After spending over 30 years in the film and television industry and over 40 in entertainment (including the years I worked in physical production and security touring the music world with major rock stars), I have rarely seen consultants used to good effect.
I am aware that’s a strange thing to say as we launch an entertainment consultant business. I understand the hesitancy to engage consultants and the reasons for it. Those reasons are valid. Too often consultants are hired by one party with a specific vested interest to solve specific problems, from a specific point of view.
In entertainment they are hired to ‘improve the story’ without knowledge of financing or production issues; to improve the ‘budgetary problems’ without understanding the effect on story; to find cast and directors without understanding whether they are right for the vision of the project – often only seeing what will ‘add value’ on a balance sheet to get a green light.
The entertainment business employs brilliant people
who are limited by their own brilliance.
The problem with most consultants in the entertainment industry is that this business is ‘show business’ and both of those words do a lot of work in that phrase, and are often opposed to one another in the execution of a project. Is it art or is it commerce? Obviously, it is both, and the business relies on not only financial acumen and efficient money management, but also creativity, originality, and effective and efficient physical production. The business employs the most talented people from across the globe in all of those positions – and yet projects often have an unpredictable success and failure rate in spite of that.
The entertainment business employs brilliant people who are limited by their own brilliance: the director with a unique artistic vision, but no sense of budgetary limitations; the writer who can craft an emotional, engaging story, without a sense of scope, time constraints, or audience demographics; the studio executives who are brilliant at risk assessment, but overcompensate and limit originality; the financiers willing to invest, but without experience in what changes will save money while not compromising the vision that will engage an audience. Each of our brilliant people have different perspectives and goals – and aligning them when each group essentially speaks a different creative language may require a translator.
This is due to the fact that our brilliant people are siloed, with hard-earned knowledge and perspectives that are hard to communicate to other brilliant people involved in the same projects with different backgrounds and experience. Clearly, an MBA teaches very different skills than a lifetime of acting or writing; no creative person will have the knowledge a studio executive has; no creative executive will fully understand the financing or advertising needs; and understanding a story in-depth is a craft most can understand watching the finished product, but are unclear how to create the ‘lightning in a bottle’ that creates that product.
So what’s the solution?
The solution is a communication and translation strategy that is able to work with all parties, from the initial creation through financing, production, and marketing all the way through release. Each stage is important, and as we all know, any stage that fails can mean that the project fails.
As a collaborative, creative industry based on unique creations, the application of processes and procedures for creating, developing, and producing content that can generate profit has never been completely codified. In fact, it cannot be completely codified without losing originality. However, just because it cannot be completely codified does not mean that there are not processes and procedures that can be put in place to reduce risk.
One of the issues to putting these processes and procedures in place is the very nature of the business and the historical deal structures – deal structures that add expensive experts from every field with producer titles to solve each portion of an issue in isolation while driving up the very budgets that need to come down, or bringing the budgets down while undermining the story that would have made more money in the long run.
This is where our comprehensive consultation comes in – helping to design a successful project from the ground up, without taking ownership of the project or weighing it down with production fees, titles, and creative opinions that are unwanted. Consultants can help engage a vision from the beginning in ways that encourage writers to keep financing and budgetary concerns in mind, prior to production, without us becoming involved in ways that take ownership.
Consultants can also observe and analyze films and shows in production to find efficiencies without compromising the visions of writers and directors. They can offer advice on the most appropriate actors for getting a greenlight, not just churning out lists of names that might be valuable – but not in these particular roles.
Our role is to minimize risk while maximizing collaboration to create a shared vision that can lead to success. To do so, there are certain foundational strategies that can be applied to every project to maximize the chance of success. Unfortunately, there are often structural and historical obstacles to these strategies, not the least of which is the almost superstitious belief that every success is ‘catching lightning in a bottle’.
This phrase, among others, is applied too often because the varied professionals in the industry with expertise do not understand the other professionals involved and view a successful collaboration as luck and not a strategic design. To remedy this, communication and education on one another’s area of expertise is important for a variety of reasons: to build respect for each so that the creative process can be improved; so that risk can be minimized; visions can be shared; budgets can be made more efficient; and audience reaction can be more predictable.
The collaboration in our collaborative art is too often treated as conflict and problematic rather than being a source of inspiring creativity. Yet, when the correct communication pathways are opened and a common vision can be facilitated, by consultants, if no one else, risks can be reduced.
The financial model is not the industry standard ‘attachments’, although that can be accommodated in certain circumstances as well – but a ‘pay as you go’ consultant model that will not weigh down the finished product. Our in-house legal team can insure that NDAs are airtight, the expenses are predictable and finite, and that all elements of the process are legally protected as well.
Our role is to minimize risk while maximizing collaboration
to create a shared vision that can lead to success.
How does this work and what are we, as consultants offering to solve these issues? Let’s start at the beginning and how we might be effective in the creative process, for simple fees paid by the hour or particular portion of a project. Potential services for creators, writers, producers and directors might include:
- Project Development: from start to finish, focusing on brand development and expansion.
- Exploring your established brand/ known strengths/ audience and demographics/ reach and ways to use those to expand and grow your business based on that foundation.
- Brainstorming Concepts: Using foundational strengths, we can identify areas for growth and expansion, interests and passions. Once identified, we will align you with possible markets and formats – in other words, we will guide you to help create what the markets are interested in buying.
- Development of Scripts: From the initial brainstorming concept, we will refine the exact format that best suits your project and the market from character development, format, structure, tone, visual and sound style will be analyzed and applied as we develop story, them and everything from a full pilot to seasons long arcs.
- In the development phase we can also advise on how the development might also affect future production financing. How many times have we seen a brilliant script that is deemed ‘unmakeable’ due to budget and production constraints? For example, a visionary ‘locked room mystery’ that is set on a sailboat, at night, in the middle of the Pacific during a storm may be exciting – but does it need all of those elements to retain its essence? Can we lose the storm? Set it on an island instead?
- In examining this process, it is important to retain the elements most important to the creators that will also be important to buyers.
- Development of Pitch Deck: With current pitching standards, we recognize that pitching is an art form and the pitch deck is the foundation of that. We will ensure that your deck is formatted according to industry standards and is ready to present to the industry.
- Creating the Leave Behind: A more ‘text-heavy’ version of the pitch deck, the Leave Behind is the summary of your project with both visuals and the full pitch, which will include a large portion of your format (which we can also develop with you).
- Sizzle: If necessary, we will brainstorm, organize and help develop your 2–5-minute sizzle reel, from concept through editing, music, and final cut.
- Pitch Performance Coaching: Pitching is performance and is a sales skill that is very different from writing, directing or producing. This is one of those areas where knowing the skills of other professionals (actors) can aid in your delivery, while knowing the needs of buyers will ensure that you are selling what they are looking to buy. The framing of your pitch deck as a sales tool and the performance are make or break to getting to the next step of development.
- Targeting Buyers: Once the pitch and material are ready, we will help advise on potential buyers and partners in this ever-changing business.
- Packaging: In a competitive market, packaging can help sell your project as long as the elements (actors, directors, pods, and producers) are added value. We can help determine which elements will actually add value at which targets so that the project does not get weighed down with elements that do not add value everywhere.
- After Sale: Whether it is a script sale, a pilot sale, a development deal (studio or independent) or a greenlight, our legal terms can advise on contracts and paths to production.
In the next stages of development, we can advise not only creators, writers, producers and directors, but also PODs, producers, and studios:
In Development – once a deal is made, a project is far from completion and we can help advise on next steps, whether hired by individuals, producers, or studios. The translation of notes between executives and creatives is often a challenge and can lead to ‘development hell’ – not because of problematic notes, but because of the interpretation of notes. A third party whose only job is to facilitate a common vision can be priceless in this process. We can also:
- Interpret and take notes from all parties involved while maintaining a common vision for the project. Implementing those notes for production to accommodate the input of physical producers, schedule, actors, time and budget constraints is also possible.
- Guide creatives and the studio through the process hiring a writers’ room, gathering writing samples, analyzing strengths against potential needs and deciding which writers will use their strengths to support the potential deficits of others in the room: Who is strong in the room? Who is strong with structure? With character? What levels will support a strong staff?
- Demonstrate how to run a writers’ room – once hired, we can analyze both staff and story to guide you in how to run the room efficiently, from brainstorming to breaking a season and episodes, outlines and scripts. Scheduling and deadlines will be discussed as well as how to assign scripts, do rewrites and guarantee the scripts maintain the vision of the show.
- Implement procedures to write for production, including establishing standing sets, days in/days out, night shoots, cast size, number of locations, etc.
In Production – The best scripts do not guarantee a successful show, as every step is a step to potentially add value or undermine the vision of the show. Focusing on studio, producer, creator, showrunner and director support, we can advise on:
- Casting: There are various strategies to casting, depending on the project. It can provide financing and marketing opportunities, but can also backfire and make projects too expensive, or wrest the control of the vision from the creators. Depending upon budget and buyer, the casting will be very different in intent. All of this must be taken into account as casting is a key element to maintaining the vision on screen and too often is rushed or short-sighted resulting in poor screen chemistry, compromising success.
- Hiring & Managing: Hiring and managing key relationships in production, as a well-run set can save time and money that is hard to calculate. We can advise on how to establish a set culture, including defining roles and boundaries.
- Managing directors: What specific styles will add value to the show? How well does the director work with showrunners? Actors? Crew? Are they working inside their established genre or is a talented director available that wants to stretch their vision – and is that worth it? Does the writer/ producer understand the distinctly different roles of a director in film versus episodic television?
The same analysis and keys to managing personnel holds true for editors; department heads and crew; actors and actor relationships with the departments; establishing processes and procedures for producing, including establishing meeting schedules and timelines for all departments and episodes; examining production for waste and efficiencies (too many company moves, too many locations) and suggesting solutions. If already in production, we can take time on set to diagnose issues from crew discontent to budget overruns etc.
PLATFORMING — As projects come to fruition, we can advise on how to launch the next project from the platform established on the current one, including leveraging the already established deals with talent, collaborators, financiers, and studios, etc.
As a third party, hired solely to solve problems and not take ownership, we as consultants can translate, advise and help maintain a common vision for every project you undertake without friction. We can fill the gaps without complicating the deal structure or compromising the vision.
Combined with the legal framework provided by the attorneys at LOPRESTI, PLLC, we can work towards protecting and securing your IP and projects from becoming overburdened by producers whose expertise may only be needed for limited periods of time. The firm brings years of legal and practical experience in media, publishing, entertainment, intellectual property, licensing, brand negotiation and development (including as litigation and trial attorneys), offering a keen hindsight to every media and entertainment opportunity.
So why engage LOPRESTI Media & Entertainment Consulting?
Tell us what your vision is and let’s see how our team can help. We can be valuable at any stage of production – or all stages of production.
Contact us, and let’s discuss options.
Kevin Fox (Consultant | Writer | Producer) is a consultant to LOPRESTI, PLLC’s growing Media & Entertainment practice. Kevin brings decades of firsthand experience in film, television, and publishing as a writer, producer, executive producer and showrunner. For over 35 years Kevin has been writing, producing and showrunning major film and television productions. Kevin has also written novels, and as a playwright, he currently has two plays in development, one in the UK and another in Los Angeles.
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LOPRESTI, PLLC publications should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances. The contents are intended for general information purposes only.
