How much to offer A-Lister for Cameo?

N

Nunlimited

Hey everyone,

So I'm about to produce a feature film with a six-figure budget. To add a little "star power" to the film, I was contemplating calling up the agents of saaay A-listers like Johnny Depp and Jonah Hill or even A list musicians like a Rihanna, Drake or Rick Ross to play a small cameo role. The offer would be $25,000 for a three day shoot or about a little over $8,000 per day.

Do you think this can work?
 
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Nunlimited said:
Hey everyone,

So I'm about to produce a feature film with a six-figure budget. To add a little "star power" to the film, I was contemplating calling up the agents of saaay A-listers like Johnny Depp and Jonah Hill or even A list musicians like a Rihanna, Drake or Rick Ross to play a small cameo role. The offer would be $25,000 for a three day shoot or about a little over $8,000 per day.

Do you think this can work?
Click to expand...

Do you need a star?
Do you have all of the other aspects of the film covered money-wise? I'd make sure you have money for your main actors, locations, gear, crew, catering, etc. before you try to get Rick Ross or Rihanna in your film.
 
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ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
Do you need a star?
Do you have all of the other aspects of the film covered money-wise? I'd make sure you have money for your main actors, locations, gear, crew, catering, etc. before you try to get Rick Ross or Rihanna in your film.
Click to expand...

Yup Yup everything from cast, locations, gear, catering, insurance, and we even got a contingency budget! Whoohoo! But there is a good $30,000 lying around and as oppose to "marketing" (yes, we've already budgeted for that and self-distribution as well) I think this would be a great expenditure.

Again, I'm wondering is $8,000 per day a good offer?
 
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Nunlimited said:
Again, I'm wondering is $8,000 per day a good offer?
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No.

You may get away with $8k for a single day (hell, if you have a good enough reason for them to get involved, they may even do it cheaper though this is unlikely), but you're unlikely to get anyone to do more than a single day for a cameo.

When I was taught this concept, the number thrown around is mid 5 digits ($50k range) for an A-lister walk-in for a single day of work. You may get away with smaller amounts though, you can only try. What usually happened is you call an agent that has multiple A-listers on their books, say that you're after X-Caliber star power, paying this amount, needed for this day. You tend not to be able to choose who you get, but they'll often send someone who just happens to have the day free and is in out to help and/or have a bit of fun and get a decent pay day anyway. Pay attention to this is a single day deal and a non-locked in situation.

One last thing you should pay attention with cameos, while they can be the star power, their impact is often limited. If you have a star in only a few scenes and you use that star as part of your main promotion, you may end up hurting your word of mouth (on this and possibly future projects), particularly if people go to see it based on the star and feel ripped off when they're not in it as much as they expected.

Just to put it into perspective, these A-listers can demand 6 to 7 figure pay rates a day when attached to a project.
 
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As much as I'd like to see you pull this off, I don't see it happening just by offering money. For this to work you'd have to get an A-lister personally interested in you or your project.
 
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3 days is not a cameo! That's a supporting role. So, I think you should make an adjustment to that expectation.

How much do you need to offer them? I have no idea. Nor do most of the people who've commented in this thread, nor the vast majority of the members of this forum.

That being said, I think Sweetie's advice sounds very wise to me. I like your idea of trying to get a hip-hop artist. I also think you should consider trying to get a B-actor or two.

Good luck! :)
 
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Nunlimited said:
Hey everyone,

So I'm about to produce a feature film with a six-figure budget. To add a little "star power" to the film, I was contemplating calling up the agents of saaay A-listers like Johnny Depp and Jonah Hill or even A list musicians like a Rihanna, Drake or Rick Ross to play a small cameo role. The offer would be $25,000 for a three day shoot or about a little over $8,000 per day.

Do you think this can work?
Click to expand...
A true “A-list” star will not consider $25,000 for a three day shoot.
They do one or two day shoots for close friends. Their star power
is worth more like $250,000 per day.

Even a “C-list” will charge you more than $8,000 per day. I recently
made a movie with Lance Hendrickson. His quote is higher than
$8,000 per day.

Perhaps a musician who has yet to receive an acting offer might
consider your price range.
 
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Something for anyone thinking of doing this:

Research the actors you are considering. How many “cameo”
appearances have they made in movies? How many of those
were “to add star power” to the film? If they do it occasionally
then they might be open to a good enough offer. The reality
is very few do. Those rare cameo roles are done as a favor
to a friend or out of respect for a director they admire.

Alcove touched on a great point; the day rate will often be one
half or even one third of the cost talent - especially one who can
add star power to a movie. Transportation and lodging and per
diem are expected. Even if they live near the shooting location
they will not jump in the car a drive over - not for $8,000 per
day. Even for a very short shoot most actors at the A-list level
will require at least one assistant to accompany them. You
cover all their expenses, too.

Keep in mind they are doing YOU a huge favor even when getting
paid a LOT of money. You need them to add the star power to your
movie - they do not need your movie to advance their career. And
that doesn’t come cheaply. Their agent will be looking at how well
you will be treating their highly paid, highly sought after client.
They will be looking to see what you are offering that no one else
is offering.

Eight large a day is a lot of money for you and me. Most of the
people posting here on indietalk are not making much more than
$25,000 a year. But for an A-list actor who makes $20 million a
picture that is often $250,000 per day. You want to make an offer
that an agent will find reasonable? Try $100,000 per day plus
$50,000 per day in expenses.
 
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Great points made in this thread.

I would add this. Stop thinking about cameos, they're no good. Actors don't like doing them, their agents don't like cameos since they cheapen their client's name value and image, and buyers and distributors don't like cameos, they want name actors to have decent sized roles because in the end, the customer who decides to buy or rent a movie because it has their favorite actor in it, wants to see that actor to be in the movie for a considerable length of time not just a quick cameo.

Agents, buyers and movie watchers have become wiser. The old "let's hire a name actor for a day so we only have to pay them a day's salary and we can put their face on the poster to sell the movie" is a no go, doesn't work.

The name actor and their reps know that the only reason you want to hire them is so that you can use their name to sell the movie, therefore they want to be paid accordingly, and want decent sized roles.

That's not to say that serious actors don't do one-day gigs, because they do, it all depends on the project, the role, the money etc.
You just don't want to hire someone like Eric Roberts who everyone knows does a hundred movies a year and whose name is pretty much worthless now.

That being said, three days is not a cameo, and it's not a bad gig for a name actor. For $25,000 you can't afford an A-lister, but you can get a lower level B-lister probably.

Needless to say the production needs to be SAG, and there will be additional fees to consider like has been mentioned in this thread before.

Before you pay anyone that kind of money, just make sure that they are a name that matters, you want someone who can get you distribution.
 
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Even if you know a name actress or actor, it doesn’t mean a lot. I know several people who, over the years have been regulars on series and have been supporting roles in movies, etc. Not stars by any means, but they are names you might recognize.

There was one who was a regular on a popular comedy series. You definitely would know him.

He was talking about how he gets many scripts from people who know him and they always arrive or are given to him with the preface, “I wrote this with you in mind.” or “I wrote this specifically for you.”

The vast majority one of these three categories:

A. Just not really good scripts period.

B. Decent scripts, but basically would have him playing the same exact character he plays on TV all the time. In the case of indie scripts he fields, he points out that this is extremely odd. “Basically, he said, “they are asking me to make sag minimum and spend a month in some out of the way place in a house with 17 other people, (cast and crew) to do the same thing I get paid sooooo much more to do all time.”

C. Decent scripts, but when he reads the part they wrote for him, he could could think of 900 actors off the top of his head that could honestly do a much better job than he could. In short, while he appreciates that they are providing a stretch for him, it is probably more of a stretch than writer realizes.

However, over the years he HAS received about 2 or 3 scripts from friends that hit the sweet spot. A great script with a part that he would love to dig his teeth into. He would say, ”I need to get on this right away because I NEED to play this part.” In those cases, “I wouldn’t care if I needed to drive myself to Alaska and live an igloo making 100 dollars a day.” One of these indies actually got made and he was a very big catalyst towards it getting made.

Just to clarify once again. he is talking scripts from people who KNOW him personally or are acquaintances.
 
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