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December 2022
By the end of May 2023, THE ONLY WAY OUT had struck out at many of the major studios in Hollywood. We needed A-list talent and to attract A-list talent, we needed money and lots of it. I suggested trying to find some product placement opportunities a while back, but the timing wasn't quite right.
Unfortunately, product placement is best done after you have A-list talent in place. And so, from May until December, my film's producer, Marty Katz, worked his tail off trying to find financing or a path to an A-list actress, but nothing was working. I checked in a few times, but it felt as though the script was dead in the water. ABSOLUTELY DEAD.
But then in mid-December, Marty contacted Stephanie Rogers (my manager), Steve Schklair (my film's 2nd producer), Eric Schwab (my film's director), and I and said that he'd met with, let's call him B, the head of a major Hollywood branding company, who assured Marty his company could quickly help us raise enough money through product placements to approach an A-list actress.
I was overjoyed! This is the path I had wanted to take for so long. I'd written the script knowing it would be a dream, a win-win situation for us and a long list of specific rock climbing, backpacking, snack bar, food, technical gear companies, and more.
B continually told Marty that he had connections at all of the companies we thought would be a fit for THE ONLY WAY OUT and he said if he didn't have connections at a particular company, he could get them. He also had connections at a lot of companies we hadn't thought of for integration.
It seemed like a match made in heaven. Marty forwarded the contract to the team for all of us to review. The contract was pretty simple and very straight-forward, except when it came to the amount B wanted to earn as commission from the placements he secured. It was in the "HOLY S@*! are you kidding me?" range.
But from what I was told, commissions like this are fairly common for product placement agencies (man am I in the wrong business) and so the team and I agreed that the contract was fine as is and we unanimously agreed to move forward.
Hiring the Brand Integration Company
Marty officially hired B and paid him a modest retainer and then asked for the list of companies I'd wanted to approach first about product integrations. Marty sent B the script, the synopsis, our bios, and the list of companies I thought would be a perfect fit for THE ONLY WAY OUT.
B quickly sent instructions detailing his expectations for us, an NDA so we wouldn't share info on the pitches he was sending us, and then he sent a document outlining how we were to respond to every request for integration he sent. Meanwhile, he said he'd read the script and put together a very specific package of companies soliciting product placement offers, companies that he thought would be a fit for the film.
While we waited on B, we read the instructions that basically told us to review each of the offers and then detail why each product was a fit and where and how we were planning on placing, or integrating, the product into the film.
Within a couple of days, B sent 6 different integration requests. Two were great, a third was a possibility and, to our surprise, the other three weren't remotely relevant. Huh... Anyway, Marty, Steve, Stephanie, Eric, and I got to work reviewing each of the placements, decided which ones were a fit for the film and how we were going to integrate those brands.
Marty then asked if I wanted to get back with B on each of the offers. Oh, boy did I. This was right up my alley! After seven months of crickets, I was so incredibly excited to have something to do for my film, something I really believed would lead us to the money we were seeking!
And so, I carefully responded to each of the integration offers by saying something like Product A is a perfect fit for THE ONLY WAY OUT specifically because of how the script's characters, themes, values and target market (I got specific here) line up with how the company stated, in their email, that they wanted to market their product. I researched the heck out of each brand and looked for personal connections to each product and threw some of that into each pitch as well.
I also chose to inform each company that we were seeking a wide theatrical distribution that would amount to brand exposure to a massive worldwide audience, then gave some general examples of how massive the company's exposure would be if they chose to support the film.
I then went through and provided specific examples and descriptions of each of the scenes where the product would be featured and how the product would be featured. We were told that companies pay a LOT more for verbal integration, meaning the main character says something nice about the product, than simple product placement, for example, the can of Coke you see a character drinking, but never hear them talk about.
The team thought my responses were great, as in, they can't say no, great! I have to say I was loving the praise, loving the ego boost after the 7-month dry spell. In a lot of cases, I worked my tail off (and often had help from the team) thinking up new dialogue and clever ways to include verbal integrations in the script in a way they didn't sound like blatant advertisements. I was having a ball!
As for companies that weren't a fit, we were required per the contract, to compose a kind email stating why the company wasn't a fit for our film. It all seemed simple enough and I happily replied to each company explaining that we appreciated their product and integration offer but didn't think their brand was a fit for us for x, y, and z reasons.
It was an exciting time. Product placement/integration opportunities were coming in one after the other and I was having a blast trying to figure out how to fit some of the more obscure brands into the film. I was also learning A LOT about what companies are looking for in terms of marketing and it was fun to see some of the really fun and exciting products that were coming onto the market.
B mentioned that within 2-3 months, he's usually able to raise enough money for films to move forward. He continued sending us different products, lots of products, and we continued to review each proposal and I continued to respond to each one thoughtfully and kindly. I was working my butt off, getting up early in the morning, working days, evenings and weekends to make sure I responded to each offer within 24 hours. I was tracking each offer we received and whether or not we pitched to them or passed. It was so much fun, but it was also intense.
My Promotion
I had been thinking about asking for another credit on the film due to the fact that most screenwriters don't put in this amount of work on their scripts. It was as though Marty was reading my mind. On January 4th, 2024, Marty called and said he'd spoken with Steve and they both agreed to give me an Associate Producer credit on the film. HOT DAMN! That made my day. Big-time! I was now more than just the screenwriter I was officially working as behind the scenes on my film! Later that day or the next day, I can't remember which, Steve called to congratulate me on the Associate Producer title. I was flying high again!
With that promotion, a huge amount of anxiety and self-doubt simply left my brain. As a screenwriter, I often feel so powerless because so much of the process of getting my script turned into a film is out of my control. For most screenwriters, they sign an option agreement or a shopping agreement and that's the last they touch their script until it sells and it's time for a rewrite, but even then, they'll usually get the opportunity to rewrite the script only once before a new writer takes over the rewrite process.
But thanks to Marty and Steve and the support I had from Stephanie and my ridiculous OCD, here I was with a much more concrete title, a big title people could respect, a title I planned to use to open more doors for THE ONLY WAY OUT.
So exciting!! Congratulations!!
Congrats on the promotion!!
How fun!