Firing An Actor

ussinners

ussinners

I've never done it. I hate to do it. But, this person has gotten on my last nerve. It's been bugging me for a while (since my rehearsing thread).

Should I toss a coin? Just take the leap. How the hell do you tell them? I seriously only have two gears left, extremely nice, or rotten ass nasty.
 
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Having only worked on the one feature - many moons ago! I can only speak of that experience - although it was for 4 1/2 months from casting to pick up's.

And basically everything that could go wrong did - lol! However I believe you learn more from such than success.

Anyhow, the one thing that did go right was we managed to get over a dozen 'main actors' to commit - first through 3 weeks of rehearsal but then 3 weeks of shooting (+countless p/up's).

Unfortunately, my mate was the lead/director/producer etc... so you can all probably guess how it ended up BUT I probably got the lesson of ten movies because of "how NOT to do things!"

In the end we probably had about 35 speaking roles and as I say an enormous amount came along for the ride for a couple of months!

Oh yeah, not one cent was paid! Sure they got pizza and a few bits and pieces BUT no one was paid.

And I put it down to casting the 'right' person for the role and having adequete rehearsal time to flush out the flakes and prima-donna's etc. Of which there were some...

Plus of course contracts for a $1 and copy - that was all.

It was quite an experience and as I say I learned sooooo much - probably why it's taken all this time to want to produce one myself - lol!

Jim
 
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I could have written the responses I received from these actresses myself. In the end it's exactly as I thought, one in and one out.

I got no sleep last night. I hate crap like this. But, it's better to do it now, then wait till we're in the room shooting.
 
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One thing you want to be sure you do when you hire anyone is to be sure they know what you expect from them including responsibilities and duties. If you have to get rid of them, it is always better to do it sooner rather than later. This does not mean getting rid of someone who is trying but having some problems that you think they can overcome with a little help.
 
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Jamster said:
" In the end it's exactly as I thought, one in and one out."

I hope it's the right one in and right one out lol!

All the best, Jim.
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It was. She was an excellent actress. We just didn't get along.

Have you ever known someone that whatever you say they have to say the opposite. It was like that. Throughout her response she gave me a laundry list of all the unprofessional things I've done. Then went on to say "I still think we can work together".

What made me feel a little better was, when I told the lead actress that I had let the other go, she responded that she was bummed, but that we just kept bumping heads. So, this wasn't in my imagination.
 
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If you can't work with the actor, and you haven't shot too much footage of them, then get rid of them. One volatile actor on set can spoil a production...not to mention, there are a plethora of awesome actors out there who are a joy to work with.
 
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This shoot promises to be a blast. If you hear about a director going ballistic and killing everyone, that would be me.


The last actor I hired was a close personal friend of the actress I fired. So, I e-mailed him to make sure he still wanted the role. Friends are thicker then doing the job you love. This fuck doesn't have the decency to reply.
 
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