There are a number of points you should be alert to in negotiating a distribution deal. For example, it is prudent to agree how much (as a sum of money) the distributor is going to spend on publicity expenses in advance, and how much (as a percentage of sales turnover) the distributor is going to spend on prints/transmission tapes and shipping. Without agreement on such items, you can find that, when all the expenses are deducted from the gross paid by the buyer, there is little or nothing left for the producer.

Once you've done a deal with a distributor, you will be expected to provide a number of practical things, some of them vitally

important. They will include written synopses of your programme or series, post-production scripts, music cue-sheets, production stills, publicity sheets, etc. You should make allowance for the cost of all these in your budget, as well as for those of providing the distributor with a fully-mixed master negative or videotape and another with music and effects tracks only.

(For more detail of the things that are usually covered in a contract between a producer and a distributor, see the sample contract in this section.)