RULES AND GUIDELINES

I. Introduction - Updated 10/01/04
Hollywood The Game (HTG) is a Hollywood/Filmmaking Simulation Game that is open to players of all age. Players can take the roles of studio heads, producers, critics, journalists, marketing agents, real estate agents, TV network heads and theater owners to name a few. Only deals covered within these set rules will be made official by the game’s standards. These rules contain generalized guidelines which can be used for interpretation.

The application of these set rules to specific cases will be made by the Site Administrators. All decisions made by the Site Administrators are final and binding on all parties.

HTG makes NO claims to the copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property of any party whose copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property may be introduced into the game by players. HTG makes no cash (or profit) from this site, nor does HTG claim any copyright over existing franchises or actors. HTG is just a game (*Please refer to our Terms of Service).

Players of HTG agree that they will not hold HTG liable in any way for any legal actions brought by them or against them that relate to their involvement with HTG. Players play at their own risk. By having a user name players agree to these rules.

II. Accounts and Deals - Updated 10/01/04
The money exchanged in HTG is not real money, but fake money (HTG Cash, HTG $ or simply $ from here on out). All new players will begin the game with $500,000 in HTG Cash in their leaderboard account. All Users can ONLY have one user account (with the exception of players that rise to the level of Studio Head, who will be able to open another account for their studio). Any users found with more than one account will first be warned and than risk being banned from game play. All money made in all career tracks will enter a user’s single $ account. Along with one User Account, players can only have one spot in each career (I.E. a player can not hold two critic spots or have two creative companies).

Users have wide latitude to make deals between each other as they see fit. All deals will be monitored by admin and deals that are unfair to the game or its players will not be permitted. Any money which is transferred without sufficient consideration (value received in return) will be taxed 50% of the value (no giving other users – except users to their studio account – “free” money).

Multiple users may join together to purchase rewards, franchises, studios, etc. When doing so, it is highly suggested that all of the parties involved should submit a deal with all of the details of ownership. This deal can be submitted through the deal form.

On special occasions, loans can be given to players through the HTG bank. To do so, users must have a possession of value that they are willing to lose if they are unable to pay back the loan on time.

All deals (money and non-money value) must be reported to the Site Admins to be processed. This is done via the "submit a deal". Players are not permitted to have less than $0 in their account. Any businesses (studios) that go under $0 will be closed down and sold on auction.

If a player wishes to close their account, it is requested that they contact the Site Admins, so that their assets and obligations can be dealt with appropriately.

III. Deal Submission - Updated 10/01/04

Talent Deals
When you are ready to cast your film, check out the Talent Database, and obtain the Talent Scores for your WHOLE cast and DIRECTOR. All talent will be submitted in one deal to the central bank (submit the deal to “centralbank”). Under the description, you must list the cast members (with talent scores and how much money they cost).

Here is an example:

Director: Name Lastname - 1.5 Talent Score – $1,500,000 Actor 1: Name Lastname – 1.5 Talent Score – $1,500,000 Actor 2: Othername Lastname - .5 Talent Score - $500,000

NOTE: You need to fully cast a film’s Director and Top Four Actors before you can place it on the Release Calendar.

Film Deals
When you are ready to release a film and it is set on the calendar, you MUST put in a deal to Central Bank (submit the deal to “centralbank”) BEFORE the start of Buzz Voting. No films will enter Buzz Voting or Theatres without being paid for FULLY. If you don’t have the money to release a film, than it will not be released.

Submit this deal in this form:

Genre: Comedy Production Budget: 10 million Ad Budget: 20 million Total: 30 million

IV. Studio Heads - Updated 10/01/04
The original four studios (Flip Bros, Street Films, Alexander Corp and U.F.I) were determined by the site admin. All films that are released to the HTG Theater have to be distributed by studios. Studio heads have the freedom to “green-light” films that they want to release. Site admins have no say in such matters (but hold the power to say NO to any films that are overly offensive or pornographic in nature). Studio Heads can be hired and fired by the site admins at their discretion. Any studio that hits $0 will have its studio head fired. Studio heads will be held to a higher level of responsibility than other players in the HTG community due to their status/responsibilities.

Studios can cross over and work together on films. But when doing so deals MUST be written up and be very detailed about who pays what and where the profit goes.

All films must have a genre, which will designate how much a film’s production costs are (the site admins have the power to veto a studio’s chosen genre if it does not fit the release).

Below is a list of genres with costs:

All films must have at least one cast member and a director attached/paid for. Actors and directors have box office ratings that play a part in determining the box office gross of films. NOTE: See Talent Rules for more info on hiring talents.

Studios and producers decide together who will be paying production, advertising, cast and any other film costs. No Studio can grant a producer more than 90% of a films gross.

Release dates of films must be on a Friday (unless an award grants a producer a Wednesday release). If a release date change is made after buzz voting has already begun on the film, a $5 million fee will be assessed.

Studio heads have full access to the HTG Calender and must put info on a calendar for relase at least one week earlier then a films release date.

Studio heads are responsible for reporting all information about a film to the “submit film for release” page one week prior to the Thursday immediately before that film is to open. Including on this form is the film's title, all of its stars (the top 8 stars must be in order), its director, its producer, its genre, its advertising budget, the studio's name, and the film's website. They must also email a copy of the film's poster, which must be 100x150 pixels, to the site admin. If they fail to submit all this information by the Thursday immediately before the film's release, a fine of $10 million will be charged to the studio.

No two movies based on the same franchise, whether that material be original or adapted, may be released within three months of each other.

If a studio head steps down from their studio head post, they will be restarted as a player with assets determined by the Site Admin. The Site Admin will determine the disposition of the studio's assets.

If a studio shares more than 1 Studio head, both users are not able to vote for their own release.

V. Career Tracks - Updated 10/01/04
Along with Studio Head job, HTG has many Career Tracks.

Producer Career – All users are open to become producers. Producers make films with studios (Note: See Studio Head rules). Users are open to co-produce a film with another player. Producers can go about making a film in many ways. Producers can pitch a film to Studios in many ways; (1) they can pitch the idea to the Pitch Auction, (2) they can pitch an idea directly to studios, or (3) they can sell their script from the message board.

Producers get paid according to the deal they work out with the studio that green-lights their film.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated at HTG. Works must be either original, or if adapted, must contain substantial, non-trivial originality. Producers of HTG films must be active players of HTG.

Editor – Editors get paid to edit HTG scripts. They get paid according to the deal they work out with the studio/producer. Any editor who agrees to edit a film and submits the deal, but does not turn in the edited work, will be fined and can risk a HTG Court Law Suit by the studio/producer.

Journalist Career Track – SEE JOURNALIST CAREER TRACK IN FAQ

Critics – SEE CRITIC CAREER TRACK IN FAQ. No studio heads can be critics.

Marketing Career Firm/Creative Companies – SEE MARKETING CAREER TRACK/CREATIVE COMPANY IN FAQ.

Theater Owners/TV Network Heads – Currently under development.

Real Estate Agents – This job is open to ALL players. Real Estate Agents have the ability to sell any of the Residential Lots to other players. Players can come to them or they can seek out players to sell to. Real Estate Agents earn 20% of every sale they make (I.E. if they sell a 100 Million Dollar Mansion they make 20 Million). Real Estate Agents also have the option of lowering a player's price on Lots up to 20%. Each % they lower the price means that they get a lower cut of the sale (I.E. give someone a 10% discount and the agent only gets a 10% cut). Real Estate Agents DO NOT determine the price of HTG Town Square lots, the site admin does. For such deals, the buying party submits the deal to the HTG bank (with the name of their agent) and the Agents % will be given to them by the site admin.

Other positions are in the works.

VI. Talent - Updated 2/9/06

Follow the link here to read the talent rules for Hollywood the Game.

VII. Franchises - Updated 10/01/04
The Adaptation admins have a formula that prices the costs of a franchise. This process will keep the costs of the franchises the same no matter who is buying, or who has given you the quote. The adaptation message board, with the admins as mods, will be used for price quotes and the ordering of franchises. All info on who is buying a franchise is open to the public. The user who asks the price will have first dibs on buying the franchise. If the user doesn’t respond in 48 hours, can’t afford the franchise or decides not to buy the franchise than it will be open to other users to buy. A few high priced franchises have already been priced; please check out the franchise page for all taken franchises and pre-existing prices before using the Adaptation Board. Users that ask the price of an already bought or pre-priced franchise will be ignored. Users/Studios can either buy or lease a franchise:

Leasing: You can either have a 3 month Lease or a 6month Lease.

A 3 month Lease will cost you 25% of the total cost of a franchise; however you must release the film within 3 months. If you don’t release a film you have the option of; extending your lease to a 6month lease, buying the franchise, or losing the franchises and your 25%.

A 6 month Lease will cost you 50% of the total cost of a franchise; however you must release the film within 6 months. If you don’t release a film you have the option of; buying the franchise, or losing the franchises and your 50%.

Buying: To buy the franchise you will have to pay for the full 100% of the costs upfront. You will have no restrictions when you have to release a film. You can even sit on the franchise if you wanted to.

To stop people from sitting on franchises, having too many adaptations being released and not enough original work, there will be some strict franchise rules.

*You can only buy or lease 1 franchise per month.
*There can only be one 1 film per franchise released every 3 months (no matter who owns the franchise).
*Franchises will be somewhat costly.
*Users have to own property in HTG Town Square to own franchises. Different locations can hold different amounts of franchises.
*Studios can hold unlimited franchises in a studio lot.

***People who dont have enough money to buy the full franchise or people who are only interested in making one film from the franchise should lease it. No need to pay for the full thing when you only are going to use it once. Leasing it would be the cheaper alternative If you are planning on multiple films or you want to sit on it, then buy it

Selling a Franchise: You are allowed to sell a franchise to another player, but the same rules as buying a franchise from us applies. You can only buy 1 franchise per month & can only release one film per franchise every 3 months.

In HTG, any pieces that were made before 1930 are “public domain” and available to use for free. There is no buying public domain works.

VIII. Miscellaneous - Updated 10/23/04
As earlier stated, players may engage in other "careers" not described here, as long as such careers are deemed by the Site Admins to be within the rules.

HTG Town Square – This is the home of Hollywood the Game. All users begin in the Slums and must work their way up the status ladder of HTG. Different property gives players different abilities, possessions and chances within HTG.

Personal Film Library – If a user owns property in HTG Town Square (outside the slums), than the user is able to own a personal film library. Films for this library are sold in auction, got as rewards, on the boards and by players (after they get clearance to sell their film into the film library). Films in one’s film library can add anywhere between 100K to 5 million to all of a producer’s film ad budgets.

Cars – A few HTG properties allow users to own cars. The apartment owner can have 1 car, the condo owner can have 2 cars, a home owner can have 3 cars and a mansion owner can have up to 5 cars. Business lots can not own cars. Cars also have the ability to add to a film’s ad budget (can add anywhere between 100K and 3 million to all future releases). Cars can be bought at the car dealership and on auction (auction will feature special cars from real movies).

HTG Museum – This building will house a single prop from all HTG film releases. Studios will get 5 million for supplying the HTG Museum with said prop. Only 1 prop is allowed per film.

HTG Casino – Feeling lucky? The HTG Casino works with the fun filled game of pick a number between 1 and 100. Each chosen number is at the cost of 5 Million to the user (with users only allowed to buy 2 picks per week). Users can win anything from production cost breaks, cars, houses, film deals, free releases, films for their library and much much more.

Reward Creative Contests – The CC Admin will hold contests where users can try to win sponsorship deals with major companies. These deals can defer costs big time and are very valuable.

Message Board Signatures - Each sig can have 1 picture, with a size no bigger than the normal web banner size of 468 W by 60 L or square 60 by 60. The word limit in sigs will be capped at 100 words.

VIIII. Voting - Updated 10/01/04
Regardless of user’s chosen career tracks, all players are allowed and encouraged to vote in various aspects of the HTG game. Users that constantly vote will be rewarded with cash prizes and/or rewards.

Voting (All Players)
Regardless of their chosen career(s), all players are allowed and encouraged to vote in various aspects of the game.

Buzz Voting
In the days leading up to a film's release, "buzz voting" is taken on that film. This represents the level of excitement that the filmgoing public has towards a film prior to its release. A vote of 1 indicates total apathy; a vote of 10 indicates rabid excitement. The average buzz vote is an important part of the box office formula.

Theater Voting
In the first week of a film's release, "theater voting" is taken on that film. This represents the quality of the completed film. A vote of 1 indicates a complete failure; a vote of 10 indicates the perfect film. The average theater vote is a crucial part of the box office formula.

(1) Voting from multiple accounts will result in an automatic ban. You are only allowed to play with ONE account. Cheating will NOT be tolerated.

(2) Be careful when you submit your vote. If you make any mistakes or double submissions, the admin will use the first vote only.

(3) The voting admin will monitor players submissions for consistently bias voting. the voting admin reserves the right to discount votes fitting the above circumstances. This will be carried out without warning to the voter.

(4) Studio heads: (For studio's that have two heads/or an official assistant representing the studio) Only one studio representative is allowed to vote on any given release from their studio. This ruling covers Buzz and Theater voting.

DVD & TV Voting
These aspects of HTG are not yet ready.

All voting will be reviewed by the HTG admin and players that cheat will be warned/banned.

X. Outside Webpages - Updated 10/23/04
For all outside webpages that are made with HTML code, please put the following code on all pages.

< META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW">

If you do not know how to add this code onto your webpage, than contact a creative company that will do it for a small fee. Any sites that do not add this code int he future will be blocked from the site and if players are found to have webpages without this code, than they face warning, fines (in HTG cash) and possible suspension.