I am currently a Producer of a 5 million dollar film that will go into production next year. This is actually my first film and I was wondering if there is any standard fee or salary that a producer should get for a film of this budget size.
Please consider that I have spent about 10 years trying to get this film off the ground and I was also involved in aquiring the financing. Having said that, if this is the first and last movie that I ever make, I would like to have something to show for the last 10 years of my life.
As a small independent film, this isn't the kind of movie that will make a huge fortune at the box office (I hope that I am wrong though), so I need to make my money through my salary.
The Executive Producer is making about $250,000 - so I think that it's fair to say $150,000 at least. I am currently budgeted at $100,000 salary, but I just feel that I should be getting more considering that I put this movie together.
I am not aware of any standard Producer fees or anything of that nature - like you would for a Director through the DGA for example. I suppose a Producer can request any salary amount they want, if that is what they charge for their services.
I would appreciate any advice and information as we are updating the budget now.
Adam,
I'm surprised no one has replied to you on this... I'm a Canadian filmmaker, so not sure if my advice will be as appropriate for you if you're in the States, but I can explain one way that we do it here.
On Canadian films, it's normal for the Producer to pay himself 10% of certain costs within the budget. Not 10% of the ENTIRE budget, but 10% of what we call "B" and "C," which are categories of budgetary line items. For example, category "A" includes the above-the-line costs, and Producers are NOT allowed to pay themselves a percentage of those. They are not allowed to pay themselves percentages of costs like insurance and legal fees either.
But for brevity's sake, let's say it's 10% of the entire budget. At 5 million, you're looking at a figure just shy of 500,000 for yourself. I would say that, depending on the role your Exec Producer is playing, it's entirely possible that you should be paid more.
One thing we do in Canada, if the budget is very low (and let's face it, they're ALL low here in Canada-- 5 million would be a Studio picture here!) is we defer our 10% fees to the back end. So they're accounted for, but just not received until the film is selling.
Anyway, I hope that helps. Best of luck.
Hal
