The Rough Draft

What exactly is a Proxy? According to the Final Draft Thesaurus, a Proxy is ‘One who acts for another,’ but if you go down to the ‘related to:’ section you’ll find a more appropriate term ‘tool.’ I’m also using as a reference the ‘Hudsucker’s proxy’ a movie by the Coen Brothers; and I’m Tim Robbins…only shorter.

It’s also helps that the character Tim Robbins and I have more in common, we’re both from the country and a bit taken by the energy of the people we encounter. We both had a great idea we wanted to see happen, and we both looked awed by the interest people had in our ability. Tool doesn’t feel right; I’m going to go with Chump.

In the beginning, I had a script called Clean Fight and I was planning to direct it as a short film; I also had a producer attached who fell by the wayside but I won’t go into that. I also had actors that were interested in the project and I had traveled to Banff to pitch the project to a producer…but I also had my issues with pulling it off right so I decide I might need a director I trusted to come on board to show me the ropes…an advisor if you will.

The pitches in Banff went very well, there was a lot of interest and want of follow-ups, but my other producer wasn’t completely up to the task so not much more was done about it. I, myself, raised twelve grand to pursue the project but it also fell at the wayside when the project started growing bigger and bigger. Eventually, I gave into the calls to step aside as director and hand it over to the person that was supposed to be mentoring me, and ultimately ended up directing. For some reason, and to this day I have never figured out how it happened as I was told after it was decided…the director’s friend and producing partner came onto the project with support from the other producer that was helping me.

And thus, my chumphood was enacted.

This other company with the director that came in was a fledgling one, so I assumed at the time that I would still retain control over my project; and thus the dance of manipulation began. I admit I wasn’t completely naive to the situation, the first producer left and I brought on another one to look after my interests, he’s from LA so I assumed he’d be able to keep my role in things strong. But when people know how to handle you…they do it well.

It was subtle at first, when new decisions were made they were always made with the statement at the end of ‘but as far as we’re concerned, this is your project, it’s what you want to do.” And I swear that’s an actual quote…and at the time, filled me with so much confidence that even as cracks began to appear I would put up a struggle, but believe what I was being fed.

It was in the next six months that I started to see that it was getting away from me, as I watched the production company use Clean Fight or my other projects to get meetings with my contacts only to pitch their own wares…on that sticks out in my mind was a pitch with the women who started my career for me, only to have to remind the director that we’re pitching ‘Clean Fight.’

Then it took off, we were given the go ahead from the network to start ‘Clean Fight,’ and suddenly I became ‘only the writer,’ and was told ‘you’re only the writer, you should feel lucky you were allowed this much input,’ Devastating…yeah. But then came the point when it was pointed out that to get the funding the project must be run by an aboriginal company with majority control of the project.

Thus, my proxyhood was begun.

The chimera dance of how it was my project began again, I was wined, dined, introduced to people as the executive producer and must admit, even when I was warned by a friend that the producers weren’t to be trust (he himself ripped off by them), I still fell for it. It was a few months of them keeping me in the loop, doing trust worthy things that I fell for…the fact that I would make choices and they would get done. I approached other actors on behalf of the project, and people hired were run past me first…and the sales pitch of my executive producer ship was put to the network and they loved it.

In the garage of the director, with his kid playing out in the yard he put contracts in front of me with a huge grin on his face. These were contracts my lawyer told me not to sign, that I would be giving up control; but I listened to the director, in his home as he told me that ‘you’ll still have a say in everything,’ but I believe him even more when I had him promise me that he would never rewrite me…his reply “I’m not the type of person that would do that to you.” I believed him, with so much trust…so I signed.
And my journey to proxy hood was complete.

Then my leadership position disappeared, I was the executive producer on the project and fifty one percent owner of the company but any decision I made was ignored, or agreed to and then done differently. The Banff trip was a sure sign of things to come as the director and producing partner tried to bring on a larger company to work with them on the project, a company the director was trying to get in good with, I was informed after the pitch was made, the line I was given was ‘these things happen fast, we don’t have time to talk it over before I have to decide.’ It was a good debate at the table; I had to ask friends who this company was, and was then surprised to find that the director didn’t even want me to meet the head of this production company. To them, as I found out, I was only the writer.

The company was formed; I made the mistake of signing over the signatory rights and I soon became obsolete. It came to the point when I was complaining on set, and the other producer actually informed me that I was ‘irrelevant.’ His quote really was ‘it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re irrelevant.’ So I spent the rest of the day refusing to sign the contracts for funding that they needed me to, get money for the production; thus, they actually brought in the producer from LA guy I brought in to watch out for my interests…to handle me.

And then, they rewrote me…there’s more to go into there which I will in a future article…but just days before shooting, when I wasn’t around they quickly rewrote me and handed the script out. The big promise. I spent the weekend trying to get the script back to the one I wrote….that was fun.

The next step, I noticed that they began to leave me out of meetings; mostly likely because I attended one where they actually were deciding the best lie to tell people. I had a ‘hissy fit’ by balking at the notion of a company actually sitting down and deciding the best dishonest method of telling someone they’re not getting paid that they could get away with. It wasn’t so much leaving me out of meetings as not telling me they were happening.

In the end though, was it worth the trouble, the headaches and the bitching?

Not sure…but they will be kissing up again in the next little while if it’s picked up for series…question is, do I fall for it again, have I learned my lesson?

I like to think so.

Andrew Genaille

(Editor’s Note)

Clean Fight the series was not picked up by the funding channel

My father, one night at the dinner table, leaned over, looked at my Mother and said, “You know what I like about you? Nothing.” I don’t remember what my Mother replied but I’m sure it was in a similar vein. My brother and I, we just kept on eating.

That exchange pretty much sums up the bulk of my parent’s at times tumultuous marriage and the flavour of the last few years I spent at home. I was out of there by the time I was eighteen. I got married at 20 and am still married with the same wife at 40. We also have nicer dinner conversations.

Business relationships in Film and TV especially at the producer / creative level are very much like a marriage and believe me, my parent’s dinner conversation is but sweet nothings compared to how bad it can get when these partnerships fail.

A good producer is one who cares about the material more than his paycheck or his standing in the film community. Back in the 60s and 70s there were a visionary few who laid everything on the line to get certain films made. Which is why we have, “The Godfather, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, The French Connection, etc.”

I doubt any of these would get made today under the current studio managements. A bad producer tells a studio he can bring a film in for a ridiculous price and then nickles and dimes a production to death trying to make that film for the 10 million less he quoted. A bad producer seeks to line his or her pocket at the expense of the project. And the worst part is they’ll hide behind the letter of the law to do this. So they will take a short term small monetary gain over a larger long term one. Yeah, that’s logical.

Right now, the BC government is looking to stop giving out the film tax credit in that province because they lose $45,000,000 a year. Never mind that the film industry brings $240,000,000 a year into the local economy or that it employs 27,000 people in and closely related to the industry. Nope, that 20% loss is killing the govt. I guess they can’t figure out that 20% of nothing is a zero sum return. Of course we in the rest of Canada encourage the BC govt. to remove the film tax credit as we always welcome extra work here in Toronto.

But I digress.

Any asshole can hang out a shingle and call himself a producer, myself included. This is a problem in our industry as it comes down to how do you know you can trust a person? Well, the first thing you can do is ask around. It’s a small industry and people will talk. Talk to their last crew. Ask around your circle, look at what their last few projects have done in regards to the marketplace. Look at the level of personel they hired for their last and current projects. Did they go through the union? Did they hire people known for their expertise in their section of production or did they just hire friends to get them on the payroll? How do they conduct themselves? Is it in a professional manner? Are they precise in their expectations or is it all loosey goosey and, “It’ll be fine.”

The reality is you can’t know. Which is why you hire a very good entertainment lawyer to write your contract. A good contract leaves little room for discussion and is always worth the extra time to negotiate before entering into a business partnership.

And as always, listen to your gut, it’s always smarter than that lump of shit between your ears, three feet above your ass. Trust me on this one. Your brain can be sucked in but that sinking feeling you feel is the real smart part of your body kicking in.

We all get sucked in occasionally, if it’s continuously, maybe you should switch careers. In the end, if you play it smarter and smarter, your career will outlast the shysters. Karma can be a real bitch when it bites you in the ass. If you ever feel yourself being drawn into the scumbag’s side of things just remember this, yes it’s short term gain but this is an industry rife with money from dubious sources. You piss those boys off and you’ll find out how hard it is to swim with a concrete block strapped to your ankles. Think I’m joking? I have a friend who used to meet a guy on a street corner to collect a briefcase full of cash to meet payroll every week. Every week it was a different guy and every week it was a different street corner and every week it was scary as hell.

Just something to keep in mind. In the meantime, don’t let the bastards grind you down.