think we ought to do it! You have to arrange this with the distribs but some will not do it.

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Mike Hurley
www.bigscreenbiz.com

I am reporting on how the credit card process works any case anyone else wants to try it.

Generally, it worked really well for everyone involved. I faxed my sheets into Sony authorizing credit card charges on Monday or Tuesday each week. They got their money within a couple days and it didn't cost me anything more. I had a small problem getting Texas to follow through on weeks 3,4 & 5 but California was more than happy to charge my credit card immediately. I can monitor my account online so I know whether they have charged it.

I used my Discover card which paid me 1% back on my charges. I can apply that $90 against my bill, get a check or double it with their retail partners. I get to hold onto the money until July 15th when my most of my bill is due - pretty good since Spiderman has been gone for 3 weeks and I haven't had to actually pay up yet. In the meantime I deposited the cash on my credit line so that I am saving myself the interest on $9,000 for approximately 60 days (another $70). Where else can you get the movie companies to pay you $160 for handling their cash for them? If I ever have to put cash upfront again I will ask whether I can put that on the credit card too.

Does anyone know of any other studios that take Discover Card?

Far as I know Sony is the only one who takes credit cards.

Another idea/scheme we are considering is paying our monthly newspaper advertising bill on our credit cards. Ian and I would each get an airline miles visa card and take turns paying the bill with the credit card and the company would pay the credit card bill each month rather than write a check to the newspaper. Hey, we each like to travel, so why not. But I do like the cash back Discover card idea too. Very clever