Instructors:

Barbara Boyle

Chair, Department of Film, Television and Digital Media
UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television
203A East Melnitz Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Phone: 310-825-7741
boyle@tft.ucla.edu

Ben Harris

Manager & Lecturer
Producers Program
UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television
203H East Melnitz Hall
Phone: 310-206-3761
bharris@tft.ucla.edu

COURSE SYLLABUS

1. Course Objective:

This two-day lecture and laboratory series is designed to enhance students’ understanding of, and competency in navigating, the North-American motion picture industry. Lectures will explain and discuss the industrial context that governs the development, production and distribution of motion pictures in today’s Hollywood. Readings include a mix of scholarly, professional, and trade and newspaper publications that are intended to expose students to critical concepts of contemporary industry studies and discuss common business practices used in the industry today. In lab exercises students will learn how to consider strategic questions and use online tools when researching and accessing information and data about the industry.

2. Required Reading:

• Schamus, James, “To the rear of the back end: The economics of independent cinema,” Steven Neale, Murray Smith (eds.), Contemporary Hollywood Cinema (Routledge: 1998)
• Schatz, Thomas, “The Studio System and Conglomerate Hollywood,” Paul McDonald and Janet Wasko (eds.), The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry (Blackwell Publishing, 2008)
  

Recommended Reading:

Creative Development & Screenwriting

• Ackerman, Hal, Write Screenplays that Sell: the Ackerman Way
• Edwards, Rona & Monika Skerbelis, I Liked It, Didn’t Love It (Lone Eagle, 2005)
• Snyder, Blake, Save the Cat! (Michael Wiese Publications, 2005)
• Walter, Richard, Screenwriting, The Art, Craft & Business of Film and Television

Contemporary Hollywood Industry & Cinema:

• King, Geoff, New Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction (Columbia University Press, 2002)
• King, Geoff, Indiewood, USA (I.B. Tauris, 2009)
• McDonald, Paul and Janet Wasko (eds.), The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry (Blackwell Publishing, 2008)
• Neale, Steve and Murray Smith (eds.) Contemporary Hollywood Cinema (Routledge, 1998)
• Vachon, Christine, David Edelstein, Shooting To Kill (Harper Paperbacks, 1998)
• Wyatt, Justin, High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood (University of Texas Press, 1994)

Entertainment Law and Business Negotiation:

• Cones, John W., The Feature Film Distribution Deal: A Critical Analysis of the Single Most Important Film Industry Agreement (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997)
• Daniels, Bill, David Leedy, Movie Money: Understanding Hollywood's (Creative) Accounting Practices, 2nd Edition (Silman-James Press, 2006)
• Donaldson, Michael, Clearance & Copyright (Silman-James Press, 2003)
• Farber, Donald C., Paul A. Baumgarten, Mark Fleischer, Producing, Financing, and Distributing Film: A Comprehensive Legal and Business Guide, 2nd edition (Limelight Editions, 2004)
• Litwak, Mark, Risky Business: Financing & Distributing Independent Films (Los Angeles: Silman-James Press, 2004)
• Marich, Robert, Marketing for Moviegoers (Focal Press, 2005)
• Moore, Schuyler, The Biz: The Basic Business, Legal, and Financial Aspects of the Film Industry, 3rd Edition (Silman-James Press, 2007)
• Squire, Jason E., The Movie Business Book (Open University, 2006)

History of Hollywood

• Mann, Denise, Hollywood Independents: The Postwar Talent Takeover (University of Minnesota Press, 2008)
• Schatz, Thomas, The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (Faber & Faber, 1998)

You should also become accustomed to reading Daily Variety or Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, or Wall Street Journal, and any other relevant industry trades on a regular basis. Most of these publications are available online. (Wall Street Journal’s online edition requires subscription.)

3. Lab Assignments:

Release schedules
Look up the upcoming releases for 2010-2011 for Walt Disney Studios.

Development Grid
Compile a list of all thriller projects currently in development at Warner Bros.

Executives Search
Compile a list of creative/production executives who specialize in comedies at Universal.

Talent Search
Compile a list of actresses in their mid 20s to early 30s who are represented by William Morris Agency.

Writers Search
Compile a list of writers who have worked on action movies within the last 2 years and are represented by CAA.

Production Chart
Find all movie productions currently shooting in Los Angeles from November 2009 through June 2010.

Potential assignment to combine all the exercises

Buyer’s Evaluation
Read a spec screenplay and prepare a buyer’s evaluation. In your buyer’s evaluation you should discuss whether the assigned project would be an appropriate buy for a specific U.S. domestic studio (to be assigned). You should compare the project against the studio’s projects in active development and its recent and upcoming releases in terms of budget level, target audiences, and executives’ perceived personal preferences (based on their previous selections). Market Evaluation should be 2-3 pages, double-spaced.

4. Useful Research Tools:

Lexis-Nexis:
In order to conduct outside research for your midterm and final papers you should access recent and old trade and newspaper articles on Lexis-Nexis. To access Lexis-Nexis, go to http://www.library.ucla.edu/search/1528.cfm and scroll down to Lexis-Nexis. If you’re accessing Lexis-Nexis from off-campus, you might need to set up your browser as a proxy server: http://www.bol.ucla.edu/services/proxy/

Other online resources:
Box-Office Mojo: www.boxofficemojo.com
Hollywood Reporter: www.hollywoodreporter.com
Variety: www.variety.com
IMDB: www.imdb.com
TV Tracker: www.tvtracker.com
Baseline Studio System: www.studiosystem.com (subscription-based)

DAILY SCHEDULE

1. DAY ONE

MORNING SESSION:
10:00-11:15 AM
Lecture: “Overview of the Motion Picture Industry”

• Brief historical overview of the studio system
• The rise of conglomerates (Time Warner, Disney, News Corp, Viacom, CBS, Sony, NBC Universal) and the emergence of the blockbuster
• The independents and the art-house market
• Industry vernacular
• Guilds & unions

11:15-11:30 AM BREAK
11:30-12:45 PM
Lecture: “The Development Process”

• Overview of script development process in the studio system
• The role of the independent producer
• Talent attachments and packaging
• The role of the agency

12:45-1:00 PM Q&A

AFTERNOON SESSION:
LAB
Accessing Development and Packaging Data

• Searching for comparable and competitive projects
• Compiling talent lists • Compiling studio grids
• Tracking spec script sales
• Accessing news and information (Lexis Nexis, Variety, THR, LA Times, Deadline Hollywood, TheWrap)

MORNING SESSION:
10:00-11:15 AM

Lecture “Motion Picture Financing”

• Studio Financing: Production distribution agreements, domestic pre-sales/negative pick-ups, studio co-productions
• Independent Financing: Equity, pre-sales, subsidy & state incentives, int’l co-productions .

11:15-11:30 AM BREAK

11:30-12:45 PM
Lecture: “Movie Distribution and Exhibition”

• Release patterns: Exclusive, limited, wide, saturation, super-saturation releases
• Audience demographics
• Marketing: Advertising, media buys, publicity, promotions
• Exhibitor chains • Art-house and specialized markets
• Home video and TV distribution
• Online distribution

12:45-1:00 PM Q&A

AFTERNOON SESSION:

LAB:
Accessing Financing and Distribution Data

• Compiling financiers’ and buyers’ lists
• Checking box-office data
• Examining release schedules