Producers can be an individual or a group of individuals. It could be a production house. It could be a big corporate entity with varied business interests.As they produce a film, they have to meet the production expenses. This is called financing a film. They bring the finance from either overseas or domestic market.Finance so sourced from the organised market is economical as it is available at competitive rates, say 3 to 4 per cent.Even a bank is approached to part finance or full finance a project.The borrowed finance is supplemented by own internal resources.The project can be co-financed by several presenters.There are private individuals who also come forward to finance a project. An individual producer can approach a coroporate.The distributors also can pay advances to the reputed producers. A few scenes shot are shown to them as preview screening.They can advance 50-60 per cent finance to keep the production going.

The project starts as a script which is translated into a screenplay detailing shooting schedules, casting and dates.All this is a part of pre-production work.After the film is shot by employing a director who directs the cast, the film is ready for post production work of dubbing and editing.From the negatives, a print is made.

In previous years, films were produced by studios such as Bombay Talkies, Prabhat, Minerva Moivitone, RK, Navketan and Filmistan. These days there is prolific production of feature films. Along with these, we have production of TV serials, reality shows, music, videos and ad films. There are corporates who have entered into film production. However, many become produccers on individual basis, earning the nickname ‘simple producers ‘. They are responsible for more than 50 per cent production of films. Many of these producers do not go beyond one film. There are no training facilities for producers. They learn on the job. The starting point is the ability to invest. The venture could be a partnership. It may so happen that the cost overruns leaves behind a few partners whereas others sever the partnership relationship.Producers introduce their own finance plus the borrowed finance either from financiers or the institutions like banks. The firm that produces the film must register itself with the producers association IMPaa. there are regional associations where a regional film producer registers himself.

The producer has to appoint an Executive Producer and sets up a Unit manned by full-time and part time members. A producer must be aware of the different aspects of the film making process and the challenges in the changing environment. There should be understanding of the medium. The first consideration is the choice of the story or plot. Then comes the screenplay. Later comes the casting. The shooting involves cinematography and art director. There are choreographers, lyricists and music directors. Even before the story is selected, we have to appoint a director, and assess his competence. A producer takes interest from the concepts to commissioning of the whole project. A movie is a business as well as a medium. Both these components must be balanced.

Begum Para was a yester years actress. She had an attractive figure and a cute face. She wore masculine attires. Her well-shaped nose and a mole on her chin were easily noticable. On X’mas day of 1926, she was born in a Punjabi family, and was one of the ten siblings. Her father was a sessions judge. She spent her childhood at Jhelum. Her schooling was at Aligarh and Delhi. She came to Mumbai for her college education at her sister-in-law’s, Pratima Gupta’s place but her life look a turn here. In pre-independence day India, Pratima was a well-known actress. She had acted in Kunwara Baap of Kishor Shahu and Namastey of Kardar. Begum Para was also fond of acting. She held the apron strings of her sister-in-law to enter the film industry. She debuted in Chand (1944 ) of Prabhat. The music duo Hansalal-Bhagatlal also debuted in this movi. Chand celebrated a silver jubilee. Pratima later took to direction and directed Begum Para in Chhamiya ( 1945 ). It was based on Pygmalion of George Bernard Shaw. She was a small-time con woman in the first half, and a mod woman in the second half. Her conquettish acting was very well received. Later, Begum Para acted in Sohni Mohiwal ( 1946 ), Mehandi ( 1947 ), Nilkamal ( 1947 ), Shahnaaz ( 1948 ), Suhag Raat ( 1948 ). Mehandi was a Muslim-Social story. Begum Para was a companion of Nargis in this movie. She erred in accepting character roles in Nilkamal and Suhag Raat. She was then stereotyped. She acted in Shalimar ( 1946 ) as Mumtaz Mahal. The movie was not released for 8 years. It was a flop when it was ultimately released. Then came the Partition of India. Some of her movies like Zanzeer, Suhagi never saw the light of the day. Pagley produced and directed by Pratima Das Gupta was released in 1951 at the then Kamal theatre, now renamed as Alankar. She also acted with Ajit in Meherbani. She then started to act in B-Grade movies like Dada, Ustad Pedro and Dara. In theses movies, her co-star was Sheikh Mukhtar. Ustad Pedro has music by C. Ramachandra. Dara’s music was composed by Mohammed Shafi. Begum Para’s last two movies were noticeable — Pehli Jhalak where she had a cameo role and Budhapa Abhi Kuch Door Hai. She acted as a refree in a wrestling ring in this movie. In Naya Ghar she was a friend of the herion, Gita Bali.

She was a good sportsperson apart from being an actor. She was good at basket ball, base ball and badminton. She was fond of reading. Her favourite authors were Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw. She was married to Nasir Khan, half brother of Dilip Kumar. Nasir died all of a sudden. She had to take care of the kids single-handedly. She wanted someone from the family to enter the film industry. Ayub Khan ultimately got a role in Mashuk. She was very happy then, and was present at the Muhurat shot. Even Dilip Kumar came to bless Ayub. She was not seen for 18 long years thereafter. She acted in Saawariya at the instance of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whose father always told young Bhansali about Begum Para, a beautiful actor par excellence. She expired in December 2008.

India has been divided into 14 circuits for film distribution purposes. They are :

• Mumbai
• Delhi-UP
• East Punjab
• CI ( Central India)
• CP Berar (Central Provinces)
• Rajasthan
• Bihar
• West Bengal
• Nizam
• Mysore
• Tamil Nadu
• Assam
• Orissa
• Kerala

Exhibitors own the theatre. They get the film for  exhibition from the distributor. They can make the following types of  revenue sharing arrangements with the distributor.

Percentage : A fixed percentage of the collections (say 40-60 per cent ) are passed on every week to the distributor.

Theatre Rentals : A theatre has a maximum financial capacity, say Rs. 10 lac per week. The thumb rule is 50 per cent of the maximum capacity to be retained. The exhibitor keeps aside 50 per cent of full-house capacity and the remaining is given to the distributor.

Illustration : The collections are 15 lac. The exhibitor keeps Rs. 5 lac and passes on Rs.10 lac to the distributor. If the collections are Rs. 6 lac, the exhibitor keeps Rs. 5 lac, and the distributor gets Rs. 1 lac. If there is less than 50 per cent collections, say of Rs. 4 lac , the exhibitor will get Rs. 5 lac  nevertheless, but will not be paid immediately. It will be accounted for, and the accounts will be settled after the film is pulled off.In case, there is a shortfall in the per week payment of Rs. 5 lac for the exhibitor, it will be made good by the distributor.

Theatre capacity is expressed in terms of revenue it can generate.

This is widely used method in metros. It provides good money to the theatre-owners, since they are paid a fixed quantum of peak capacity. The exhibitor is not affected by the success or failure of the film.

These days theatre-owners are ready to share revenues or overflows by accepting a smaller hire charge.

Fixed rental : In this revenue sharing system, the exhibitor takes the risk and pays the distributor a fixed amount every week, whatever the collections. If the capacity of the hall is Rs. 3 lac, then the fixed hire could be Rs.1.5 lac per week. There may be a surplus, which can be shared with the distributor on mutually agreed terms. This method is useful in the interiors, but there are unscrupulous distributors who accept payment in cash, but declare a lesser amount while setting with the producer.

In this business, the project finance that comes from the distributor is actually from cash flows that he receives from the exhibitors.

In film finance, the contribution from distributors may be 30-40 per cent. The rest comes from credits ( on account of artists and labs ), music rights and satellite and video rights. This contributes 35-45 per cent, thus taking the total contribution to 65-85 per cent. The remaining 15-35 per cent comes from the financiers. These financiers are likely to be made world right controllers.

 

Traditionally, India has been divided into 11 territories for film distribution. The distribution rights for these territories generate revenue. These days all producers have also started focusing on the overseas market and the sale of its rights. It generates a large percentage of total revenue. The other revenue streams for the producers are music rights and satellite TV rights

The following arrangements between the producers and distributors illustrate how they agree to share the revenue.

Advance : A distributor advances a certain amount to the producer. The amount is covered from the revenue generated by the film. If there is a shortfall, it is reimbursed by the producer. The distribution cost is borne by the distributor. He adds a commission on this.

Minimum Guarantee : It is called royalty MG. A distributor undertakes distribution in a specific territory against a certain sum, which is a certain percentage of the production cost of the film.The producer is not paid full MG to begin with. He receives generally 30-40 per cent in advance and the rest against the first print. The cost of distribution is borne by the distributor — i.e. the cost of prints, publicity. The distribution cost mark up per cent is 10-20 per cent. It is added to the total cost which is recovered from the box office colletions. The overflow after adjusting total cost is split half-way with the producer.

Commission : The distributor releases a film in the assigned territory and collects a 10 per cent commission on the takings. The whole risk is borne by the producer.

Outright : A lump-sum is accepted by the producer from the distributor against rights of exhibition in the assigned territory for a specific period. When it is difficult to compute earnings in a certain territory, this is a suitable method. Previously, overseas rights were sold on an outright basis.