What is one thing that all film distributors will ask for, other than the film itself? The paperwork.
After your film is complete and you go to make a deal, it’s important to have all of your paperwork in order.
Every distributor is unique and they all have different requirements when it comes to paperwork and technical delivery, but in my experience, I have found a few items that seem to be pretty universal across the board.
I’m going to tell you about the paperwork all film distributors will ask for.
Yes, It’s Mine
Before a deal can be made, every distributor will want proof that you own the rights to the property.
You establish ownership through copyright and guild registration.
You will want to register a text copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office for the screenplay, as well as a copyright for the entire motion picture.
These are two separate registrations with two separate fees.
You have to create an account online and use their registration portal to complete all necessary requirements.
Upon approval, they will issue you a Certificate of Registration for both.
You can also register the screenplay with The Writers Guild of America for further proof of ownership.
The Writers Guild of America is actually split into The Writers Guild of America, East, and The Writers Guild of America, West.
Each has an online registration process that is cost effective and you can register with either one, but most people just register with the one that they live closest to.
After proof of ownership has been established, you can move on to the release forms.
You should have a standard location release form for every location that you shot at for the production.
This is a document that just says that the owner of the property knew that you were shooting there and that they gave you permission to do so.
Even if you shot at your own house, go ahead and sign off on your own residence.
You can find examples and templates for all of the release forms and agreements that I have mentioned or will mention online. You can then print them off and modify them to meet your specific needs.
You will also want to have release forms signed by all of the actors in the film and anyone that you photographed on set.
Music is Important
If you license any music that is out there from a band or artist, you will need to have an original music licensing agreement for the music you use.
If you are going to use multiple songs from the same band, you can include all of those songs in the same agreement.
If you are licensing music from all different artists, you will need a separate licensing agreement for each.
If you have a composer for the film, you will need to have a composer/original score agreement.
If you have multiple composers, you will need to have separate agreements for each.
There is a lot of royalty-free music that you can acquire online either through a subscription service or the purchasing of individual libraries.
If this is the case for your project, you will need an individual license certificate for everything that you use that you obtain from the provider.
And That’s My Cue
The last thing that I have found that all distributors will ask for is the music cue sheet.
The music cue sheet has the company and project information as well as what music was used in the project, when the music appears in the project, and for how long the music appears in the project.
It will then be sent to ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) before, or shortly after, the theatrical release of the film and/or the original broadcast on television, so that ASCAP can determine the distribution of performance royalties for the project, if any.
The top of the music cue sheet has the following information: cue sheet classification (Feature Film, Documentary, Episodic Television, etc.), date prepared, initial airdate (if any), category, version, network/source, production duration, total music duration, production title, production number, episodic title, episodic number, production company, mailing address, cue sheet prepared by, email, and phone number.
Next, you fill in all of the columns on the music cue sheet for all of the music in your film.
The columns include: the sequence number, cue title (song or track name), usage, time in (Timecode), time out (Timecode), total duration, composer/writer, publisher (or unpublished), affiliation, and percent shares.
Usage codes are usually provided and they are: BI, BV, VI, VV, MT, and ET which stand for background instrumental, background vocal, visual instrumental, visual vocal, main title theme and end title, respectively.
If you have an agreement with the artist and you gave up a certain percentage of the producer’s share of the film, you list that percentage in the percent shares column. Otherwise, it will just be 0.00%.
An example for the first song in the film could look something like this: 1, The Dark Cloud, BI, 0:00:21, 0:00:54, 0:00:32, Jimmy Somebody, TheBestStudio, None, 0.00%.
Filling out the music cue sheet is a time-consuming process but you have to have it.
Again, you can find examples and templates for the music cue sheet online that you can print off and fill out.
Every project is different and you may have other types of paperwork besides what I have listed here, but these are the ones that I have found that every distributor will ask for.
Essentially, what it all boils down to is that you should have agreements, licenses, or releases for anything in the film that you didn’t create and that you don’t own the rights to.
