What Credit Should He Get?

[Chris Cawley]

So, I'm close to the final edit of a short documentary I shot of this Blue Festival. I'm cool with most of the credits since I was pretty much a one-man-band on this excursion. The majority of the credits are all the "special thanks" to recognize all my interviews, people's images, etc.

There's one funny credit. The guy who put on the whole Blues Fest.

I started this whole thing by asking him for permission to film during the actual fest. I think he saw some of my previous work and then asked me to come down before the fest to get footage of the set-up. I turned that footage around and seemed to impress him, because he made me take time off from a coffee shop job to get even more set-up footage (and paid me for my time). So, he put me up and fed me and paid me. After this he told me I didn't have to pay for fest ticket and I got more free food and free beer :D and free camping while I videographed this festival.

Now. What does that make this guy who put on this Blues fest and basically ended up commissioning this documentary? I think our next step is going to be screening this thing so, I'm foreseeing this as a big deal. He's brand new to this sort of thing, so, I know he's going to rely on me to suggest his credit.

At first I credited my production company in association with ___. Now I'm thinking that's not enough. My wife thinks he should get Producer and my production company should get in association. But the reality I think is that my production company produced and he's the executive producer?

Whatcha think?

[Brian Drysdale]

I don't think he's the producer, he's sponsored the production, but that's different to producing the film. It really depends on your relationship with the organiser and if there was more involved than them giving you financial assistance. An important factor is who holds the copyright to the recorded material and if it has been cleared.

The production company normally gets the credit for making the film, even when someone else has commissioned it. You can put in association with the festival if you wish or give the organiser a co producer credit if you feel there's a long term relationship. A polite credit is associate producer, which can cover quite a few roles. Another possibility would be production company for the XXX festival or sponsored by the xxx festival. I'm not sure he's an executive producer, but in the end it's a matter of you feeling you're giving him his due.

[Jon Fairhurst]

I'd go with Executive Producer. Part of one definition I found said, "the title may be given as an honorarium to a major investor." The other producer related titles are all more hands-on roles.

But this is the easy part. If your film includes songs, you need to get contract rights to include those songs. You might also get your friend to sign a location release and other docs to ensure that you have ownership. Otherwise, you might have difficulty screening the film legally. The sad fact is that sometimes its wiser to sit on a production than to open yourself up to legal troubles.

On the other hand, if you can secure all rights, you could have a really valuable production on your hands. That you would have rights to a lot of music in a film can set your work apart. If it's too late to get all the paperwork signed, you might look at this as a trial run for next year.

[Chris Cawley]

Thanks Brian. You're absolutely right on all accounts. That is to say, credits are a vague and hairy realm. I'm still on the fence.

[Chris Cawley]

Jon. That's a good point. I think I"m going to go that route, even though I've always believed in a strict adheration to the title of Exec. being that Exec Prod. is the person who works his/her butt off to locate and secure funding. Like my wife on my last/current project, pimping out my kickstarter page while I was knee deep in casting.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

If not Producer or Executive Producer (latter is the best fit), then definitely 'Promoter'.

[Jacques Mersereau]

Executive Producer.

[Allan Black]

Chris, you have been paid, right? the cheque cleared?

Cheers.

[Shaun Roemich]

Executive producer.