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Could this be considered a "seed-stage film fund?"

My answer would be "no," since rather than buying just a small piece of your movie idea, Amazon studios options the entire thing immediately. Their arrangement is "if we decide we want to make your movie, we will pay you $200k and that's all."

In some sense $200k is actually quite a lot for a no-name script, but since Amazon gets all the equity I don't think we can call it a seed fund. This may be how the movie industry works (all the upside for a new writer is in reputation), but since you don't get to make the movie and earn the profit it doesn't seem comparable.

But do you get to keep your name on the script? There was that other project for writers where apparently they could (and did) remove your name from the list of authors. So you didn't even build a reputation.

As you say, $200k for a no-name script is actually not bad. And if it has some decent success (gets made into a movie at all), that byline probably has some value.

More like a "seed-stage screenplay fund"

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