The Fight For The Big Screen Continues

Producers and actors struggle to get their films a release date even as rules are thrown to the winds

- Udhav Naig

Producers and actors engag­ ing in midnight negotiations with financers and theatre owners to ensure release of movies has become a com­mon feature in the Tamil film industry. Stars like Vijay Sethupathi, Sivakarthikeyan, Vishal and many others have faced the ordeal on multiple occasions.

The film industry has seen many strikes in the last few years. The Producer Council renegotiated wages with Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) in 2017 and then went on a strike against what it claimed was ‘exorbitant’ rates charged by digital service providers. It­ went on strike again in 2018; this time against the State go­ vernment for levying local body taxes over and above GST. These are important is­ sues for the producers but one issue that the producers have not been able to arrive at a mutually benecial agreement on is about creat­ ing a fair, equitable and a reg­ ulated release schedule for the year.

Mismanagement

Lack of professionalism and nancial indiscipline are some of the reasons cited for movies getting delayed at the last minute. But, why does this happen again and again?

The funds owed by the producer to the nancier, salary dues or sometimes, even double selling of rights of a film are some of the rea­sons why films that are slated for release continue to get delayed.

The reasons why produc­ ers end up with a mountain of debt are nancial indisci­ pline and lack of a proper re­ lease strategy, swamping their own film with a bunch of other small films or releas­ ing along with a big movie at the box office.