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Has anyone seen or heard what the terms have been on digital "prints"? Putting all the equipment issues aside. I was curious if the terms for digital was the same as they are currently for film. 70 60 50 40 35%
Do theatres still get the same cut? Less? More?

This is a good question that has been unaswered and I myself looking forward to a reply on it!

as a self-distributing filmmaker, i'd hope to negotiate a straight 50/50 split. without million dollar ad campaigns behind us, small films won't open with huge numbers. but they can potentially build an audience through word of mouth. so the longer you screen one, the more it'll make. which means you'd be snubbing yoursef with the traditional film breakdown. a straight 50/50 would give both exhibitors and (self)distributors a fair shake and equal risk in small, but potentially profitable digital films. my 2cents, for what it's worth.

Hey MIKEY, here's that lesbian cowgirl movie we've been looking for!... Forget Maplepalm, call it Brokeback Hooters...

the comparisons are inevitable, but for the record, we never heard of brokeback till it was released. not that it matters. more importantly, your post illustrates the boxoffice worth of our film -- while most straight guys are disgusted by fags, the thought of two girls kissing always gets a tingle in their crotch.

the film's got a great shower scene. i can tell already you'd love it.

www.MaplePalmMovie.com

[This message has been edited by MaplePalm (edited March 14, 2006).]

[This message has been edited by MaplePalm (edited March 14, 2006).]

Nice website!

Back to the question at hand. I think what we're really interested in knowing is what is going to affect our bottom lines. While a 50/50 split is one opinion I'd like to hear what the big boys are going to be charging versus what thye're charging now. Even I'm not naive enough to think that this isn't an opportunity for the big boys to screw us for a higher percentage. Hopefully, the "market" will sort it out and things will get back to an area where we can live on.

I'll bet that the TERMS will be the same as at present, despite the costs the studios will eliminate involving prints... Since we've been paying 70% vs 90/10 on first week first run and SUPPOSIDLY making money, there's no incentive for them to reduce the terms... They'd like to take 100%, but we won't go for that, so until they find a bulletproof method to sell 'em direct they'll allow us to keep a pittance...

Nothing is going to change and there going to keep bleeding us till there is no more blood. You can forget about ever seeing 50/50!
They want more an more and less money is being made month after month.
We are the only ones it seems like that say,"Oh there is nothing like seeing the movies on the big screen."
Bottom line nobody cares, the just want to see the movie as soon as they can wherever they can. Hence illegal downloads on the computers and inferior bootlegs.
How can our theaters be monitored for sound, trailer placement and showings but they can't solve the problem of the bootlegger on the corner?
Millions and millions are lost yet they have spies out there seeing if we run a showing and dont mark it down or we forget to put a trailer on a reel!
This is bad!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, helvetica">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by leeler:
<B>Nice website!

Back to the question at hand. I think what we're really interested in knowing is what is going to affect our bottom lines. </B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

thanks for the compliment on the site.

sure, i understand that many of you may never book with small indies like us, but you might consider it as a viable suppliment to your regular bookings. especially once bigger films drop to a split that don't cut your way. we're actually consdering branching out into indie distribution ourselves. there's an abundance of good product out there that goes unseen. but it depends on how it goes releasing Maple Palm. if we build decent relationships with bookers and exhibitors, then distribution may be an option worth exploring for us. we'll be getting our first deals with individual exhibitors and an arthouse chain soon and am curious to see how they breakdown the split. is 70/60/50 standard?

someone also posted to this thread saying people don't care where they see movies; in theatres or whatever. i think that's partly true, but i think more accurately the distribution model is just evolving. as a self-distributor, we're considering alternative ways to make the film avaliable in markets that may not get us theatrically. bottom line, i think the distribution model will adapt so that release windows on DVD and other exhibiton formats get more blurred. initially this might cut into an exhibitor's bottom line, but as things settle, i honestly feel it'll level out to a point where it just means films will be seen by more peope in a variety of ways. there will always be people who want to get out of the house and see a movie. be it kids on a date or what have you. going to a theatre to see a film will always be the crown jewel of the movie going experience. remember how everyone paniced when video stores popped up everywhere? in the end, it didn't cut into the movie going experiece, it just gave another outlet for the consumer to see films.

bottom line, public perception dictates that films screened in a theatre have a greater value and legitimacy than films that don't; "real" movies play the big screen. and i doubt that perception will change any time soon.

---

For booking inquiries visit: www.MaplePalmMovie.com

Without going into specifics and getting myself in trouble:

I prepare the box office reports for our location, with rental rates sent by our booker. The percentages for digital have been exactly the same as film. We have played the same movie in both formats on the same dates, and they had the same terms.

EDITED TO ADD:

As an aside, we recently had a customer call to ask if we were playing "Dave Chapelle's Block Party". When we told him that it hadn't been released to our market yet, he sayed "See, that's why people download **** off the internet" and hung up.

[This message has been edited by Big Guy (edited March 17, 2006).]

Thanks Big Guy for letting us know they have the same terms.

MaplePalm,
From my small town experience, 70/60/50 is a split seen only on a mega-blockbuster movie. 60/50/40 or 50/40/35 are much more common for me. I have played a few movies on the break with a 40% first week.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, helvetica">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BurneyFalls:
<B>MaplePalm,
From my small town experience, 70/60/50 is a split seen only on a mega-blockbuster movie. 60/50/40 or 50/40/35 are much more common for me. I have played a few movies on the break with a 40% first week.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for letting me know. i'm curious to see what split they'll come at us with, so at least this gives me an idea. 50/50 is so much easier to keep straight, but i'm not gonna be reinventing the wheel here. i'll stick with what people are comfortable with.

and ya, what Big Guy said makes sense - the split being the same as film. but you see again how easy it is to think that digital movies are different than film. so we aoutomatically wonder if terms are different and even percieve them as somehow less valuable than a 'real' movie. this is why alternate distribution models are unlikely to have a significant impact on your business. 'real' movies screen in theatres, plain and simple. even if customers choose to catch it on DVD, they still want to know it's a 'real' movie that played in theatres.

Burney has it right. If the movie has a built in audience (Harry Potter, Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean) the terms are usually higher. If it's a harder sell then usually lower terms. And some distributors will review the terms based on gross. Which can make them higher or lower than the estimate in the end. At least now we know the $$ terms for digital will be the same.

Next we need to learn what the play terms are going to be. If distributors are footing the bill for these $100,000 projectors. How much control on what is going to be allowed to play on them will they have. And for how long...