Personal Managers Association
Please see below from Hilary Hadley at Equity…
James
_______
Dear Agent,
Re: Billy Elliot Live Recording for cinema and broadcast
Further to my last communication, I am writing again to advise you that unfortunately Universal are not prepared to improve their offer and that they require a buyout of all rights save for UK terrestrial and USA Network. They say that without these the figures do not add up and the project is unsustainable.
In these circumstances, and given our unhappiness, Jon Finn, Producer of Billy Elliot the Musical, has attempted to find more capital for the project and has been able to offer a further £200 per performer raising the additional buy out figure to £556 and £2,200 in total.
Whilst this is not ideal, this money does at least cover a pre-purchase of SVOD and represents a reasonable advance against a 17% royalty which would normally apply.
I have also considered the above factors:
Given they have acquired limited UK Terrestrial rights, it is extremely unlikely that in the event they make a sale to the BBC, that Sky Arts or a similar digital arts channel in the UK would be interested. Even if they were, the sales prices are dismally low.
Again in the US given they have pre-purchased PBS for 15 years which is the traditional channel on which arts products are broadcast, it is unlikely that other digital channels in the US would be interested in buying it.
We also have the assurance that in the event of recoupment of the initial outlay by Universal a further £1,000 per head will be paid to the cast.
In these circumstances, Equity is removing our opposition to the project going ahead.
We have arranged a meeting with the company on Tuesday 24th of June before the evening performance in order to go through the details and answer any questions any of the cast may have. We would hope that this will give you sufficient time to talk this through with your client.
Best wishes
Hilary Hadley
Head of Live Performance Department
Equity