Entertainment Business Affairs + Delivery Consulting

Bridging the gap between the creative goals and business needs of independent film producers.

Headquartered in New York City, Reel Deal Advisory Services works with producers, distributors, and financiers around the world.

We provide executive producing, general business affairs, and document delivery services to film and TV producers. We have delivered to almost all of the major theatrical distributors, streamers and sales companies, including Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Disney/Searchlight, Focus Features, Neon, A24, Bleecker Street, IFC Films, Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+, HBO Max, etc. We also manage legal delivery intake and review for film distributors.  

Additionally, we advise producers and investors on all business aspects of new independent film and TV projects, and help producers and investors manage and maximize revenues on previously produced projects. 

Our Services

  • We specialize in document delivery, enabling a smooth and timely handover of all required paper deliverables and getting you paid as soon as possible, including

    • Reviewing & negotiating delivery schedules for distributors & sales agents.

    • Coordinating & tracking delivery of all required documents.

    • Assistance in curing any delivery defects in documentation.

    • Managing guild credit approvals & waivers, completing guild residuals worksheets (from information provided by production), & delivering other necessary guild documentation.

    • Preparing credit, obligations, & approvals memos, billing blocks, lab access letters, negative cost affidavits, & more.

  • We maintain a birds-eye view over the business of production, liaising between a production company’s financiers, producers, attorneys & accountants. We evaluate financing, sales & distribution options, review production forms & business terms of key agreements, advise on guild requirements and downstream effects, review cost reports, address third-party clearance issues, and provide general production troubleshooting & support.   

  • Our general business affairs services include:

    • Production company set-up, operating agreements, copyright registrations & recordations, & other chain of title documentation.

    • Advise on insurance requirements, including Errors & Omissions insurance, and ensure policies are in compliance with industry standard insurance requirements.

    • Negotiate business terms of above and below the line production agreements.

    • Manage third party clearance review process

    • General production troubleshooting & support.

  • We work with producers of unscripted projects to handle the specific needs of nonfiction filmmaking, including general business affairs, archival licensing and document delivery.

  • Distributors have very specific requirements for music in film. We ensure your music documentation will be acceptable to distributors by:

    • Reviewing longform music license agreements to ensure they will be acceptable for delivery to distributors.

    • Providing clearance services for third-party music on select projects.

  • We recognize that film financiers are the lifeblood of independent film. We provide strategic guidance in the investment decision-making process, ensuring alignment with investor’s goals. We monitor projects through their production & distribution life cycle, acting as the eyes & ears of the investor to help guarantee that the project is completed on-time, on-budget, and in-accordance with all industry-standards & legal requirements. Our investor services include:

    • Negotiating business terms of investment agreements.

    • Oversight of production business affairs to ensure all agreements entered into by production are consistent with industry standards & distributor delivery requirements.

    • Managing on-going communications with financier’s attorneys, co-financiers & producers, both pre-closing & during production.

    • Reviewing cost reports during production & post-production.

    • Overseeing the delivery process to ensure timely payment by distributors.

    • Reviewing CAM and distributor statements for accuracy and completeness.

  • We specialize in managing & maximizing revenues for all stakeholders of completed film projects, including secondary & ancillary rights management, statement & revenue tracking, & active collection of unpaid revenues.

    • Monitor statements & payments from distributors, sales agents, collection agents, & collection societies.

    • Facilitate payment of required guild residuals.

    • Prepare any required reporting to third party participants.

    • Active collections of all revenues due from distributors & sales agents.

    • Maximize revenues through exploitation of ancillary & secondary rights (music publishing, clips, merchandising, cable retransmission, & blank tape levies).

    • Advise on second cycle sales options & negotiate second cycle sales & distribution agreements.

Our Team

  • A woman with glasses, earrings, and layered necklaces smiling at the camera in an indoor setting.

    Stacey Smith

    FOUNDER + BUSINESS AFFAIRS ADVISOR

    Stacey Smith is an experienced producer and business affairs executive who brings a unique perspective to her work in independent film. She started her career on Wall Street, where she was involved in film and cable television financing, but knew she wanted to be more directly involved in making films.  She then began her longtime association with internationally renowned and fiercely independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, running his company and playing a key role in the sales, production and distribution of many of his films, including Broken Flowers (Bill Murray, Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton), winner of the Grand Prix du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival, Only Lovers Left Alive (Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston), Limits of Control (Isaach de Bankole, John Hurt, Gael Garcia Bernal), Coffee & Cigarettes (Cate Blanchett, RZA, Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, Roberto Benigni), and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Forest Whitaker).  Stacey still manages his catalogue of award winning films. 

    Stacey now provides executive producing and business affairs services for independent film and TV projects including The Problem with John Stewart (Apple TV+), Hal Hartley’s upcoming Where to Land and documentaries such as Amazing Grace (NEON), Hip Hop and the White House (ESPN), and the Oscar-nominated All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (NEON).  She has also developed a specialty in legal delivery services, delivering films such as Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner Father Mother Sister Brother, as well as Together, The Friend, Theater Camp, Cha Cha Real Smooth, Montana Story, Motherless Brooklyn, First Reformed and Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die and Paterson to all major distributors, including Focus Features/Universal, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Disney/Searchlight, Neon, A24, Bleecker Street, IFC Films, Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Hulu etc.

    IMDB
  • A man with curly dark hair, glasses, and a beard sitting indoors in front of a plant, wearing a dark sweater over a white shirt.

    Rebecca Ross

    BUSINESS AFFAIRS ADVISOR

    A graduate of Syracuse University’s music business program, Rebecca kickstarted her career as a paralegal at the entertainment law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz. There, she worked for clients including TV and film production companies (both scripted and unscripted), video game companies, creative studios, podcast producers, and talent. She then joined the business affairs team at Kobalt Music Group, where she expanded her knowledge of music-related agreements.

    Rebecca’s areas of expertise span all things production legal, including drafting and negotiating below-the-line agreements, materials and appearance releases, location agreements, music and archival licenses, development agreements, and more.

    IMDB

Our Projects

  • Movie poster for 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' featuring a person with short curly hair, shirtless, seen from the back, sitting near a window with a curtain on the right side.
  • A woman wearing a red beanie and a blue coat walking a white and black spotted dog on a city street, with the title 'THE FRIEND' written across the image in red text.
  • A meme featuring a distressed man with gray hair and a beard, wearing a black jacket, against a dark background with blue lighting. The text reads: 'Apple TV+ THE PROBLEM WITH JON STEWART'.
  • Movie poster for horror film 'Together' featuring close-up profiles of a man and woman, with the tagline 'The Best Horror Movie of the Year' and names Dave Franco, Alison Brie, and Michael Shanks.
  • Theater Camp movie poster featuring a cast of diverse characters in front of a forest and theater stage backdrop, with title overlay and release date information.
  • A promotional poster for the documentary 'Hip-Hop and the White House' shows a large human hand holding a radio antenna with the White House in the background. The text indicates the film is a Hulu original documentary, premiering on April 22 on Hulu.
  • Close-up of a woman's face, focusing on her eye with makeup, partially obscured by smudged paint or ink. The text on the image reads 'Luckiest Girl Alive' and indicates the Netflix release date October 7.
  • Close-up of a middle-aged man with blue eyes and gray hair, smiling slightly against a dark background.
  • A man with a bandage on his forehead and a jade plant in a pot is squatting in a hallway, looking at a pink letter. A pile of papers is on the floor nearby. The poster is for the film "Broken Flowers" with actor Bill Murray, who is featured in the image.
  • Movie poster for 'Cha Cha Real Smooth' featuring three people, a man with dark curly hair and beard wearing a white shirt, a woman with curly hair and headphones around her neck, and another woman with dark hair and jewelry, set against a yellow background with large white text.
  • Promotional poster for the movie "Montana Story" featuring a woman in a yellow jacket, a man with long hair, and a horse against a cloudy sky.
  • A woman crying with tears on her face, with text promoting a film starring Dakota Johnson, releasing on June 6 on Max.
  • Promotional poster for the film "Only Lovers Left Alive" featuring two women, one with dark hair sitting on a sofa and the other with platinum blonde hair lying down, with a guitar beside them. The poster includes reviews and film festival mentions.
  • Movie poster for 'Paterson,' featuring a man and woman sleeping together in bed, with handwritten text overlaying the image and quotes from reviews at the top.

Let’s Work Together

stacey@reeldealadvisory.com

“...the beauty of a movie is that you walk in, you don't know anything about it, you enter a world that's new to you, and that's the magic of being transported.”

– Jim Jarmusch