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EntertainmentIndustry.net
If the studio passes on a submitted script, the production company is free to shop it or set it up elsewhere. Each deal is different and all the items are negotiable. Some production companies may still work out of other (or even their own home) offices and just “hang their shingle” there contractually. Some are considered “sponsored” or under the wing of multiple distribution entities if there is no overlapping competition.
For example: Scott Free has three deals including: CBS Entertainment, CBS Paramount Network Television and Twentieth Century Fox; Spyglass has deals with both Columbia Pictures and Touchstone Television; Jerry Bruckheimer has a feature deal with Walt Disney Pictures/Touchstone Pictures and his TV projects are committed to Warner Bros. Television Production.
On average, studios host ten to thirty “on the lot” producers, totaling just shy of two hundred and fifty such deals inked at any given time. The Hollywood Creative Directory online offers up to the minute information on who has deals with whom and each spring and fall, Daily Variety publishes a “Facts on Pacts” special issue which details development and output agreements signed between studios and production companies.
Obviously, the biggest benefit to the producer is that the studio bears the burden of taking all the financial risk of fronting the overhead expenses, freeing the producer to focus on project acquisition and creative development instead of being mired in the economic pressures of keeping the lights on. This is, indeed, an alluring luxury to many independents.
Being “on the lot” offers the added bonus of essentially putting a producer “on the map” with almost instant credibility. The legitimizing stamp of approval coming from deep and established pockets validates the potential in the burgeoning producer’s taste and talent encourages other professionals in the entertainment industry to give the firm the benefit of the doubt. Many professionals refuse to work with a production company unless they have a studio deal (or significant clout in the marketplace).
There are many downsides, though, to this possibly “too good to be true” scenario. Like many relationships, once the honeymoon is over, the bird in the hand can quickly become taken for granted. The studio can be slow to read their own producers’ projects, offering speedier response to those they’re still courting. The inked producers have no choice but to wait for the studio’s response before they are freed up to move forward in other directions.
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