Anyone else had this situation?
Was there "consideration" (AKA payment) for acting services? I once had an actor shamelessly try to shake me down for money. This complete idiot somehow got misinformation from someone and thought that just because the director never got him to sign a release that he had the "upper hand" to pull a bait and switch and demand points on the movie! LOL! The most important thing working against him was the fact that he was paid on TWO occasions including when he came in for ADR a year after filming. Also a judge knows the obvious and that is when an ACTOR steps foot on a MOVIE SET with cameras, lights and crew, it's obvious... they are going to be in a movie. Another thing that a judge will observe is whether or not an actor goes about the proper channels to mitigate a problem once they realize that there is a problem. .
My production is having a similar problem. Our indie is wrapped, but the lead actress is now claiming that she was promised $3000. at the end of the shoot. She insists she was verbally told this when informed that she had the role. The email sent confirming her landing the role says only, basically, 'congratulations'. I was present at every meeting or occasion when she and the director were together in person, and have access to all of the email sent between the production and her email address. Throughout the filming (over 4 1/2 months, 20 filming days), she fobbed off signing either her release, or information on the deferral amount, claiming first to be 'too busy', and then later, saying that she had a new agent and had to run the contract by him. She was given the paperwork at least 3 times. The only sig we have on file for her is attendance on the first day of principal shooting.
All of the cast and crew were offered a deferment of $100 per day of filming, to be paid after recouping of production costs only. The entire film budget was 5 grand, which went up to +8 grand by the end of the shoot, largely due to the actress' booking other jobs around our shoot days, even after telling us she would be free on certain days. (Don't get pissy about the defer - Toronto is rife with film schools, and we had literally hundreds of applicants for cast and crew, begging for time on set, even if completely unpaid.)
Our first attempts post wrap to get the release signed were met with 'creative' objections, and another request for the paperwork. Next we were hit with the "When do I get my $3000." And today, a further email saying that she wants to edit the release form,conditioning her sig in regards to this payment.
The actress in question is highly secretive - I only learned her real age (41) through a Google search, and she would never give her address to anyone, even going so far as to ask to be dropped off after a night shoot on a notoriously dangerous corner in downtown Toronto, to protect her address. She has 4 credits on IMDB, all from 2009/2010, all as secondary characters. In our film, she is the female lead. She recently moved back to Canada after several years of study and amateur dance and film work in England, claiming her return was based on her visa running out. Now I wonder if she pulled the same scam on some other director, and had to leave town after being blacklisted.
I get conflicting advice and information on our legal stance. Some say, "Tough, shoulda got it signed, she's got you by the hair". Others say, her attendance at 15 shooting days, along with our emails talking about wardrobe and hair etc., without a word about money, and her sig on the attendance form of Day1, constitute implied and verbal consent.
I'm monkey in the middle, as the exec producer will not be blackmailed, and he'd shelve the project before paying her, also saying that a payoff would expose him to legal and financial risk (other cast demands, etc.). The director is in love with this project, and has his whole emotional and financial life on the line. He'd pay her the 3 grand himself, but if he does so, the exec producer will cut all further ties with the film, which, again, would effectively shelve the film. We are currently in the process of trying to find her address, so that we can pursue a legal conclusion, if she does not respond reasonably.
Any advice from cooler heads with some similar experience, especially from Canada, would be welcomed.
thanks for listening!
