Glossary

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Above-the-Line: All the production costs relating to the fees for actors, producers, director and writers (occasionally will include A-list cinematographers and editors); also includes the fees for acquisition of rights.

Accrual Method: Accounting method in which expenses and incomes are reported when incurred or accrued rather then when paid or received.

ACE: America Cinema Editors.

Actual Break-Even: Point when the revenue from a film equals net profits minus a distribution fee. This is one of the many definitions used to "define" profit so that you, the writer, never see any back-end.  See for comparison Rolling Break-Even and Cash Break-Even.

ADG: Art Directors Guild.

Adjusted Gross Receipts: Generally the film's box-office receipts minus "additional" costs.  Some use this term to refer to gross receipts less all distribution costs.  Again, this is one of the many definitions used to "define" profit so that you, the writer, never see any back-end.

Ad-Pub: Relating to the advertising and publicity department of a motion picture studio.

Affil: Television network affiliated station.

AFTRA: American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. National labor union representing performers, journalists and other artists working in entertainment and news.

Alphabet Web:  ABC Network.

AMPAS: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences -- awards the Oscars.

Ankle: Term coined by newspaper Daily Variety meaning to quit or be fired from a job without necessarily specifying which.

A & R: Relating to the artists and repertoire department of a record company; this department is in charge of finding new music acts.

Arthouse: Motion picture theater that shows foreign or non-mainstream independent films that are often considered high-brow or "art" films.

Assembly: Initial splicing together of film or TV footage to create the first rough cut.

Aspect Ratio: Proportions of the screen image. Standard 16 mm aspect ration is 1.33:1.

Attached: Interest and/or commitment of an actor, director, or writer to a project has been secured prior to taking the film/TV project to a movie studio or network buyer. Attachment is a rather loose term that can mean anything from "her agent liked it but has not shown it to the talent yet" to "we have a written commitment from the actor."

At-Source: Contractual agreement that requires royalties or participations to be calculated based on gross receipts at a contractually defined link in the distribution chain regardless of whether the licensor directly receives those gross receipts.  Generally, at-source gross receipts are calculated as follows: a) film rentals for theatrical; b) wholesale price charged to retailers for DVD; c) payments for broadcasters for TV; and d) payments by manufacturers to licensors for merchandising.

Back-End: Royalty or participation percentage after all "costs" are taken against film revenues.  This is something the writer will be promised but, except in the very, very rarest of cases, never actually see.

Backdoor Pilot: Television pilot filmed as a standalone television movie so it can be aired on TV if it is not picked up as a TV series.

BAFTA: British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Below-the-Line: Actual production costs excluding above-the-line costs and certain negative costs.

Beat Sheet: Story outline with brief descriptions of each scene and usually broken down into acts.

Berne Convention: Copyright treaty among a number of nations including the U.S.

BFCA: Broadcast Film Critics Association.

Biopic: Term coined by newspaper Daily Variety meaning a biographical film or made-for-TV movie.

Blind Commitment: Deal made by a network or studio with a producer, a writer, or an actor to develop new projects after the success of a current project. (The term blind comes from the studio or network not saying yes to a specific project but instead giving a deal to the talent and then the studio or network will later find a project on which everyone agrees.)  Often done to reward a successful producer, writer, or performer and to maintain exclusive commitment on his or her talent.

Blocking: Before shooting a scene, a director will rehearse and choreograph all movement for that scene so the camera and microphone can stay with the performer.

Blurb: TV commercial.

B.O.: Box office or box office receipts.

Boff (also boffo, boffola): Outstanding -- usually refers to box office performance. See also Socko.

Bow: (n.) Opening or premiere; (v.) Debut a production.

Box-Office Gross: Gross receipts collected by movie theaters.

Budget: Cost of producing a project (film, TV, short) including above-the-line and below-the-line costs and certain miscellaneous costs such as financing costs, the complete bond fee, and a contingency reserve (usually 10% of above-the-line and below-the-line costs). Often studios will disavow the real budget of a film so it looks like the film made more money than it did.

Busted Pilot: New show pilot that did not get picked up to series. Every year each network orders about 20 pilot scripts to be shot. These are then cast and filmed for consideration for the fall schedule.  Only a small number of these pilots is picked up to series.


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