Down with pull and kickback! Russian filmmakers rebelled against producers

Angelica Dean

The pitching of the debutant directors at the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation once again gave rise to doubts about the fairness of the choice of projects claiming state support. According to a number of directors and producers, a vicious scheme of "culling and kickbacks" is being used, as well as the open use of talented but inexperienced directors by cunning producers in order to get millions from the federal budget. In social networks, as a result of a discussion on this sensitive topic with the participation of famous directors, producers, screenwriters, a proposal arose to create a Commission to investigate the facts of dishonest actions of producers in relations with filmmakers.

Famous director and screenwriter Alexey German was the first to comment on this topic on his page:

- There are quite a few decent producers in Russia, but there are also enough crooks. One of the most disgusting methods of fraud is that the company finds, for example, a talented debutant, promises him decent conditions, courting, puffs cheeks, persuades to submit a project to the Ministry of Culture, promises not only state, but also extra-budgetary sources of funding. At the last moment (YOUNG PEOPLE, READ IT CAREFULLY!!!) a few days before submitting to the Ministry of Culture, they call you and ask you to urgently sign something, as you need to have time to prepare the documents. They promise to change the terms of the contract later. You agree, without looking, you sign, and then you realize that you lose the rights to your script, become a slave to the company, give up the right to edit, etc. And no one will re-sign anything with you. They know that you are decent people who will shoot a film in any conditions (often monstrous) while they cut the money they gave for your script. You will go crazy, but they will sooth you with fairy tales.

Moral: watch the contracts carefully, do not sign anything at the last moment without checking. And if you understand that the deception has already taken place, then do not be afraid of extreme measures. Do not be afraid, write statements, contact lawyers. You can lose, but in your heart you will know that you fought to the end. And is it important. You and the Russian Federation need a good film, the spinning on subsidies is not a production, but theft. Not everyone wants to go to Mordovia. Protect your rights .

One of the leading film critics Dmitry Savelyev agreed with Herman: "It's a pure truth, or rather a dirty one..."

Dozens of directors, in their comments to Alexey German's address, tell stories of the producers' unscrupulous actions. And the young director Sasha Frank, who has been fighting with the producer of her film "He + She" Denis Baglay all year for the right to show her debut film, urges to jointly fight the arbitrariness and lawlessness of "dishonest" producers:

- You know what I still don't understand... and probably won't be able to understand. EVERYONE knows about it! When this whole story happened to me, a lot of people appeared who began to say to me, they say, "this is a well-known scheme", "these are not respectable people", etc.

I would like to ask, where have you been earlier?

Really all this time they wrote comments and posts with indignation??

When I openly announced a blatant unfair story towards me and older artists, and in general towards young directors in general... no one supported me.

Only the brave and independent from anyone, due to their regalia and age, film critics. Yes, the Guild of Film Critics stood up for me.

The rest all hid in the bushes.

Young guys who have their backs broken either do not want to be in this profession anymore, or they are simply afraid.

And this is what I want to say, maybe we should already act! Instead of writing posts on Facebook!

Producer of cult and even epoch-making films "Boomer", "Adjuster", "Alive" Sergey Chliyants proposed to create a special commission that would monitor the actions of producers in relations with both directors and state structures and funds that distribute budget money:

- All that remains is to create a resource where you can sort out cases of fraud, but this should not be a trash heap. There used to be a conflict commission in the Union of Cinematographers. Moms had a chance to defend their position on the principles of justice and professional logic, and not only on pieces of paper. But today the union as a place of attraction for filmmakers is dead. After all, what we are discussing is a trade union problem and a task.

There are many cinematographic organizations in Russia that act as intermediaries between directors and the state, but often they are of a small-town character and, as a rule, serve their own interests and their people.

Director Viktor Kukushkin recalled Soviet cinema, which was filmed for the audience, and not in order to make money on it:

"You and the Russian Federation need a good film, the spinning on subsidies is not producing, but stealing".

Directly the quote should be distributed. No, everything is so, and it has always been so. The previous generation gave life and health to make a good film. And then a generation of businessmen came, the directors were simply moved out. Although there will always be breakthroughs, there will be no industry with such an approach. And to this day this is so.