10   Delivery

Contrary to what we may wish to happen, when it is time to deliver your product, the great antennaed stork does not swoop down, gather up all the precious elements you’ve nurtured through the postproduction process, and magically deliver them into the distributor’s crib. You must get them there.

A Long Labor

Delivery begins with dailies (usually in the form of cassettes of dailies footage) and progresses in stages throughout the completion of your show. Delivery is completed only when you have fulfilled all of the delivery requirements and the distributor has accepted the elements. Make sure you get signed confirmation that the appropriate persons have received all the items listed in your delivery requirements. This is an important suggestion, as items have a way of getting lost, and if you cannot produce a signed receipt for all of the elements you delivered and things come up missing later, the onus will be on you to track them down.

Get the Delivery Agreement

At the start of your work on a picture, make sure you get a copy of the agreement that clearly outlines the delivery requirements for each of your distributors. These requirements tell you exactly which steps in the postproduction process you must complete.

To your producers, successful delivery is the most critical step in the postproduction process. Each day that passes beyond the delivery due date can translate into dollars lost by the production company. Distributors will not make the final payment until all of their delivery requirements have been met.

Makin’ a List and Checkin’ It Twice

In general, TV shows are delivered to a network or cable company, the foreign distributor, and the production company. Read through your individual network/ domestic, foreign, and production company delivery requirements and make yourself one big checklist. The items on your checklist will vary depending on which distributors you are responsible to. It could be a lengthy list, and unlike the list St. Nick makes, naughty or nice, they will get what they want.

Large budget features are delivered to studios, international distributors, home video distributors, or specific territorial sales agents. Independent movies without a distributor will need to anticipate delivery requirements for theatrical release, video mastering, etc. Part of that will include dealing with contracts outlining the legal rights and requirements related to the project.

Combining all the material requirements serves two purposes. First, it keeps you organized, and let’s face it, if you are not organized the show is in lots of trouble.

Second, you will find that some of these requirements overlap, allowing you to plan ahead and meet some of the criteria in more cost-effective ways. In fact, if your domestic and foreign distributors are one and the same, you may find that many items do overlap, helping you see that this part of your job may be less daunting than you originally thought.

Later in this chapter, you will find that each set of delivery requirements, network/domestic, foreign, and production company, is covered in detail.

Know Who Gets What

Delivery, of course, does not count if you do not deliver to the correct person in the correct department. Make sure you know who is expecting your materials. Neither your daily contact nor the person who sent the requirements may be the same person who gets the final product. When you determine who the appropriate persons are to receive the materials, call prior to the delivery date and introduce yourself. Confirm the delivery date with them. Let them know how you plan to get the materials to them, and determine if there are any special instructions. For example, will your delivery person need a drive-on (permission to enter the property)? Do their offices close at a certain time?

Accompany any materials with two copies of the delivery letter and have the appropriate person sign one of the copies upon receipt. Make sure the delivery company returns the signed delivery letter to you so you can add it to your files. We have found that wording the delivery letter as close as possible to the wording of the delivery requirements helps avoid confusion.

Figure 10.1 shows a sample delivery letter:

Figure 10.1 Sample Delivery Letter

The sample delivery letter in Figure 10.1 does not cover all of the items on our sample delivery list, just those that Mr. Rooty is scheduled to receive. If there is a point person you have been working with at the distributor regarding the general delivery of elements, make sure that person also receives a copy of this letter.

Network/Domestic Delivery

Each network and cable station has a pre-established set of delivery requirements. These requirements are usually part of a “delivery packet.” Make sure the network sends this packet of information to you at the start of production. If you do not receive it, call your network contact, which will put you in touch with the appropriate department.

With the advent of high definition, and in anticipation of broadcasting in the 16 × 9 aspect ratio, networks have added additional delivery requirements. Hopefully you have read the network delivery list prior to setting up the dailies transfers and final mastering and will be able to deliver all the appropriate masters required. (See “Television Dailies” in the “Dailies” chapter for more details.)

A specialized department at the distribution company handles each step of the TV postproduction process. The number of different departments/people you will need to interface with usually depends on the size of the distributor. Creating a road map of who’s who and what each person receives will help you.

Network Resources

Networks have a lot more in-house resources than some smaller cable stations and other distributors. Production stills are a good example. Networks will sometimes provide their own photographer on a shared-cost arrangement with the production company. The network therefore provides its own stills and you have access to all of the photographs, including gallery shots, for your foreign distribution requirement.

Even if the network retains the foreign distribution rights, it may be to your benefit to use the network’s photographer. It insures that they will accept the quality and content of the stills. In addition, you won’t have to hire a photographer.

Other packages available from a network may include duplication, formatting, and closed-captioning work. This may save you money in the long run, and, if they do the work, they generally have to accept it or make it right at their own expense.

These resources are not always available from a small distributor. For example, photographs, you may still be required to deliver publicity stills, but you must provide them at your own expense and using your own personnel. Don’t hire your brother-in-law to take pictures unless he is a professional photographer. Professional stills are required. You will need to budget to pay the photographer’s fees for several days of work.

Network Meetings

Some of the networks hold meetings prior to the start of production. In attendance will be the producer(s), postproduction supervisor, promotion department, publicity department, delivery folks, attorneys, photo department, and network executives. These meetings can be useful for several reasons. You have a chance to meet the people you are going to be dealing with for the next several months. A timetable is established for each phase of the project. All expectations and “no-nos” are established up front. Any special needs, such as on-set interviews and specific promotional elements, can be arranged at this initial meeting.

One of the first departments you will work with is the promotions department. Sometimes this is combined with the publicity department, sometimes not. They will need materials to work with early on. Then there is the publicity department, which may have separate requirements. It sort of snowballs from there. Various executives will want copies of the show through its different stages of completion—dailies, producer’s cut, rough cut, on-line, color correction and titling, etc.

Feeding the Promotions Department

The promotions department will want the cleanest copy of the rough cut or on-line master as soon as it is available for release. They will require split tracks (preferably separate dialogue, music, and effects tracks). This is much easier to accomplish now that digital formats are so commonplace. They have four audio channels, thus, allowing the promotions department to receive all of the tracks separately. After it is complete, they will also want an audiotape of the score.

In situations where an episodic or sitcom is not going to be completed in time for the promotions department to get their advertising on the air, they may elect to come in on their own dime and edit together some promotional material to broadcast. To promote an MOW with a tight postproduction schedule, they may ask for a partial or temp copy of the off-line of the show, go into the postproduction facility and cut something together from the masters, and pull something from that to air.

Network Delivery Packet

At the beginning of production you will receive a delivery packet from the network. This packet will include 1) a cover sheet, 2) a rate card, 3) a format sheet, 4) delivery requirements, 5) credit guidelines, 6) standards and practices guidelines, 7) music cue-sheet instructions, 8) broadcast technical specifications, and 9) film and TV diagrams.

Cover Sheet

The cover sheet will welcome you to the network folds, wish you the best of luck on the project, and offer assistance should you need it along the way.

Rate Card

If the network offers duplication as a service, a rate card will be included in their packet. These rates will cover multiple copies in various formats. Prices will vary by program length and number of copies ordered. They may also offer closed-caption encoding services. You will never be required by the network to utilize any of their duplication services. On the other hand, the prices may be very attractive, and it can be a convenient option.

Format Sheet

The format sheet will have the network IDs, commercials, etc., already filled in. There will be blank spaces wherever the information is to be completed by you. This sheet outlines exactly how your show is to be laid out for network delivery. It tells you where to put the commercial blacks when you format. It also gives a space to fill in the run time of each act. You will be required to provide timings for each section of program and commercial blacks at specified lengths and intervals. There will also be a requirement regarding program run time and main title and credit lengths. This is the length the show must be when you deliver.

The format sheet the network provides in your delivery packet will be appropriate to the show you are delivering. If yours is a half-hour sitcom, your format sheet will be specifically for a half-hour sitcom. If you are delivering a 2-hour MOW, then the format sheet will reflect that. Figures 10.2 and 10.3 are sample format sheets for a half-hour sitcom and a two-hour MOW. The how’s of completing these forms are detailed in the chapter on “Completion.” Basically, the format sheet should be a paper account of the layout of your entire program, including cold open, main title, each act, and commercial blacks.

Figure 10.2 Sample Format Sheet for Half-Hour Program

Figure 10.3 Sample Format Sheet for Two-Hour Movie-of-the-Week

The run times you will need to complete this sheet can be calculated during your format session. If you off-line with the appropriate blacks built into your show, then you can also get this information from your assistant editor. Be sure to keep a copy of this format sheet in your paperwork and box it up with your other important papers. If you keep any videotapes with this same formatting, keep a copy of the format sheet in the tape box for easy reference.

Sometimes you can procure a small variance in the required run time of the program you deliver. This is usually granted to avoid a varispeed. But do not change the delivery run time without talking with your network contact. This must be approved prior to final delivery.

Delivery Requirements

The delivery requirements will come next. (Promotional and publicity requirements may also be listed here, or they may come as a separate section in the delivery packet.)

You will find listed here dailies requirements, master videotape format, rough-cut materials, credits, timing sheets, music cue-sheet requirements, and the names and telephone numbers of all the people who are to receive these materials. Confused by any of the items listed in this portion of your delivery packet? For crying out loud, call somebody! Make sure you understand each item completely.

Network delivery requirements outline the final delivery format (D2, D3, digital Betacam, etc.) along with the audio and video technical specifications. Even though these technical broadcast specifications are used industrywide, provide them to the facility doing your on-line, color correction, and delivery dubs, to avoid misunderstandings down the road. The delivery requirements will also outline any other special requirements (closed-captioning, VITC, etc.).

Along with videotapes and format sheets, delivery will include most, if not all, of the items on the checklist below. In this checklist, we have endeavored to include anything you might have to account for to satisfy your distributors’ particular requirements. Remember that your list may be shorter than our list. If you are delivering both film elements and finished videotape, your delivery list will be longer than if your program was shot on videotape and videotape is all you’re delivering.

The Network Final Delivery Checklist

This checklist is derived from items in actual network delivery packets. Dailies and rough-cut materials are not included here, as they have been handled earlier in the process. This list covers only those items included in the final delivery requirements, and remember your list may differ from this list, depending on your distributor.

Air Cassettes:

•	(2) Standard Definition videotapes with drop frame timecode on the address track, closed captioned, and formatted to network delivery requirements. Do not use long-play stock (over 90 minutes in length). And, possibly, (1) HDCam high definition videotape formatted to network delivery requirements.
•	(1) 3/4″ tape with channel 1 composite audio, channel 2 with timecode. Visible timecode in the upper part of picture and matching timecode on the address track (if the network is doing the captioning).

Screening Cassettes:

•	(5) 3/4″ tapes with commercial blacks shortened to 2 seconds and stereo audio.
•	(1) Betacam SP formatted the same as the 3/4″ tapes above.

Promotional Cassettes:

•	(1) Digital Betacam with channel 1 dialogue, channel 2 effects, and channels 3 and 4 with stereo music. Timecode on the address track and textless at the tail of the program.
•	(1) VHS with visible timecode matching the above D2.
•	(1) 1/4″ audiotape of the theme music.
•	(1) 1 ″ tape of the main title with the main title music and any appropriate fade-ups and fade-outs.

Other Stuff:

•	(1) Act-by-act timing sheet.
•	(6) Music cue sheets (also send a copy to BMI and ASCAP).
•	(1) Printout of the final main and end credits.

In addition, your production company will have a series of cassettes they will require when the network delivery is completed. Some distributors will offer package deals if you hire them to make all of your delivery tapes. This is something else to check into when setting up with your vendors.

Credit Guidelines

If your cover letter does not specify the run time your show must be when delivered, you will find this information in a footnote or rule sheet. The rule sheet tells you to the second how long your program must run and where the act breaks must occur. You will also be told who is and who is not allowed to have screen credits and the person(s) at the network who must have final credit approval. Logo rules and screen placement will also be spelled out.

A special rule sheet on credits may be included. This will contain more detailed information on credit trade-outs (companies’ compensation for allowing their products to be shot), length and legal limitations, and information about delivering your credits on floppy disk instead of paper copies.

Standards and Practices Guidelines

Some networks will include a standards and practices rule sheet from their legal department. This will outline the rules regarding profanity, nudity, product placement, and credit trade-outs. These guides follow FCC regulations and help the network establish, prior to delivery, responsibility for any editing required after delivery to meet these guidelines. Some producers will still keep a certain amount of profanity, violence, and nudity in a program and leave the onus with the network to demand they be removed.

It is not your job to determine what does or does not stay in a project—only to make sure your producer receives the guidelines.

Music Cue Sheet Instructions

Next may come the music cue-sheet examples. Give a copy to your music supervisor. These are standard forms, and your music supervisor will know how to fill them in for you. You are responsible for sending the final copies to ASCAP and BMI, the network, and any other entity that requires them. Take time to look over the forms to make sure all of the blanks are filled in.

Technical Broadcast Specifications

The network’s technical broadcast specifications will come next. This is a rather large text of technical and engineering requirements. These vary little from network to network. To cover yourself, be sure to pass along a copy to your postproduction facility as soon as you receive them. If you look carefully, you will see that these also specify timecode requirements, blanking placements, audio and video levels, tape head formatting, etc.

Sometimes the networks will include information vital to you. So try to read them carefully, questioning any item you think may apply to what you are doing.

Framing Guidelines

Finally, there will be a film aperture and TV safe-area diagrams. These are standard TV measurements. Most postproduction houses have the ability to call up a prebuilt safe-area template on screen for you to use when titling or in determining if something in the picture will be picture-safe or outside the normal viewing area.

Making Use of the Delivery Packet

As soon as you get your delivery packet, make a copy of the delivery materials list. Use it as your master delivery list, noting in the margins when each element is delivered and to whom. Create a giant delivery list combining all departments’ delivery requirement lists to catch any overlaps and economize your ordering of elements and work. This eliminates having to spend money to go back and create forgotten or missed elements because another pass is required. You can also consolidate or even speed up delivery by creating your various elements in an orderly and economical fashion. This may mean earlier payment for your producer.

Combining all of the requirements of the delivery packet for videotape, the following is a comprehensive list incorporating all the distributor’s requirements. Again, this list will vary based on what your individual distributors demand.

Network Videotape Delivery List

•	(4) D2 videotapes: (2) air masters with sweetened stereo audio, (1) promotional copy with dialogue only, (1) foreign master with separate stereo composite and music and effects tracks.
•	(8) 3/4″ cassettes: (6) network copies ([1]-matching air master and [5] with shortened blacks), (1) production company library copy, (1) for the DP (if a contractual obligation).
•	(1) Betacam SP for the network.
•	(12) VHS viewing cassettes: (5) network, (1) production company library copy, (5) production company executives, (1) actor (if contractual); all made with shortened blacks.

International or Foreign Delivery

With the advent of high definition, and in anticipation of broadcasting in the 16 × 9 aspect ratio, foreign distributors have also added additional delivery requirements. Hopefully you have received and read the international delivery list prior to setting up the dailies transfers and final mastering and will be able to deliver all the appropriate masters required. (See “Television Dailies” in the “Dailies” chapter for more details.)

As with network delivery, the foreign distributor will provide a detailed set of delivery requirements. See “Foreign Delivery Checklist” later in this chapter.

Granting Access

If the foreign distributor has purchased all the rights to your show, your delivery materials list will be quite extensive. We culled the following list from a very large and very active distributor. If, however, the distributor purchased rights for only a specified length of time, the original negative and dailies trims and outs and other elements will remain the property of the executive producers. These materials will be sent to a vault or other holding area and must be inventoried and cataloged for the owner’s files. An access letter (see Figure 10.4) will be sent to the company that is holding the materials specifying who may access them and under what conditions. Be sure it is typed on the appropriate letterhead.

Figure 10.4 Sample Access Letter

Foreign Delivery Checklist

The following checklist will assist the distributor in securing or defending the rights to the picture and marketing the picture, as well as outline his financial obligations to the picture’s participants, crew, and other licensees.

•	(8) Cast and crew lists. The production coordinator can help you obtain these at the end of production.
•	(19) Paper copies of the final main and end credits and a 3.5″ disk or CD-ROM of those credits.
•	(8) Copies of the final script. This will also come from the production coordinator.
•	(4) Sets of all the production reports. These, again, will come from the production coordinator. It may seem a lot to ask of one person, but if you arrange this with them ahead of time, they will be glad to run extra copies of whatever you need.
•	(1) Editor’s lined script. The foreign distributor will use this to find trims and outs. Often the foreign distributor will use this to reedit for length, foreign content, or even promotions.
•	(1) Set of dailies camera and sound reports; also used for tracking trims and reediting.
•	(1) Footage worksheet or timing sheet, or an act-by-act footage count if negative was cut.
•	(1) Set of dubbing cue sheets covering music, dialogue, effects, and foley. These are road maps for all of the individual sound locations on the original and 24-track elements.
•	(1) Dialogue continuity script. This is a list of all of the dialogue in the final version and the timecode at which it starts. It may also contain small descriptions of selected scenes and a footage count to locate these. Viewing a videotape with visible timecode creates the continuity, and a script comes back to you as a typed report. The continuity person usually charges by the reel or by the picture length. Foreign utilizes this for looping.
•	(1) Closed-captioning disk (if available).
•	(1) Original multitrack audio element of the entire score. Your music editor will provide this when the dub is completed.
•	(1) Original multitrack audio master of your sound, music, dialogue, effects, and foley.
•	(1) 35 mm 4-track print master. This is a mag of your final mixed sound. Foreign uses this to create masters with whatever audio configurations they need. Be certain that the effects and music tracks are a “full foreign fill.” This means that all the sound effects originally part of the dialogue are on the music and effects tracks. This way no effects are lost when a foreign language is substituted for the current dialogue track. Your foreign fill should be created as soon after the domestic mix is completed as possible—preferably the next day. Your sound facility can complete the foreign fill for a two-hour MOW in about 1 day.
•	(1) Negative and print of alternative version of writing credit (when you are providing both a video and a feature version). If the credit reads Teleplay, this refers to the “video version.” The feature version should read “Screenplay by.” If the credit reads “Written by,” no separate element is required.
•	(1) 35 mm negative and print of all textless backgrounds, including titles, credits, bumpers, subtitles, etc. Your optical department will make this upon request.
•	(1) Original D1 or digital Betacam standard definition fully color-corrected master.
•	(1) HDCam high definition fully color-corrected master. Aspect ratios: 4:3 and 16:9 in both letterbox and full frame. Sometimes the distributor will want to supervise this telecine or tape-to-tape color correction. However, any additional costs this incurs will be added to your bill. We advise that you are also present if foreign insists on supervising.
•	(1) 35 mm original cut negative (OCN). This must be complete with titles and opticals. Some distributors will even ask for super 35 mm. Know this going in so that you can use the proper framing for shooting principal photography. The distributor will use this for striking new prints or transferring to videotape. Some distributors will have vaults to store this film in. Others will just want access letters sent to the facility storing the negative. This will be determined by who has final ownership of the picture.
•	(1) Fully-timed interpositive
•	(1) One light internegative
•	(1) Composite check print mounted on reels and packed for shipping.
•	All original trims and outs, opticals, title tests and trims, including those trims and outs used for a foreign version. These can be used for recuts and sometimes for promotions. Get these from your lab/negative cutter/editor. In the case of Star Wars, George Lucas kept all the optical elements in his personal vault, and 20 years later he used them to restore the film to its original condition.
•	All telecine masters, logos, and edit decision lists (EDLs). Get the EDL from your editor.
•	All production audio. You will retrieve these from the sound-effects company. Your distributor may have a vault or they may be vaulted with the company that did the audio transfers. An access letter to that facility may be all that is required.
•	(1) 3/4″ off-line cassette of the final cut with timecode corresponding to the final negative cut list. This can be the same cassette generated by your assistant editor to be used as a reference in the on-line. If you did not on-line, this cassette can be the final locked version output from your off-line system.
•	All film interpositive materials and count sheets for title cards, mattes, overlays, opticals for titles, bumpers, and opticals. Also any video-generated material for the above. Used for generating any new title treatments and restoring opticals.
•	(1) Copy of all literary material acquired or written for the picture, which includes one copy of each script draft (each draft version is identified by a change in paper color, and the version number will be on the cover page) labeled with the writer’s name and the date. A list of all of the public-domain materials used in the picture, including literary, dramatic, and musical, and those that provided the services to clear the rights to use the public-domain material, must be provided. This will help the distributor’s legal department in securing or defending the rights of the picture.
•	(1) Copy of each contract and/or license for the use of screen credits in print advertising and paid advertising obligations. These contracts detail who gets credit and under what circumstances. If you have the contracts, you can supply this information. If not, get the information from your legal department.
•	All writing credit documentation. This includes the notice of tentative writing credit, any arbitration material, and final received-by signatures. These will be in your files.
•	A schedule or report of the following information, to be used to compute residual payments when the picture is replayed, shown in foreign theaters, or sold in the home video market, or if the musical sound track is sold. All of these details come from your accounting department or your legal department. Traditionally, the accounting department has the information, so start there. This information must include: a) production dates and locations (these can also be obtained from the production coordinator’s call sheets or production reports); b) a list of all actors—including loop group players. Make sure the social security number, guaranteed days, days actually worked, salary, loan out or gross participation, and SAG status are included for each person affected; c) names of director, first and second assistant directors, and the unit production manager, along with their social security numbers, guaranteed days, days worked, etc.; d) a list of the writers and all of their pertinent information; e) total dollar amount for salaries below the line and any IATSE labor; f) list of any other individuals entitled to gross or participation moneys; and g) a list of all individuals or companies that require credit in paid advertisements.
•	(6) Copies of the music cue sheets and the cover sheet indicating who else you provided with cue sheets.
•	All composer agreements, sync licenses, master record licenses, and artists’ licenses (singers). Any music licenses you have—including needle drop licenses. These can all come from the legal department.
•	The original written score. This will come from your music supervisor. If there is no written score, a memo to this effect from the music composer will suffice.
•	If musicians were hired, include a copy of the AFM report, social security numbers for the musicians, and their salaries and AFM status. Your accounting department will have this information. If you did not use AFM musicians, a memo to this effect from the composer will suffice.
•	All accounting records, including checks, vendor files, bank reconciliations, and payroll records from pre-production through postproduction. Your accounting department will provide these materials. Also have them prepare an inventory and include a copy inside the boxes with the records and a copy taped to the outside.
•	(20) Black-and-white still photographs titled and captioned with each actor’s real and character names. If the main actors retain still photography approval, begin early so that their approval does not hold up this process. The stills come from your photographer and it is your responsibility to label each shot.
•	(100) Color transparencies labeled as copy information. Transparencies, also known as slides, come from your photographer.
•	(1) 8 × 10 main art color transparency. This will be made from your main title card and it can be purchased from the optical house or department.
•	(1) Billing block outlining credit requirements, paid advertisement requirements, and photo approval. Obtain this from the legal department.
•	Biographies on actors, director, producers, and writers. These come from the manager or agents and sometimes, in the case of producers, directly from the person. Start early and have them faxed to you. It will take some time to collect all of these. Requesting them at the time your looping session starts usually works. This material helps the distributor market the picture.
•	A 1- to 3-page synopsis of the picture. This is a marketing tool. Often the promotional departments will have something you can use. Or, you may have to write something yourself and get producer approval for publication.
•	Reviews—you can try to collect these yourself or get them from the network. Often the picture is delivered in such a rush that these are not available.
•	(1) Cast and crew list with the name of the characters and the actors’ real names and the crew members’ titles next to their names. This comes from your production coordinator.
•	Internegative or interpositive—some distributors will want you to provide these or have the negative available to make these to avoid overuse of the original cut negative.

If you created your project on video or data and recorded out to film, your delivery items might also include:

•	Original color-corrected video master
•	Original data file used for film recording
•	Access to negative (from film out) may also be called an optical dupe

If this is a theatrical release you will also need to create an IP for future release prints. These items are in addition to any textless, sound, or accounting and legal documents previously listed.

If you are delivering for digital cinema release, you will deliver a D5 high definition master with 5.1 audio or a separate audio element as specified.

Remember that the number of delivery items you will be required to provide depends on who has picture ownership. If the producers sold the picture outright to the foreign distributor, the distributor will want every element and legal document made. If the ownership remains with the producers, only access to the original negative and sound, delivery of internegatives or videotape masters, and the usual legal paperwork and photographs will be required. These will be outlined in the distributor’s obligations and materials for promotional use.

Foreign Formatting

Again, whether foreign distribution formatting will need to be done in an edit bay will be determined by the individual specifications. If the delivery requirements call for blacks to be pulled up to exactly ten frames, you should do this in an edit bay rather than relying on someone in your duplication department to do this machine to machine. Again, be careful not to upcut the music. Make sure to start counting the ten frames after the music ring-out is completed.

You must also include textless material at the tail of your foreign delivery master. Occasionally a company will require that the textless are provided on a separate reel, but usually they want it to start 30 or 60 seconds after the end of program. Textless material must be provided for all parts of the program that have text. This includes the main title, opening credits, end credits, bumpers, and any parts in the body of the show that have text—such as locales and legends. Textless material is formatted in the titling session. For more information on textless material, see the “Titling” section in the “Completion” chapter.

Detailed information regarding formatting your program for foreign delivery is located in the “Completion” chapter.

Foreign distributors will also require separate music and effects (M&E) audio channels if they are available. Most modern-day videotape delivery formats have four channels of audio so the M&E tracks can be included on the delivery master in stereo without losing the English composite track.

Remember that there may be additional delivery elements for foreign distribution that are not required by the networks. As noted earlier, these can include trailers, slides, music cue sheets, continuity scripts, and separate audio elements. Don’t wait until you are ready to deliver to compile your foreign delivery requirements. Your company won’t be paid until they deliver all of the required elements. Going back to recreate elements can be expensive and hold up delivery and incoming moneys.

Details that seemed so minor compared to all the postproduction emergencies you were handling with levelheaded authority can surface at the eleventh hour and catch you. Many companies have specific box-size (the size of the box you pack their elements in for delivery) and box-labeling requirements. Check these out ahead of time. If possible, get them in writing so you can pass the information on if someone else will be physically packing the materials into boxes.

Production Company Delivery

Compared to the networks and foreign distributors, the production company delivery requirements will seem like a walk in the park.

Most production companies will have very simple requirements. Often it will be all of your notes and files documenting delivery and files of contracts and videotapes for the producers’/executives’ personal use. If the picture is sold in total to the distributor there will be very little film or videotape material to retain, as the producer will not have the right to reproduce the picture for anything other than a record of the accomplishment.

If, however, the producer retains ownership of the project, you should make a road map showing where all the remaining materials live. There will be negative at the lab, sound at the transfer house, and trims, outs, and master videotape materials in storage. Some producers keep very little of the trims or videotape on-line and offline material, so confer with them and find out their requirements.

Cast/Crew Cassette Copies

Often cast and crew members asking for cassette copies of the show will approach you. Sometimes there is a contractual obligation to provide these cassettes. You should have a list of these obligations when you make all of the final materials. However, if this is not a contractual requirement, check with your producer before allowing a copy of the show to be borrowed or made. Unauthorized copies could cause a legal problem, and the producer could be sued. Ask the legal department to make a 1-page agreement for the requesting party to sign before receiving a videocassette copy. Usually they just want the footage to add to their work reel.

Technical Requirements for Cassettes

Production companies don’t usually care to have their library and viewing tapes closed captioned (but be sure to double-check this … there’s always an exception to every rule). If your show was formatted in on-line with long commercial breaks, you may want to make these cassettes with the blacks shortened. This can be done machine-to-machine instead of in an edit bay. The charge should be your regular duplication cost plus a small machine-edit charge. If you are going to need a lot of pulled-blacks cassettes it may help to create a pulled-blacks submaster to avoid picture glitches on the cassettes. You can use a low-cost tape stock, such as 1″, for this intermediary step.

Production Company Delivery Checklist

The production company’s delivery requirements will depend primarily on whether the producers retain the rights or the rights are sold to another distributor.

Regardless of who retains the rights, the production executives and possibly the cinematographer, the director, and some of the cast are going to want copies for their personal libraries and reels.

The relative simplicity of production company delivery expectations compared to the rigmarole that domestic and foreign distributors put you through should not negate the value of a checklist. In the heat of the delivery moment, things can get harried, and a forgotten executive could do more to hurt your reputation on the job than admitting you cross-dress!

When the Producer Sells the Rights

When the producer has relinquished all rights to the picture, the production company delivery list will be very short. This order will consist of one or more 3/4″ copies and several 1/2″ copies. Be sure to poll everyone before you put this order in with the duplication facility. Check into any possible contractual agreements with stars or crew members who have been promised cassettes. Some companies split up who makes these cassettes. The more prominent members of the production company may get cassettes made by the duplication facility, because the quality is usually better. They may then order a Betacam SP or 3/4″ for making any additional cassettes in the office.

The cassettes made at a professional tape house will be of a higher quality because they will make them from a better source tape and their equipment is presumably commercial grade with regular maintenance. However, the cassettes made in your office can be made virtually for the cost of the stock, thus lessening the burden on your probably already overburdened budget.

If the production company wants viewing cassettes made for their executives and staff, or if they request a playback source for making their own copies, they will want these tapes to have shortened or pulled blacks. This means that the formatting and blacks between acts that were put in for the air master delivery are taken out. Executives are notorious for not having the patience to sit through a 10-second black between acts. They will usually want the blacks no more than 5 seconds or even 2 seconds in length.

It Rings True

A word of caution when making a pulled-blacks videotape: be very careful that the facility does not up-cut (cut off) any music ring-out. If an executive views a cassette you’ve had made for their library and the music is cut off, you will have a really hard time convincing that person that it is not that way the on the air copy is. You’ll probably have to order a new cassette (at the facility’s expense, of course).

When the Producer Retains the Rights

Low budget independent features (Indies) are often complete and have screened around the globe before the executive producer has realized one penny of profit. They may have screened in film festivals and film markets for months looking for a suitable buyer. Many important details can be forgotten due to the extended amount of time that may elapse between the completion of an Indie project and it’s purchase. For example, a distributor may want to add or change a title over action, which means you will have to find all the textless and texted materials needed to create the original titles in a timely manor. The elements might be at the optical house where the titles were made, they may be at the laboratory, or they may be at the negative cutters. An hour of phone calls later you will realize how important it is to keep track of your elements.

Try to keep all of your masters together. Keep the negative at the film lab and video at the video facility if you do not have access to an appropriate centralized vault. It will also help to make textless backgrounds and other material required by distributors. Keeping your paperwork organized and in legal and accounting order will save you from scrambling when the big sale hits. Be aware that sometimes distributors will want creative changes. It may be due to bad language; reference to a product, person, or thing; or just to tailor the project to their audience. If you have made all your delivery masters prior to the sale you will now have to edit those masters. Choose carefully which materials get made and only make the elements you need as sales tools prior to that big sale.

When the producer retains ownership of the negative, your production company checklist will look something like the following:

•	(1) Cut or uncut negative of the entire show. This is usually stored at a vaulting facility.
•	(1) Interpositive of the full feature.
•	All film interpositive materials and count sheets for title cards, mattes, overlays, opticals for titles, bumpers, and opticals. Also any video-generated material for the above. Used for generating any new title treatments and restoring opticals.
•	(1) Multitrack audio masters of the entire show including any filled music and effects tracks. This is usually stored at a vaulting facility.
•	(1) D1 or digital Betacam master with textless at the tail, dialogue, music, and effects split out onto separate tracks. Delivered in 4:3 and 16:9 full frame and letterbox. This is usually stored at a vaulting facility or with a duplication facility.
•	Positive and negative trims and outs stored at a vaulting facility. These boxes should be inventoried and numbered. One copy of the inventory should be inside the box, and one should be taped on the outside of the box.
•	All editorial paperwork boxed and labeled with an inventory inside and one on the outside. Included in this material will be a lined script, act-by-act timing sheets, opticals orders, negative cut list, EDLs, etc.
•	The postproduction supervisor or associate producer’s paperwork boxed and labeled with an inventory inside and one on the outside.

The above material will allow your show to be formatted to meet future needs.

If the producer is retaining all rights, there may be additional items on the delivery requirements. In fact, these delivery requirements could follow the foreign checklist very closely.

Taking Stock

Some production companies that produce several shows a year choose to make or save a little money by bartering or selling their trims and outs to stock houses.

Establishing shots and crowd scenes and any potential stock location shots or specialty shots may be of interest to a stock house. If the producer retains the rights to the show, there may be an arrangement that can be worked out with a stock house. The stock house receives a videocassette of the show and all the film trims and outs. They pull out the negative they want and the rest goes into storage with the rest of the program elements. Then, whenever the stock house rents or sells any of the shots, the production company will receive a percentage of the fee. In addition, should the producer want to use any of these shots again, they will be available at a discount, or possibly at no charge. This is a way for the producer to receive extra income from the production.

Executive Quality

Most importantly (after meeting the delivery deadline, that is), the production company executives are going to want high-quality 3/4″ or VHS copies from the final color-corrected, sweetened (stereo) digital master. Determine how many you need and whether you should have individual names typed on the cassette labels. You also need to know when they expect to receive their tapes. If you deliver to the network on Friday night, you may need to messenger tapes to the production company executives’ homes, or they may be willing to wait until Monday morning to receive their copies.

Delivering

Once you have created all of the required elements and gathered all necessary paperwork, you are ready to deliver. Make sure you double-check everything, label each item as instructed, and box and inventory as required. Proper labeling may save your neck and will certainly make it easier to distinguish what is what if you have multiple versions of your project. Video master labels need to include:

•	Production company name
•	The final title of the show and a.k.a. if needed
•	The date the element was made
•	Run time
•	Whether tape is subtitled or captioned
•	If the tape contains textless title backgrounds and where they begin
•	Note if this tape one of multiples, e.g., Tape 2 of 2
•	Aspect ratio
•	Type of conversion (if applicable)
•	Purchase order number
•	Channel configuration
•	Language

When boxing up elements be sure to include on the outside of the box and on the inventory inside the box:

•	Production company name
•	Final show title and a.k.a. if needed
•	Boxes must be labeled and inventoried. Each box label needs to include: box number, e.g., Box 26 of 50.

Be sure to place a master inventory sheet on top of box one and inside each box prior to sealing.

With this done your office will begin to resemble a warehouse, with boxes stacked high. Get rid of everything as soon as you can. When all the items are delivered and have been accepted at their respective destinations, you are no longer responsible for their safety. Accompany elements with a detailed delivery letter stating what materials are being delivered, when, and where. Again, utilize the wording from the delivery requirements. This makes the distributor more comfortable that what is delivered matches what was requested. Be sure to send your foreign or network point person a copy of this letter if their material is being delivered somewhere else.

Put your delivery instructions in writing for those responsible for the actual delivery. Also, require that a signature be obtained (written and legibly printed) whenever any element is delivered. Make sure you retain all of these “received-by” signatures in your files. These will prove that the materials were delivered and put the onus on someone else for locating lost or misplaced items. As an extra precaution, take time to call the receiving facility or contact person to let them know what materials are coming and when.

Delivery is a great relief. It’s the reward for all the work you’ve done to get your show on the air. Don’t botch the moment with some careless faux pas. And remember, get all the appropriate signatures as you move along the postproduction path. This way, if there is a mistake that doesn’t come out until your program has been broadcast, you will have some company with you in the doghouse.