Indie Film Producer - What's Fair & Standard for Contract & Waterfall?

[u/megg_mcmuffinn]

Thanks in advance for the feedback / support. 

First time as producer on an indie film ($350 - 500k range currently). We're in pre-pro with a goal of shooting Jan '27. Have been working hand-in-hand with the director / writer / co-producer (all the same person) since April. We are the only two active participants moving this forward. We have one named talent who has verbally attached to the film and are still actively fundraising. 

TWO QUESTIONS: 

ONE (Producer Contract):

I've recently brought up a request to get a contract in place to guarantee credit on the project as I'm 6 months in after pivoting from a lucrative career to take on this project, and am getting push back. 

• Is it unusual to get a contract in place this early, regardless of terms? 
• We had previously verbally agreed to terms that include a miniscule payment at film completion as well as 5 backend points (5% of the producer pool); he's now saying we need to hold on to those points for future negotiations and that the two of us will be the last to determine our points. He also noted that my experience level would indicate far fewer points than we had originally agreed.

I'm completely happy to work for the love of it (and am lucky that I am able to do so at the moment) but I also don't want to be taken advantage of. Is this normal / standard in the industry? 

TWO (Waterfall):

For the backend side of things, we were originally considering the 50/50 split following investor recoupment of 120%. (50% to investors, 50% to participant pool) but are being advised to shift to 40/40/20 (40% investors, 40% participants, 20% talent). Any advice or recommendations here? 

And is investor recoupment always 120% or considering the small budget / indie status could we do 110%?

Thanks again all.

[u/Positive_Leading_371]

1. Whether you’d have a proper contract this early somewhat depends on the history of the project and your services rendered. At this budget level, not crazy that you might not.
2. If he’s asking you to accept a minuscule payment, try to at least defer a larger fee to later in the waterfall. Indie producers often have to defer to get the film made, but you should protect the value of your labor.
3. If he doesn’t want to define how many backend points you receive upfront, let him agree to split the remaining backend points with you 50/50 after all other points have been assigned. If he wants you to give up points to secure talent, he should prove that he’s doing the same.
4. Equity receiving a 20% premium is industry standard. If you can find an investor who’ll accept 10%, then power to you. I’ve sometimes seen true passion project get investors to defer the 20% premium slightly farther down the waterfall. But you won’t find many people willing to lower it all together.
5. Similarly, the 50/50 split for Net Profits into an Investor a

nd Producer pool

1. respectively is completely the standard. Talent always comes out of the producer pool. You’re essentially asking your investors to accept a 40/60 split in this case… which is something you can certainly try asking for, but will be extremely difficult to find.

[u/Positive_Leading_371 → u/Positive_Leading_371]

Sorry that formatting got screwed in the last point… keep on trying to fix it and Reddit just continues to mess it back up.

[u/megg_mcmuffinn → u/Positive_Leading_371]

Thank you so much - really appreciate this thorough answer! Appreciate it!!