Q:  I will be directing a small feature financed by private investors.  It’s based on my script.  I want to ask for final cut, but I know only big time directors get final cut.  Anyway, I wonder if it’s something I can ask for and how final cut works.

A:  In many ways, a director without final cut is like a painter who has no right to determine what his painting looks like.  Of course, in many ways, it’s not like that — a director needs a lot of other people’s money to make a film, and a painter doesn’t.  If a studio invests tens or hundreds of millions of dollars into a picture, it only makes sense that it wants to control final cut.  That’s why only well-established directors are able to negotiate final cut on studio films.

The situation is different on small films not financed with studio money.  On those films, almost everything is negotiable, including final cut.  So you should feel free to ask for it, especially since it’s based on your script.  After all, depending on the level of creative experience of the investors and producers involved with your film, you may be the person everyone actually prefers to have final cut.  Is it really better if some guy who made a small fortune in the car wash business and who decides to “invest” some of it in a small film has final cut?

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