A big budget feature movie in Hollywood is one which involves a lot of processes from pre-production to post-production. It begins with satisfying a chain of title requirements. A chain of title is the history of ownership interest in a property, typically a literary property such as a screenplay. When a studio decides to embark on a movie project which costs millions of dollars, it will ensure that the property has a clean chain of title which is to prevent potential or partial owners from laying claim to some rights in the property in the near future.
Getting a clean chain of title by the producer (who is either an individual or a studio) involves acquiring rights in an already existing screenplay or engaging a writer to write a screenplay. At this stage, intellectual property comes into play either through a license fee or acquiring the already existing work or drafting an employment contract with a ‘’work-for-hire’’ agreement for the writer which transfers the right in the script henceforth to the producer in exchange for a compensation (fee).
Once a script is in play, the actors are sourced and given actor’s agreements which will have “work-for-hire” clauses. If the movie is majorly shot in the studio, with a couple of scenes outdoor, the studio will smartly provide “releases” for the owners of the building so they can’t enforce a certain right in future. Now, everyone who appears or act signs a form of agreement which prevents future claims of any kind in future. When the movie is set for release, a distribution agreement is sought for theatrical and non-theatrical releases. If an independent producer, such a producer will have to enlist the services of a movie distributor e.g Century studios for a worldwide perpetual distribution of the film. They will handle advertising and other relevant expenses for a percentage of the film’s gross receipt after the exhibitor (theaters) must have deducted their percentage as well. Most studios theatrical distribution levy varies with a higher charge for international distribution. If the producer is a studio, then it wouldn’t need to enter into any distribution agreement going forward but to distribute itself.
For non-theatrical releases, the studio will license for a fee to airlines, cruise ships, military bases etc. Also, it will be released on “vod” (Video on Demand) platforms, pay cable etc. All these secondary streams of revenue for a high budget movie is determinant on how successful the theater release is. Merchandising through sale of accessories, t-shirts, mugs and releasing a sound track album can be exploited.
Now, let’s look at the model available in Nollywood which is the name for the Nigeria Movie Industry. To set the ball rolling, Nollywood is unofficially divided into Asabahood and Lagoshood (permit the suffix added). The Asaba movies are more of low budget movies shot strictly on home viewing standards (which means no theatre in view) with the aim of selling to cable networks/t.v stations primarily and v.o.d secondarily. While the Lagos movies can either be shot on higher standards with A-B list actors and an array of options like; theater showings or cable networks/TV stations and v.o.d platforms. In summary, Asaba movies don’t make it to theaters while Lagos movies have options of theatrical releases or non-theatrical releases and in cases of theatrical releases, it surely will later after it is done with theaters, be available for cable networks, v.o.d platforms, international screening, etc.
For the extra cautious movie producers (including studios), they ensure that they have a clean chain of title at the pre-production stage. Most theatre films which have turned out to be box office hits use popular songs in between scenes in the movie known as ”synchronization licensing”. An example is the wedding party 1 which had the popular song ”ladies and gentleman” by Reakado Banks in some scenes of the movie. Once a movie has passed the pre-production stage to post production, it means it’s set for releases nationwide and internationally. The producer will go in search of a distributor for the film. Once that is sealed, the distributor goes into work by placing the movie in theaters. Some distributors own their theaters which makes it quite easy for them to fix the movie in a good screen time daily or weekly while it’s showing in theaters. If the movie is selling good, an exhibitor will prioritize the showing time as everyone will smile to the bank more regardless of who’s distributing.
When the movie is out of the theatres, the exhibitors will take a certain percentage as agreed from the ticket sales in addition to retaining all of the profits generated by the sale of popcorn & other refreshments in their theatres. After the percentage has been deducted, they are to remit what is left to the distributor. The distributor will deduct its distribution fee in addition to distribution expenses like advertising, prints e.t.c after which it remits to the producer. Just a few distributors in Nigeria exploit the non-theatrical channels which is most likely because they feel that the sum generated from it is nothing close to the theatres revenues. So, what most producers do for this secondary revenue is to find an agent who will sell the movies to t.v stations, cable networks, v.o.d platforms etc. Currently, the merchandising space lacks exploitation but I believe that in the near future, that will become a source of revenue to producers.
The information provided in this publication does not, and is not intended to constitute legal advice of any sort, rather all information herein are for general informational purposes.
