Division of the Booty, God’s Financial Plan for Movies

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by Angela Watts

Can I really use that word “Booty” without feeling like I have just been dragged through a hip hop video? YES I can, and it comes from the Bible too! The King James Version if you are inclined! If you look up the word, you will note that ‘booty’ is mainly associated with plunder taken during war from an enemy. It also means goods or property seized by force. Christian filmmakers are in a spiritual not literal war, nor are we looting, eye-patched pirates. So let’s focus on the goods and property that we will seize or receive willingly from the Lord and how to manage them.

When it comes to financing your projects, money can and will come from many different sources. From donation to investment, from an offering to a partnership, God has a tailor-made financial plan for your film. As for us, we’ve prayed for years about how to find the financing, how to get our seeds to reproduce and how to make a profit. We have made many mistakes along the way, though the Lord has always made a way for us to fix things.

One huge ‘ouch’ we went through was automatically doing everything the way the film industry does things today. From equipment, to stories, to financing structures, we researched how the Hollywood system did things. As we dove into it, we realized that we were motivated by the way the studio-heads ran their companies during the Golden Era of filmmaking. The heads of MGM and RKO, as well as Adolph Zucker and others had a passion for storytelling, not just for money, unlike the studio-heads of today. We found that in the Golden Era of filmmaking, the studio-heads loved watching movies as well as making them. These days, investment strategists and financial growth CEOs run the studios. The motivations have changed and the original passion for storytelling has been watered down.

After focusing for the first few years on how Hollywood made films, God turned us around a complete 180 degrees and told us that He was the only tutor we needed. That’s when we decided to make some major changes, such as owning all of our equipment instead of renting it.

We knew that there had to be a Godly way for our company to properly manage finances with utmost integrity and also be able to distribute finances using a balanced and Biblical format. This took years to formulate. We made some huge mistakes along the way while at the same time making great progress and learning valuable lessons. If our “booty” or checkbook had an increase, what then? How do we decide what to pay off, pay out, save, sow or tithe on? So many questions, so many potential moments to let our intellect make decisions instead of the Spirit of God.

Having any bit of cash flow in the bank account was an opportunity to let our flesh make our decisions. This is so CRUCIAL! If you get any point at all from this blog, get this point: you may have the best God-given formula for producing and distribution, or the most blessed budget but IF you let your flesh, intellect, or your own wisdom make your financial decisions, you could be closing a door on future blessings being poured out to you. You need to pray, hear from God and implement what God tells you to do in every decision you make. It is that simple. Accountability is so very important in finances. You are accountable to God for what He told you to do and you are accountable to those you work with.

Here are a few tidbits on how we run finances at our company. These are some golden nuggets so feel free to print them, highlight them and try them out. These are literal things we do, not just good ideas.

1. Our company pays tithes (10%) on every increase and income we make and receive. We pay it to our local storehouse (church). Tithing is not an option. Like every Christian, when our company receives an increase, the tithe is the first check we write out.

2. If we have money in our account, we ask God how to spend it. If God tells us to wait, we wait.

3. We have incredible favor with local, state and federal tax entities, talking with them directly throughout the year as we continue to maintain proper legal status.

4. We keep our financial records up to date, safely stored and easy to review.

5. We are not easily swayed by potential investors but prayerfully consider every request that is presented to us. We do not chase money nor do we promote ourselves. God is our marketing consultant.

6. We frequently sow a portion of our finances as an offering to God to bless other ministries, filmmakers or local pastors in our city. This is in addition to our tithe, NOT a substitute for our tithe.

God loves a just balance. He wants everyone to be blessed within a movie budget, not just the lead actor or the director. Proverbs 11:1 clearly states, “dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight”. Looking further into Proverbs 16:11 we also see that “all the weights in the bag are His work”. That means that God wants things just and balanced. And above all, remember that ALL that God puts in your “booty” are from HIS WORK. He gave it to you; therefore He has a plan for how He wants you to manage it.

When you are tempted to hire a known actor or director and feel obligated to pay them more money than everyone else, that’s when you must CHECK YOURSELF and reconsider if you have a just balance. Your story should move those who work with you so their motivation for working on the project is to tell the story. Of course, you want God to bring your crew to you so their primary reason for working with you is because God called them to do so (whether they know God or not).

Moses’ plan for the distribution of the ‘booty’ came from the Book of Joshua, Chapter 22:8. Joshua spoke to them, saying, “Return with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.”

The key here is “divide” the spoil. Out of this scripture, God gave us the plan that we use today in the distribution of royalties for our book publishing and music divisions. We will be implementing this plan for our television and film divisions as well.

50% of gross income is distributed to the investors.
50% of gross income is distributed to those who labor on the project.

All distributions are given out in royalty shares after the project has been made and is making money. This is, of course, in addition to a regular wage your laborers might have received when they worked on the project. As may be the case when publishing books or producing music and film, if there wasn’t a lot of money to pay your crew on the front end of the project, this gives you the opportunity to make sure the laborers are blessed for years to come after the project is bringing in income. You can incorporate hourly workers for short-term labor if they are not a part of your core team.

Royalty Shares can be divided among cast members (WYSIWYG employees are all called Cast Members), team leaders and producers on a percentage basis of how much time each person put into the project.

Royalty Shares are distributed for 20 years.

Royalty Shares can work in profit and non-profit business.

Everyone benefits for 20 years.

Our company is currently using this system for distributing royalties on 7 books and 6 music albums. We have been able to pay royalties on a quarterly basis to every person that labored on each project. From writers, editors, photographers, and graphic designers to sound engineers, musicians, artists and producers the formula for the division of the booty has worked with incredible results.

Below is a sample of a contract that we have used in our company. We hope it inspires you to continue to walk with financial integrity as you make your jaw-dropping, epic, outrageously monumental movie that this thirsty and hungry world is waiting to see!

Contract

For The Purchase Of Royalty Shares in

The Movie “Sample”

1. The Agreement: This is an agreement between Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks, the owner of the movie “Sample”, and ____________________________________, financer of the movie “Sample”. The financer ___________________________________ agrees to invest __________________________U.S. dollars for the purchase of __________________________royalty shares.

2. The Movie: The movie, “Sample”, is owned by Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks. It is a _____________ film that is set in _______________ and it is based on the story of ______. This contract does not include the rights to any sequels of the movie “Sample”.

3. Mission Statement: To bring the presence of God to the people of the world through entertainment.

4. Management Philosophy: We are a Christian company and are subject to the Biblical principles outlined in the Bible.

§ Tithing

§ A just balance (sharing revenue with talent) Moses said that 50% of the spoils of war should go to those who finance the war and 50% to those who went to war. Numbers 31:27.

§ Revenue disbursements should be made on a periodic basis as revenue is received from the film.

5. The Budget: The movie has a budget of ____________, which includes preproduction, production, postproduction, distribution and advertising costs. It also includes the development of other related materials based exclusively upon this movie.

6. Royalty Shares: In the case of this agreement, one share is equal to 1 U.S. Dollar. All royalty shares will receive payments from a trust account set up by Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks.

7. Revenue Disbursements of Royalty Shares: Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks will issue ________ royalty shares. The royalty shares shall be disbursed as follows:

o • 50% shares to investors

o • 50% to actors, production, crew, and WYSIWYG Filmworks.

o • All revenue coming to Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks that is received from theatrical distribution, DVD, Pay-per-view, TV, licensing, video games, and other related items that are financed by this investment will be disbursed to the royalty share holders on a quarterly basis, beginning at the date of film release and continue for a twenty year period.

o Note: The revenue received from the film project will be dependent upon the individual agreements with each specific distribution channel.

8. Investment Tithes: Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks pays 10% tithes to our local church congregation.

9. Release Date Subject to Change: There is no projected release date at this time.

10. The Widow’s Clause: Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks agrees that the investor in “Sample” shall receive 100% of their investment back by the end of the twenty-year period of the royalty shares. If an investor does not receive 100% of their investment back five years from the initial release date of the film “Sample”, Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks will allocate 10% of a subsequent film produced and owned by Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks at their sole discretion This applies to one film per year for the purpose of returning to the investor their initial investment. Once 100% of the investment is returned the widow’s clause will no longer apply. However, the investor holding royalty shares will continue to receive revenue from the film “Sample” until the end of the 20-year royalty period.

11. Binding Arbitration: If there is a disagreement of misunderstanding concerning this contract and it’s provisions, all parties agree to submit to binding arbitration to be given in San Francisco, California under the rules of the California Arbitrators Board.

12. Subject to United States and Applicable International Law: All parts of this contract may be changed to comply with the laws of the United States of America and the laws of the country of origin represented by other parties mentioned in this contract.

Angela Watts is the team-leader in Accounting and Travel. She has handled location scouting and securing for the WYSIWYG feature films “Guardians,” “The Roman Trilogy,” and “Gravity.”

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Tags: angela, booty, division, financial, god, movies, plan, watts