Deal lethargy is perplexing but has gradually become the status quo. I remember the days of a quick CofA and payment within a week. These days it takes half a year, with signature drafts sometimes never coming. The screenplay is often completed before the long form contract. There doesn’t seem to be any urgency in business affairs anymore to do their job. I had a deal at one studio that never came to fruition as a result. I looked up the apathetic business affairs council and discovered that he was a former divorce attorney, which explained everything.

I was told by my business manager that backend participation usually never comes, and that only if the film is wildly successful that you'll be rewarded with another job, and to then consider that your backend. Shifty lame business Hollywood is, run by ex-divorce lawyers.

My experience as a working stiff producer is that in-house legal takes the approach of stalling, sandbagging because that’s the only way they can justify being in house. If they were honest about their time, it took to really do contract work most studios which just put them on a retainer and pay them hourly. In house council is a cushy job at least what I observed that a couple different studios

@AVARY Ai fixes this 😎

@AVARY Eddie Murphy called net profits “monkey points”.