Video Age International October 2016

32 October 2016 V I D E O A G E I n the past, scriptwriters pitched their ideas and producers bought their scripts. These days, however, the producers are the ones selling other scripts that were collecting dust in their file cabinets to other producers. Apparently, one producer’s scrap is another producer’s treasure. At MIPCOM, individual distributors and aggregators alike also sell scripts as remakes and formats. These are the international versions of local territories’ adaptation rights, that can come with or without publishing rights. There is also the revival of old movie scripts adapted for television. Sony Pictures in particular is said to be good at selling television adaptations. To clear up some of the confusing definitions regarding scripts, for some Hollywood and LATAM executives, scripts offer “format” rights for scripted series, while “remakes” are generated from old films. In this case, only the concepts are licensed since they require new scripts. For television, the process of taking ideas from old programs to make new ones is called “rebooting.” However, in certain territories, “formats” rights are for unscripted shows (reality) and “remakes” are scripted series based on existing popular programs, but produced locally. For example, Televisa Internacional’s Hugo Treviño said, “All of our telenovelas can be sold as formats. We provide all the scripts with production notes in English and Spanish, and video for reference.” Similarly, Meca Salado Pizarro of Argentina’s Telefe reported: “We sell scripts of fiction formats of programs [telenovelas and other shows] that have already been released and scripts of programs not yet launched. We also create scripts on request.” Marcel Vinay of Mexico’s Comarex explained, “We currently sell several [scripts] formats for drama series and for unscripted programs as well. The scripts are adapted to the final editing of every episode already produced. For formats of titles not yet produced we sell and deliver drafts of the scripts. Scripts are delivered in English and then the local producer translates and adapts them for the local market.” Patrick Zuchowicki, who created a brick-and- mortar trade show for scripts called The Remake Market, said that he got around the confusing definitions by simply using “adaptation rights for scripted and unscripted shows.” Sony Pictures Television’s alum Brendan Fitzgerald founded Miami-based Pomodoro Stories, which specializes in developing and licensing scripts and scripted formats from around the world. In association with Germany’s BetaFilm(Fitzgerald’s first employer), Pomodoro Stories offers co-production financing, pre-sales and worldwide distribution. In Hollywood, one of the largest buyers of “old” scripts is Adaptive Studios. Reportedly, Adaptive has acquired 50 scripts from various studios to be turned into movies. Through Adaptive Books, its publishing arm, the company is also turning those scripts into books and they use the books to promote films. However, even with cash in hand, acquiring old scripts from studios is not an easy task. In many cases, studios don’t keep track of old scripts sitting in their vaults. TJ Barrack, founding partner at Adaptive Studios, explained: “Studios notoriously buy way more than they use and as the traditional distribution pipeline tightens, decades of development projects stack higher and higher. There are cases where we have heard about an ‘orphaned’ project and go looking for it and we are literally sifting through boxes. “Accessing them is not always easy because most studio executives don’t understand it when you tell them you want to see the projects that everyone else has passedon. The process of taking the stories that nobody wants and breathing new life into it is not simple or sexy. “The legal and business affairs side is as challenging as the creative but ultimately our goal is to get these stories out into the world and give the Studio every opportunity to benefit from our efforts. We are not fighting for the scripts that everyone in town wants, we are digging for the ones everyone has buried and forgotten about.” Often it is the job of individual executives to track scripts that went in turnaround (being sold to other producers) or are in “development hell,” but when they leave the studios, the tracking gets lost. These can be the same executives who, after licensing a script, decide not to send it into development but don’t put it in turnaround. Instead, they keep it in the vaults for what in industry slang is called “schmuck insurance” — using the Yiddish word for foolish— if later on the script becomes a success for some other company. Reportedly, one Hollywood studio good at keeping track of old scripts was MGM. However, when their filmpreservation expert, Roger Mayer (no relation to MGM founder Louis B. Mayer) retired in 2005 fromwhat then was owned by Ted Turner, that role disappeared. Talent agencies are also good sources of scripts. Indeed, in addition to studios, talent agents keep “old” scripts and they sell those that are sitting in their file cabinets. One of the largest talent agencies where many scripts can be found is said to be the literary department of The Gersh Agency, which has offices both in Hollywood and New York City. Naturally, selling scripts — whether scripts of filmed movies, like eBay’s Movie Script Market, or not-yet filmed scripts from The Black List — is nothing new. Plus, producers looking formaterial to film always had a pool of existing scripts available. Indeed, it is estimated that each year more than 100,000 scripts are floating around Hollywood and of those, just 300 are made into movies. The advantage of acquiring dusted scripts from studios, like Adaptive Studios does, means tapping into a selection of promising screenplays purchased by major studios, but never made into movies for various reasons (executives’ revolving doors, “development hell” or perennial turnarounds). The Los Angeles-based Black List is one of several sites to find movie scripts, including the Internet Movie Script Database and InkTip. Black List, owned by partners Franklin Leonard and Dino Simone, handles feature screenplays and original episodic pilots and, according to Leonard, they “have a relationship with Adaptive Studios.” At MIPCOM, among other content distributors who are also in the business of selling scripts, is Avi Armoza of Israel’s Armoza Formats, who has a catalog of scripts for 25 series produced either in Canada or in Israel (his two largest sources of material). The scripts are in English and sold for remakes of eight episodes and up per season. License fees average five percent of production budgets, with Armoza taking a commission. Armoza is also in the business of selling formats, which if unscripted, come with “bibles.” As mentioned earlier, the business of buying and selling scripts did not escape the creator of the Discop TV markets, Patrick Zuchowicki, who six years ago developed The Remake Market, fully devoted to the marketing and sales of existing scripts. From its Los Angeles origins, The Remake Market is now headed for its third year to Shenzen, China, December 12-14. SecuringMultiple Rights For Adaptations, Formats, Reboots, Remakes, Merchandising Script Sales at MIPCOM Selling scripts at The Remake Market 2015 TJ Barrack, founding partner at Adaptive Studios