Honestly, it’s harder to determine per feature than it is to give blanket advice. Sure, the internet is handy and has clearly given me a 2%-10% range for a Producing position to the TOP Creative Producer. Since you probably have a feature film budget range, a set of monthly bills to pay, and a rough idea of how to put those together, you should be fine to figure it out… right? But what is the magic formula exactly? Well, you need to either have the experience of working alongside financiers for a decade to know how to navigate this moment or friends /colleagues willing to let you peek over their digital cubicle wall and have some real talk.

Transparency is KEY, but how do we get to a place where we can trust that being transparent will be used for good, and ONLY for good? We don’t know. The best place to start tis to PUT IT OUT THERE.

Let’s say you are asked to submit for this rad feature film TOMORROW, what do you do right now?

1. Google.
2. Phone a friend.
3. Email a colleague.
4. Talk to your team. (if you have regular collaborative colleagues)
5. Then ultimately, send a terms sheet with negotiating room.

I don’t have a perfect solution, but I can say that you’ll lose some before you win some and that’s the part of the game that is super super uncool, but you have to get to the other side. You have to gain the experience. You have to underbid yourself enough times to recognize that you CANNOT work for that amount and aim much much higher.

I applied for a Producing job this week and I am pretty sure I will get the job, …but writing the terms sheet and giving myself enough credit to ask for what I needed was one of the hardest things I’ve had to mentally backflip over in a looooong time. You’ll figure it out when the time comes, per movie, per year, against the context of what’s going on in the world, and you’ll remember this article said:

Figuring It Out Exactly Is Part Of The Job. This Was All A Test.

You’re welcome.