Reader Question: How do I prepare for a meeting with a possible attachment for my script project?

Adaddinsane asks:

I have a script based (loosely) on the characters and ideas in the songs from an album by a big 70s-80s band. (The script is like “The Hangover” but different, certainly much more different than “The Hangover 2”.)

I have a contact who is going to be meeting the band in a few weeks — and he said he’ll talk to them about the project.

I’m working on the assumption that getting the band onboard is a good move — while not huge they have credibility and one of the songs (from that album) is a “classic”.

Anyway, the question: where the hell do I go with a meeting assuming I get one with them?

Broadly speaking what you are talking about is an “attachment.” That can be anything from an actor or director to control over the life-rights of a key character in your story, basically any element that is attached to your script project.

Now there are attachments. And there are attachments. If you’re talking about a bankable actor, one a studio or financiers perceive as having considerable box office appeal or a director with a proven track record, that’s one thing, and a positive. If you’re talking about a producer who has glommed onto the project and is best known for no tangible benefit to projects and lots of costly perks, that’s another thing, and a negative.

In your case, since I don’t know the particulars of the band or the song, it’s hard to assess precisely where this potential attachment rests in terms of its value to your project. But here’s the deal: Even if you get the band to agree to allow you to use their song as the basis of your movie project, whoever picks up and distributes your film is going to have to pay the licensing fees for the song, assuming you actually use it in the soundtrack. And depending on the song, that can runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Maybe your story is such a mainstream commercial movie those type of numbers are not a problem. If, however, you’re looking at an indie movie, maybe those licensing dollars become prohibitive per the film’s budget.

I note this because they are relevant to your question: Do you need the actual song on the soundtrack? Or do you just need permission from the songwriters and whatever legal entity controls the publishing rights to use the characters in the song as the basis for your movie? Perhaps you decide to do what Hollywood has done since the beginning: Simply extract the narrative elements from a preexisting story and change the specifics so that you are not technically using those characters.

In other words, steal the story.

These are all things you need to work through in advance.

If you decide you really need this band to sign off on your project, that they and their song are a critical aspect of your story, then how do you prepare for the meeting? 

* Send them the script.

* Send them a short synopsis of the plot.

* Hope they read it, but be prepared if they haven’t. How?

* Prep a short pitch of the key story elements. Make how the story connects to the song the focus of your pitch. In other words, play to their egos (I don’t mean that in a disparaging way at all, rather just being pragmatic about how to win them over).

* But above all, be honest with them about your admiration for the song. I can assume you like the song as it inspired you to write the script. Talk about that with them, let them know what the song means to you, how it impacted you from a creative standpoint, sustained you in your writing, etc. I don’t know any creative type who would not appreciate hearing that something they wrote inspired someone.

And be sure to have fun. Hanging out with some rockers. Sounds like good times!

Best of luck with your meeting. And keep us up to date on what transpires with your project.

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