Listen to this quick Cam’Ron clip:
Login to view embedded media View: https://www.instagram.com/p/CeBWa6NumtV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Listen to the words the lady used with him “we’d give you an advance and a % once we license it”. That’s basically devil talk if you ask me.
She basically said “I’ll loan you some money if you let me make a movie about your life. I’ll shop it around and if successful I’ll give you a % of the revenue which we’ll use to repay the money you owe me”.
People sign these bullshit contracts every day and end broke behind them. If this was a just society, these contracts would be illegal but we know where we live. Anyways…
Advances in a lot of ways are long-term interest free payday loans. These people use debt as a mechanism to control you. Let’s get deep:
Let’s say they want to make a movie on your life and they give you an advance of $10. You take it and then negotiate 1% of every sell.
Total Movie Production Costs: $30
Retail Price: $1
Your Royalty: $0.01
Your Advance: $10
They sell 60 copies on opening day….yaaay.. they throw a huge party because the movie made a huge profit, yall eating fancy steak and drinking dom perignon you’re happy because you’re in a hit movie but wait a minute…
Units Sold: 60
Retail Price: $1
Revenue: $60
Profit: $30
The studio made their money back on the first day but how much did you make? You made 60 cents! But the studio takes it because they loaned you $10 at the beginning of production. So you’re touring, doing pressers, etc the movie sells more and more but YOU GET NOTHING. In fact, the studio says “YOU OWE ME MONEY!” Let’s say they sell 900 copies…
Units Sold: 900
Retail Price: $1
Revenue: $900
Profit: $870
They would have made $870 dollars and YOU WOULD STILL OWE THEM! You won’t be out of debt until they sell 1000 copies which would have made them a fortune while all you’ve seen for your work has been $10. This is why certain artists sell millions but will be flat broke because they end up owing imaginary debt to an organization.
Best thing to do is to step up to the plate as an equal partner rather than essentially an indepenednt contractor doing the art. If they like your work, tell them to give you a signing bonus rather than a loan “advance”. Or step to the plate with part of the production fees so you can negotiate the rev split. OOOOOR go independent.
That lady called Cam and tried to give him this slave deal and when he declined she tried to call his friend and turn him against Cam. These people are devils.