First Meeting On Percentage System Ended With Conflicting Claims

The first meeting of the 21-member committee to decide the terms of Percentage System had its first meeting on Friday evening at the Film Chamber.

The Producers and the Exhibitors could not arrive at a common ground about the revenue loss to the Producer/Distributor due to contrasting claims.

For a Pan-India film, the Exhibitors say the loss due to Percentage System will be just around 5-6 Crore But the Producers and Distributors believe it will be around 15-20 Crore.

There can be no clarity on further action until the exact numbers arrive. So, they decided they would meet once again on Monday to discuss.

Once the exact numbers come, they will decide the sharing terms and the grading of theaters. It is also to be seen how the Grading of theaters will be decided.

One criterion will be based on amenities in the theaters and sometimes, even the theaters with not so good amenities can still draw good crowds due to various reasons. So, it has to be seen which criterion will be applied.

It will be a massive exercise because the historical data of all the theaters (at least from after COVID) will have to be dug and graded.

Meanwhile, a list of some seventeen films is being circulated saying that the Producers are seeking exemption for those films.

But we are told that instead of a specific list, the Producers will ask for a cutoff date. All the films that were started before that date will be exempted from the new system.

Producers are worried that the distributors are already diminishing and if this exercise results in huge losses, distributors will not come forward to buy the release and the producers have to opt for own release like in other states.