Turnaround (filmmaking)

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Turnaround is a term of art in filmmaking used to describe conflicts encountered between the development phase of filmmaking and the preproduction phase of filmmaking. The conflicts between the two phases often occur when a film project is in developmental hell and cannot reach the preproduction phase without outside assistance or help. Once such outside assistance is obtained or applied, then the film project is described as having gone through a turnaround.

Background[]

'Turnaround' is a term of art in filmmaking used to describe conflicts encountered between the development phase of filmmaking and the preproduction phase of filmmaking. The conflicts between the two phases often occur when a film project is in developmental hell and cannot reach the preproduction phase without outside help. Such outside help may appear in the form of new money being invested into a project in developmental hell, or as another outside studio taking interest in a project which the original studio may find difficult to move forward into the preproduction phase. When an outside source takes over a film project from developmental hell in one studio and transfers the film project to another studio which is willing to invest further resources to move the project into preproduction, then the project is said to have gone through a 'turnaround'. The film project is now to able to move forward out of developmental hell in one studio into the preproduction phase of filmmaking at another studio.

The term 'turnaround' is borrowed from business operations and management consulting where it is used to describe business ventures which are in some form of insolvency and require a 'business turnaround' or 'management turnaround' in order to become profitable and make a 'turnaround' in business performance. In the case of the filmmaking process, the transfer of the film project from developmental hell at one studio, leading to the project receiving a green light at another studio to begin preproduction is referred to as a 'turnaround' for that film.

Informal descriptions[]

A 'turnaround' or 'turnaround deal' is occasionally used to describe an arrangement in the film industry whereby the production costs of a project that one studio has developed are declared a loss on the company's tax return, thereby preventing the studio from exploiting the property any further. The rights can then be sold to another studio in exchange for the cost of development plus interest.[1]

Examples[]

Michael Cieply defined the term in The New York Times as "arrangements under which producers can move a project from one studio to another under certain conditions".[2] Some examples include:

References and notes[]

  1. ^ Michael Cieply (2008-08-23). "The Murky Side of Movie Rights". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Michael Cieply (2008-08-29). "Studio War Involving 'Watchmen' Heats Up". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  3. ^ McDonald, Paul & Wasko, Janet (2008) Hollywood Film Industry. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. p. 54
  4. ^ David Edelstein interviewed by Terri Gross on review of Argo: (2012-10-12) https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=162785168
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