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Glossary
A-B | C-D | E-L | M-P | Q-Z
Exhibitor: Owner of a movie theater.
Experimental: Genre of film that evolved naturally from photography and painting; a cinematic art that is very abstract.
Exploit: Generate profit from any material in any medium.
Exploitation Film: Relies heavily on the lurid advertising of its often controversial elements. The 1970s is often considered the heyday of black exploitation films.
Eye Web: CBS television network.
Final Cut: Final edited version of a film -- the most prized deal point a director can have and very few get.
First Look Deal: Deal between a studio or network and a producer, director, writer, or talent in which the studio gets to see any new projects prior to any other studios seeing the projects in exchange for certain perks, such as office space and overhead expenses. See also Overhead Deal.
Flop (also floppola): Failure at the box office.
Four-Wall: Theater rental contract where the producer assumes responsibility for all of the expenses of a show and gets all of the revenue. This is often done by an independent producer to demonstrate that a movie has had a theatrical run and thus qualifies for the Oscars.
F/X: Special visual effects.
Green Light: Approve a project for production. This is what everyone in Hollywood is desperately waiting for!
Gross Profits: Profits before certain fees are taken off the top; these fees are dependent on different contractual definitions of gross profits. Gross Receipts: Ticket sales collected by movie theaters.
Guild: Union for professionals in the entertainment industry that usually has signatories -- people and agencies that have contracts binding them to employ only guild members (in return for getting highly qualified employees); for example, the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild of America, and the Writers Guild of America.
Hammock: Programming strategy in which a new or struggling show is placed between two popular shows on the schedule to boost the new or struggling show's ratings.
Helmer: Director.
HFPA: Hollywood Foreign Press Association -- awards the Golden Globes.
Hike: Increase, raise or promote; usually refers to ratings or salaries.
History Play: Industry term referring to a play dealing with a historical subject.
Holding Deal: Refers to paying an actor for his/her services while a specific project is being found for the actor so that he/she doesn't take another role during that time.
Horse Opera: Industry term referring to a Western film.
IFP: Independent Feature Project -- great resource for independent productions.
Impresario: Industry term referring to an entertainment entrepreneur.
Indie: Independent film, filmmaker, producer or production.
Ink: Sign a contract.
Jump the Shark: Phrase coined in 1997 by jumptheshark.com to describe a defining moment at which a popular television show has reached its peak and subsequently can only decline. The phrase refers to the actual moment in ABC’s "Happy Days" when the character Fonzie while water skiing literally "jumped the shark."
INTV: Association of Independent Television Stations.
Kidvid: Children's television.
LAFCA: Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Leader: Very beginning of a film reel that is either black, white, or clear and cannot be recorded on but is used for labeling the negative.
Leading the Action: Composing a shot such that there is more space in front of a moving subject than there is behind; usually to imply that your subjects are going somewhere.
(The) Lion (also Leo): Coined by newspaper Daily Variety for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) Studios; so referred to because of the company's legendary "Leo the Lion" logo.
Loan-Out Company: Corporation usually used by talent that loans out the services of its shareholder to third parties. It is used as a corporate identity to protect and shield the owner so if someone sues the owner (which in this business invariably happens) the owner cannot be sued personally -- only the corporate holdings can be sued.
Long-Form: TV programming longer than an hour in duration; a TV movie or miniseries.
Long-Form Contract: Full agreement containing all contractual provisions. See Deal Memo.
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