Movie reviews

SCRIPT FIESTA

All the below mentioned videos were kept on for a few days longer than initially announced but are gone now. I didn't find time to see everything. Anyway here's a lowdown on what they were about and whether they were worth seeing at all. And some more is coming up shortly - when I've edited my notes.

SCENARIUSZ NA EKRANIE: BOZE CIALO

The 3-minute excerpt from the script is one scene played from the movie with the script rolling below. Interesting to see how it was performed and how poorly acted it in fact was.

Polish version only.

MACIEJ SOBCZYK - JAK PODPISYWAC UMOWY?

The lecture on how to sign contracts was excellent, I took 10 screen shots of Maciej Sobczyk's remarks. No English subtitles though. It was all in Polish only therefore I've decided to put some Polish terms in brackets.

What you're paid is the sum in the contract + royalties (tantiemy) + derivative rights, property rights (prawa pochodne, majątkowe). The payment of the last installment typically equals rights transfer (przekazanie praw), but it's also possible to "grant the producer an exclusive licence conditionally" ("warunkowo udzielić producentowi licencję wyłączną"), provided that they obtain funding. If the moment of the rights transfer is "the moment of establishing the work" ("moment ustalenia dziela") that equals the moment of durable recording i.e. on a computer - to be avoided! We should demand that to take place at the moment of the payment of the last installment (w momencie zapłaty ostatniej raty). The payment should take place after the work is accepted (zapłata po akceptacji dzieła). If a producer doesn't like the writer, they sometimes require endless amendments to discourage the person from cooperation. Also, you need to make sure you are given unlimited time to amend the script and you can provide for the number of amendments you accept to write. Any use of the script before obtaining the rights and paying for it is a serious breach of law. Before signing the contract or if the agreement is broken, the rights belong to the writer. 

Development is creating the basis, the first version of a film or the bible, the short story of a series (biblia, nowela serialu). It often happens that the contract mentions only the payment for episodes without a bible: characters, the axis of the conflict, the frame of the project - we need to get paid for it too. Episodes are derivatives of this basis. The idea-provider must be an author or co-author in the credits. The idea can be developed by someone else or by a team. 

As for sales and fields of exploitation, future fields are common in contracts but statutory invalid.

The producer sells the rights to third parties, e.g. TV, cinemas and the writer loses royalties. We need a stipulation that we get a % from the sales.

Derivative works under copyright law (autorskie prawo zależne = pochodne od dzieła) e.g. episodes from the short story of a series, a series from a film or a book etc. We can restrict to which forms we keep the rights and which we sell.The elements can be mentioned in different parts of the contract or be inconsistent - on purpose or by mistake. If a case goes to court, judges aren't proficient with audiovisual law. We need to ensure we profit from continuations, spin-offs, serials, games, books, comic books. We need a stipulation that we get a % from the derivative products, e.g. merchandise. Also if the format is sold, e.g. the serial in other countries. We need it in the basic, original contract.

If we sell a project which is never shot, we can state that if it's not enacted within e.g. 3 years, the rights return to us. It often means we need to return the pay. Or a licence agreement: they pay us for the right to use it within a period of time. 

They can use our personal rights: revealing the work, putting us in credits so we should cede them to the producer (scedować na producenta), but we may want to stay anonymous if we don't like the final cut or to ensure we are listed. It relates also to the integrity of the work (integralność utworu) but the law isn't precise. So we need to specify what they can do, e.g. use a character in another serial.So we need to be careful with the execution of our personal rights.

Royalties: that by law depends on the percentage of our participation in the work. The producer wants to determine it so we may end up being the author of our own script in 20% because people will add their names if they had remarks to the script. So we must demand to put down that our participation is no lower than some %. The royalties are from TV only, from streaming platforms not as yet - possibly will become a directive this year. So the producer should try to obtain their royalties and pay us part of those. 

If exploitation in "in particular", "among others", "e.g.", because they extend their exploitation rights - avoid! "any claims by third parties" ("jakiekolwiek roszczenia osób trzecich") are also to be avoided - we should also specify which claims we accept, e.g. in case the claims result from someone else's amendments.

Penalties for lateness etc. may appear but no penalties for lateness in payment will be put down. We need to put down we won't amend 3 months after the final approval. So penalties should be both ways. Penalties shouldn't be over the top - that's in fact illegal.

Arbitration tribunals (sądy polubowne = arbitraż) are more professional, faster and cheaper.

Product placement - we need to write that down in the contract as additionally paid.

CZEGO POTRZEBUJE SCENARIUSZ, A CZEGO POTRZEBUJE AKTOR?

It's a meeting with Adam Bobik, an actor of 2 movies and 1 serial - none of which I've seen but fragments are inserted in the conversation - on what an actor needs from a script conducted by Artur Wyrzykowski. The conclusions are: If a script is good, the actor is fine with just the stage notes and dialogues from which he can deduce the backstory. But with real life protagonists, he reads more on their motivations. Yet when he acts, he acts just the given scene which makes the backstory redundant. He focuses on technicalities, i.e. position, timing. The actor doesn't understand avoiding profanities in dialogues. I disagree with him and with some Artur Wyrzykowski's theories, e.g. creating a backstory in order to remove it later - in my humble opinion that may leave gaps in the 'now', now I understand why it happens in movies. His advice was silly too.

As for the movie excerpts, "Wszyscy moi przyjaciele nie żyją" ("All My Friends Are Dead") looks like a poor Polish drama, amateurishly acted, including Adam Bobik. "Król" ("King") - his role is better, the series is historical about the antisemitic ideology. "Bliscy" ("Dear Ones") hasn't been released yet, doesn't look enticing. 3 totally different roles: a spoilt rich youngster, a manipulative politician, a nerdy loner.

Subtitled in English.