Read the money
See what a film’s credits reveal about who paid, who profits and who decides.
Author as Producer
The business of film, as a course
Film school teaches you to write
Nobody explains who pays, who owns the rights, or who decides what gets made.
This course fills that gap: how films and series are developed, financed and sold, and where you stand in that process as the person who wrote the story.
For screenwriters, directors, actors and creators who want control over their own projects, and for emerging producers who need the whole picture.
What you’ll learn
Four skills that turn a script into a project someone can finance.
Own your rights
Moral and patrimonial rights, and the difference between an option, a purchase and a service contract.
Write as a producer
What each producer does, and how to develop your project with production in mind.
Pitch with a plan
Where to meet the industry, how to organize contacts and how to approach producers, talent and networks.
Read the credits like a producer
Every line of a billing block tells part of a money story. Choose a line from this example film to see what it reveals.
Maré Alta
Two producers in two countries share the budget.
Each one taps funding at home. That usually means the story needs real reasons to belong in both countries, from locations to cast.
An invented film, used as an example. In the course you learn to read real ones.
- A co-production
- Two producers in two countries share the budget and each taps funding at home.
- A regional film fund
- Public money, usually tied to spending part of the budget in that region.
- A public broadcaster
- Pays early for the right to show the film later.
- A sales agent
- Sells the film country by country and recovers commission and costs first.
- An executive producer
- Often brought money, access or a key relationship.
- Based on a novel
- The rights were optioned or bought before anything else could happen.
Produce your own career
Producers aren’t doing you a favor when they read your work. They need stories. Learn to meet them as a partner.
Own what you create
Keep the rights to your projects and negotiate them, instead of trading them away for a writing job.
Stay in the room
As a co-producer, your voice is still heard through development, financing and release, not only until the script is delivered.
Build a slate, not a lottery ticket
Keep several projects moving in a pipeline, so one rejection never stops your career.
“I read Benjamin in film school and decided I had to be a producer too. In 2014 I co-founded a production company that still negotiates my projects. This course is what I wish I had known then.” Rafael Leal
Call sheet
| Production | Your career |
|---|---|
| Day | One |
| Producer | You |
| Writer | You |
| Rights holder | You |
| Slate | Three projects in development |
| Call time | Now |
Approved by the producer.
Taught from inside the industry
Rafael Leal
Screenwriter, producer and XR creator based in Berlin. His films and series have been developed and produced with Disney, NBC/Universal and Star+, his short films have screened at hundreds of festivals, and his XR projects have been funded for development and production.
Teacher and mentor
He holds a PhD in film and media, teaches at ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln, Catalyst Berlin and SRH University Berlin, and has mentored more than 350 projects in development labs for Netflix and others.
Working between Brazil and Germany, across markets, funding systems and languages.
Eight sections, from one film to a whole career
-
Introduction
- Welcome: let’s start with the basics
- Story is a business
- Walter Benjamin’s hint for navigating the cultural industry
-
Film as business
- How a film makes a profit: its commercial career
- How to read the business story hidden in a film’s credits
- What it takes to produce a film
- Who funds films and series?
- The world of international co-production
- Stakeholders: streamers, funding boards, producers, festivals, sales agents
- Introduction to audience design
-
Producers: what do they do?
- Creative, development, executive, associate and line producers
- Thinking and writing your project as a producer
- Producing your career
-
Intellectual property
- Author rights: patrimonial and moral rights
- Author rights versus copyright
- Types of contract: purchase, option and service contract
-
Career strategies
- Career goals and the means to reach them
- Agents, lawyers, managers
- Packaging and project strategy
-
Story development and creative process
- How stories become projects, projects become scripts and scripts become films
- Finding and refining your creative voice
- Developing strong projects
- Labs, residencies and development grants
-
Networking and pitching
- I have a project. Now what?
- Where to make industry connections
- Organizing your industry contacts
- Secrets of a good pitch
- How to approach producers, talent and networks
-
Career development
- Collaborative storytelling practices
- Creating a repertoire
- Professional associations
- Consultancy
- Final message
Notes on the business
Funding, rights, pitching
At most one email a month
Before you enroll
No. The course starts from the basics and is just as useful if you already work in the industry and want the business side to make sense.
It covers how the international film and series industry works, including how producers in different countries co-produce.
English.
Udemy offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you stay, you keep lifetime access, including future updates.
In his 1934 essay of that name, Walter Benjamin argued that an author is defined not only by what they write but by where they stand in the way culture gets produced. The course brings that idea into today’s film and series industry: once you understand how the machine works, you can change your place in it.
Your story deserves a producer
Start with the one who knows it best: you.
Eight sections, lifetime access
Enroll on Udemy