What is a Movie Distributor?

A distributor is the owner and licensee of motion picture rights. They are responsible for getting the movie into theaters, and licensing the rights to desired third parties.

What is Syndication?

This is the goal for any television show. When a show goes into syndication, the studio will sell the broadcast rights to a particular station. This is usually on a per episode basis and occurs when a show is on its 3-4^th season with 100 episodes. This is where studios begin to see profits from their television shows. When a network buys a television show from a studio, the cost to purchase the show is usually less than the cost to produce the show. In other words, studios don’t make a profit by selling their shows to the initial network. Profit is usually made when the show goes into syndication…and we’re talking a lot of profit. Usually a station will by multiple season of a particular show as a package. Price of the package can range from $10-000-$850,00 per episode.

Put Pilot/Penalties

This is a provision that a TV studio or writer may include in a deal with a network in regards to a certain project. This guarantees the studio that the pilot will be shot, or the studio will be paid a fee if the pilot is not shot. This is done for high-profile projects or as incentive when more that one network is bidding for the project. Script penalties can range from $50,000 to $200,000. Pilot penalties can range all the way up to $1M.

What is a Blind Script Agreement?

This agreement commits the writer to write for an “undecided project”. A studio will do this if they like the writer and know that they want to work with him/her. This will commit the writer to write any project once they decide what that project is. Most studios will sign this deal even if they know what project they want their writer to write for. The will do this just in case they change their mind, or the project doesn’t sell. In this way they can get the writer to write on a project that does end up selling to the network.

What is an “If Come”?

This is a type of development deal that a studio may sign with a writer. This deal states that the studio will only pay the writer if a network buys the project.

What’s a DMA?

Also known as Designated Market Area, this is the area whose population receives all the same TV signals. In the USA, there are over 200 DMAs. Most DMA’s have one channel for every major network.

How do local TV stations work?

Local municipal television stations can be broken down into 2 categories:

Affiliates

Owned and Operated

Owned and Operated TV stations

These stations are, you guessed it, owned and operated by the network and play to a specific location. The reason why networks don’t just own and operate all their local stations is that the FCC mandates that networks aren’t allowed to own a station that reaches more than 39 percent of the population.

What are TV affiliates?

These are privately owned television stations that are partnered with a broadcast network. In most cases, the network pays their affiliates  a fee (network compensation) to broadcast their shows and in return, the network is allowed to sell the ad space and keep the ad revenue for themselves. There are, however, some local ad spaces that the affiliate will sell on its own. In some case, like with the CW, the affiliate station will pay a fee to CW (reverse comp) and generate revenue through selling ad space.

Three main players in the TV world.

In the world of television, there are four main types of companies that work together to create and deliver the content onto your television monitor.

CABLE PROVIDER,     NETWORK,     STUDIO,      PRODUCTION COMPANY