Month: August 2023

Pay or Play – Some Movies Don’t See the Light of Day

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Imagine working months, a year plus, on a project. Planning and outlining a story. Script revisions and rewrites. Storyboarding. A music score with full orchestra. Fighting and stunt choreography. Filming ninety percent of the movie.

Only to have HBO Max (I refuse to call it Max) shelve it for a tax write off.

This happened last year to Batgirl. Yes I’m still mad about this.

The movie starred Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, Brendan Fraser as Firefly and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. Michael Keaton was reprising his role as Batman. And it looked awesome.

Filming began November 30, 2021. In January 2023, DC Studios Co-head Peter Safran deemed the film “not releasable.”

But, the real reasoning may just be because The Artist Formerly Known as HBO Max was rebranding, and no longer wanted the direct-to-streaming movie in its library. And it would make a fantastic tax write off.

I was going to write about this a long time ago. I mulled it over, got mad about it, and decided too much time had passed and I didn’t want to bring it up again.

But then we have Disney+ cancelling The Spiderwick Chronicles series adaptation this week. This is only one cancelation of many, as Disney+ and Hulu downsize for their fiscal third quarter.

This year, Disney+ deleted Crater, a $54 million feature that only lasted on the streamer for seven weeks! They also removed the Willow spinoff, Y: the Last Man, and The World According to Jeff Goldblum. Last year, HBO Max removed the likes of The Witches (2020), Moonshot, Locked Down, Superintelligence, Charm City Kings, An American Pickle and a veritable pile of animated and live action series.

And since my blog lately has become “here’s a bunch of thoughts about the writer and actor’s strikes” you can only imagine how much Disney and Hulu and all these other streamers are saving on their barely existent residuals.

The Not So Fantastic 4

All this insanity reminds me of The Fantastic Four movie.

No, not that one.

Certainly not that one.

Yep, that one.

Not familiar with it? I’m not surprised. It’s technically a movie you can’t watch (unless cough cough bootleg DVD at Comic-Con cough cough).

The story behind this Fantastic Four is interesting, because it was a movie made specifically to never be seen. Why?

The 1994 film was made just to retain the rights to the characters. Although this Looper article claims otherwise.

A paltry $1 million dollar budget was set. A music video director was hired to direct the film. Cast and crew were hired at breakneck speed. This was definitely a race against the clock. Principal photography ended just three days before the contract would expire. The movie was edited in 28 days, and soon after it was served with a cease and desist from the producers.

Producer Berd Eichinger claimed it wasn’t his intention not to release the film, but Marvel exec Avi Arad was the one who stopped the movie in its tracks. In fact, Arad did buy the movie for several million dollars and order the prints destroyed. But still, it persisted, and bootleg versions exist out there for people to see the film in all its awkward B movie glory.

Pay or Play

Some movie contracts have a Pay or Play clause.

a pay or play clause guarantees that someone will get paid, even if they end up not doing the job that they were contracted to get paid for in the first place. They either get paid or they “play” and get paid. 

-Wrapbook

A good example was when the American The X Factor initially hired Cheryl Cole to judge two seasons of the show. Problem was, they didn’t think American audiences would understand her accent, so she was let go after the pilot episode. Cheryl Cole eventually had to sue, after she was paid for only one season. Her contract guaranteed her two seasons of pay, even though she didn’t work out as a judge.

This clause is also how Johnny Depp got paid $16 million after being fired from Fantastic Beasts 3 and replaced by Hannibal‘s Mads Mikkelsen. He had a pay or play, and the contract, as the IndieWire article points out, “did not have a morality clause.” This was after the highly publicized U.K. libel trial regarding the story of abuse with his wife Amber Heard. Mikkelsen was a better villain anyway. But still, $16 million is a lot to lose to an actor not appearing on screen.

I personally have worked on movies that have never, and will never, be seen. These are typically due to issues with finances at the indie budget level. I’ve worked on pilots that were never picked up by a network. I know several people who worked on The CW’s live action Powerpuff Girls show. I can’t imagine working on something so huge that it cost $50-80 million — and it never gets to be seen.

The cancelation of Powerpuff, from what I heard, might have been an act of mercy.

Pay or Stream?

We’ve got to a sticky situation in which titles are being deleted off of servers and shows and movies cease to exist. Actors, writers and show creators can’t earn residuals off that creative work, and not even DVD sales can save the day because…well, there’s not a lot of DVD sales going on. Personally, I’d love to see some streaming shows hit the DVD market. I don’t want Apple TV but I do want to see Silo. Why should I have Peacock in order to watch the Twisted Metal adaptation? Frankly, it would be beneficial to have an on-demand physical or digital download of content like this.

That’s enough for now.

Release Batgirl you cowards!

…and don’t get me started on New Warriors.

Sources

Disney Plus movie deleted just seven weeks after it premiered

Disney+ Not Moving Ahead With Completed ‘Spiderwick Chronicles’ Series Adaptation

HBO Max removes even more original content

Producer’s Guide: Pay or Play Clauses

Johnny Depp Exposé Reveals His Destructive Set Habits and $16M ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Payday

Podcasts that put the strike in perspective

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One way I’ve stayed in tune with the impact of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes is through podcasts.

I wanted to share several selections from podcasts I’ve listened to recently that stress the necessity for the strikes in the spotlight. I’m on the crew side, so hearing from writers and actors helps put things in perspective.

I listen through Audible, but I imagine you can find most if not all of these on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Scam Goddess -“The Film that Hid Fraud”

Laci Mosley (Lopez vs Lopez) and her guests started this episode talking about the insanity of the markup on wedding things – also known as the wedding tax — and it ended up making commentary on film worker’s lives.

Naomi Ekperigin (actor Mythic Quest  and writer Mrs. Fletcher): “Someone’s like ‘Oh yeah, I’ve seen you on TV.’ Just because I’m on TV… doesn’t mean I want to spend all the money I have on this. You don’t know my life. You don’t know my circumstance. We work in a business too where — okay yeah, it was a good year but we don’t know if it will be next year.”

Mosley: “We up on a whole strike right now! It’s up and down. You never know how long you’re gonna need to save your money.”

The episode then covered an interesting story about the fraudulent film production of A Landscape of Lies, so check out that episode. Laci and her guests are very entertaining.

Listen here.

Deadline Strike Talk – Week Sixteen with guests Gale Anne Hurd and Glen Basner

On this episode, host Billy Ray talked with producer Gale Anne Hurd (Terminator) and Glen Basner (FilmNation CEO), and the talk inevitably turned to the problem of AI.

Gale Anne Hurd pointed out that the concept of AI (like ChatGPT) writing scripts would be just a rehashing of what’s been done before. AI can “theoretically formulate box office successes” that are just copies of what was popular before. “The great age of cinema and television series,” Hurd stated, “was always when there was innovation.”

Basner: “If you look at a distributor like A24, Neon, Bleeker Street — they may be great theatrical distributors and there may be an audience at the theatrical level for those movies, but if they can’t sell their movies to paid TV or streamers, at the levels that they currently are, then the whole economic model upends itself and we have to readjust to say well creatively these may make sense but we may need to make them for 60% of the cost that we have been beforehand and that’s not sustainable in the long term to keep reducing the cost structure of each film.”

Hurd: “There’s gonna be continued consolidation.”

Billy: “If streamers add ads, wouldn’t they have to be transparent about their numbers with their advertisers?”

Hurd: “There have been lawsuits about fake data. About just how many people are actually seeing ads on those platforms. I’m always concerned that metrics will not be reliable. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had to sue for profits on my films. Some of my most successful films are still not profitable. If they’re not sharing that data with us accurately, I think they will share unreliable data with advertisers.”

Listen here.

Scam Goddess – The Fake Film for… Feminism?

Laci Mosley’s podcast gets a second mention because of her episode with Abbott Elementary writer Brittani Nichols.

Mosley: “I think that regular everyday people look at the strike and think ‘Oh these are Hollywood writers who live in Hollywood mansions and then have millions of dollars and they want even more?! They’re so greedy!’ Where in truth most writers aren’t super duper rich.”

Nichols: “Correct. Our guild is largely working class.”

Mosley: “And the middle class has been shrinking all our guilds because in SAG you used to make residuals and now streaming’s like ‘We’re not going to tell you how many people watched it.’ “

Nichols: “The entire industry has shifted. Streaming has put a squeeze on the middle class writer and made it harder to move up the ranks. Made it harder for people to have a sustainable career.”

Mosley made the example of an actor who did a voiceover line for Friends and still gets a $300 check each month as it re-airs. with streaming, it’s $0.

Their talk then shifted to AI, another major sticking point for both actors and writers during strike negotiations.

Mosley: “We get paid for ADR [sessions] but with AI, they could do it without us.”

Nichols also countered that the AMPTP (or at least streamers like Netflix) doesn’t want a traditional writer’s room. They want to pay the bare minimum and make it a freelance, gig based environment.

The pay for writers and actors may look high at first glance, but it also takes into account the fact that they might not work again for a very long time. It’s the nature of the business, so if a line isn’t drawn in the sand now, it’ll only get harder for that shrinking middle class actor/writer to survive.

Listen here.

Movies in Focus – $34. Filmmaker Joe Russo Gives Insight Into the WGA Strike

Podcast host Niall Browne invited writer/director Joe Russo (Au Pair Nightmare, Nightmare Cinema) onto the podcast to talk about how streamers treat their libraries, and therefore impact the discussion of residuals. Have you ever wondered why a show just up and disappears? Why a show gets canceled for seemingly no reason?

Russo: “What’s happening with streamers is they’ll run a show for one, two, three seasons maybe and as soon as they decide, as soon as that algorithm decides that show is not bringing in new subscribers, they cancel it. And so the chance to make those residual payments over dozens and dozens of episodes, that’s gone away. They’ll replace it with a new show, a new shiny bauble, to try to bring in new subscriber growth.”

Joe Russo went on to describe that the idea of any long term success is fleeting when streamers can just delete a show off their platform like this. Sometimes they barely get a release.

Russo: “They’ve been pulling things off the platform. There was a Disney movie that was released on Disney+ in May and it came down June 30th. It was on the platform 6 weeks. That’s hundreds of people’s labor, time, 1-2 years of their life invested into this thing for 6 whole weeks. And who knows if it’ll ever be seen again.”

Listen here.

Feel free to check out these podcasts and others to learn more about the strike from the perspective of those walking the picket line.

The Forgotten Casualties of the WGA & SAG-AFTRA Strikes

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Motion Picture and Television Fund (MPTF) President Bob Beitcher pointed out that although the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have been supportive financially to their own members, a lot of people have been left behind. How about the folks who run cables, operate cameras, apply makeup, design sets, record sound, organize schedules or serve lunch?

“They have become the forgotten casualties during these strikes, overlooked by the media. Let’s face it, actors and writers make better subjects for strike stories; and now crew members are not getting the philanthropic support they’ve earned and deserve.”

Bob Beitcher

The stats are illuminating. Prior to the writer’s strike on May 2, 2023, the MPTF would receive calls from about 100 crew members weekly looking for financial or other assistance. That jumped to 500-1000/week since July.

From the Crew’s Perspective

There have been more than a few unkind remarks from people — trolls — online. “Actors make too much already! Writers are just complaining! Get a real job!” We’ve all heard some variation of this.

“The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”

anonymous studio executive to Deadline

An anonymous executive made the comment that the studios would wait out the writers until they lost their homes. That kind of thing is already happening. And not just to writers. When the writers and actors aren’t working, neither can the crew members who work on those projects.

Let’s face it — the studios knew there was going to be a strike. So even prior to May 2, a lot of us felt it coming. Shows that should have started production in March or April just…didn’t. I remember countless talks with fellow film workers from March on: “Things are slow, right? Yeah they’re slow. Hope it doesn’t stay that way.”

Can I prove this was done on purpose to squeeze the crew and make them as anti-strike as possible? No, but the idea is in your head now, isn’t it? It also could be due to the mergers of various studios which I touch upon in the next section.

Film is a very difficult business. When work is good and plentiful, it seems really good. In fact, most people working regular jobs would probably scoff at some of the day rates I’ve gotten, and I’m not getting the crazy high rates that get advertised in Deadline.

The thing is though… you always have the possibility of not working for weeks or months after a job. You might be hopscotching from one day play gig to another, constantly hustling to find the next gig. There are film workers who already had a backup job as a safety net, and now that’s not even enough to get by.

The Answer is Easy. Just Work on Reality TV!

“But what about non-union? I can just work Reality TV! They aren’t affected by the strike!”

That’s not exactly a consolation prize and I’m a little annoyed people keep thinking like that. There’s a vast number of film workers who specifically work in the reality scene aka unscripted — and they’re being told that people in scripted could just take their jobs instead.

Reality is also not an answer because it’s not even booming like some would expect.

“… something one would assume is that there’s a lot of work and a lot of more projects getting greenlit, and that doesn’t seem to be the case for some reason. You know, I’ve talked to a number of producers who said this is the toughest moment they’ve seen for unscripted TV right now in terms of people aren’t working. There have been long stretches where since maybe December that a lot of people have been in without work.”

Ryan Gajewski, The Hollywood Reporter via article on PBS.org

In this Deadline article, it details the layoffs and cost-cutting that is plaguing reality tv for mid-size production companies. That includes Bunim/Murray Productions (Keeping up with the Kardashians, Real World) cutting eight staffers and Half-Yard Productions “right sizing” the company after being purchased by The North Road.

Mergers have definitely played a role. The Warner Bros Discovery merger, for one, took place in April 2022. That is being felt this year, as shows are just not being greenlit or put on a backburner for what feels like forever. I for one would have started on a season of a show this past April, except the date for production kept moving as it hadn’t been greenlit yet. Then I also heard that some people wouldn’t be able to return anyway — the company (whom I shan’t name so I can be hired again) would only be hiring in-house for certain jobs.

Survival Mode

I just deleted a home renovation show off my calendar. Easy come, easy go. On a normal year, this is a thing that happens from time to time, but there’s other projects to take away the sting. This year, it hurts losing even the possibility of a one-day gig.

This is scarily reminiscent of 2020, when all film work ground to a halt and most of us were out of work for nearly a year. Now, in 2023, we’re facing a similar situation. Some folks might not have had time to recover from 2020 yet. There are going to be film workers who finally just throw up their hands and change careers.

We waited for a while to see what would happen. 2023 started with a whimper, shows that should have started pre-strike didn’t and then the strike solidified it. This career has become even more dicey to try to hold onto.

Friends of mine have resorted to taking part-time jobs or even gig-economy jobs like Uber or dog walking. I’ve seen folks comment online that they can’t even get a job because employers don’t want to hire someone who will jump ship when the strike ends.

Nexxt steps are challenging.

Typical job search engines aren’t keyed into production style resumes.

And just try navigating unemployment when you’re a freelance film worker who can’t easily fit into the government’s forms. Imagine sitting down for hours, filling out information that is not always easy to find (was that job a W-2 or a 1099? What was the payroll company? How many weeks did I work in the last 18 months?) and then getting a call saying you missed one item — now you have to refile the entire application again.

There’s no easy answer right now.

No matter how long the strike takes, even if it ended today, it’ll be months before episodes are written and production actually begins. Meanwhile our rent, car payments, healthcare, and increased costs for groceries and gas still need to be paid.

Having said all that… I am still supportive of the strikes.

I understand, and many of my film fellows agree, that the issues the writers and actors are fighting for will have major repercussions down the line. They need to set standards for streaming and residuals, the middle class actor and writer needs to be able to afford to keep doing what they want to do, and a line in the sand must be drawn against AI use in writing and acting. The fight they are in will effect all of us in the end.

It’s time for the AMPTP to start understanding that.

Anyone interested in helping the MPTF’s emergency relief funding efforts can donate here: http://www.mptf.com/donate.

Sources

Hollywood Crew Are “Forgotten Casualties” in Strike, MPTF Chief Says in Call for Financial Aid

Hollywood Studios’ WGA Strike Endgame Is To Let Writers Go Broke Before Resuming Talks In Fall

Doom & Gloom In Unscripted TV: Producers Battle Challenging Conditions As Mid-Sized Firms Face Layoffs

What You Need to Know about the Warner Bros Discovery Merger

How the Ongoing Writers Strike Impacts Reality and Unscripted TV

header image: Photo 129097006 | Film Crew © Ppengcreative | Dreamstime.com

How to Avoid Film Job Scams – Take Four

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I really hate that this has become a recurring theme I have to address. I really just want to teach about the fun stuff. Instead, I have to keep drudging up the fact that there are many people out there taking advantage of the film community.

Things are not good right now. The SAG-AFTRA/WGA strikes combined with corporate studio greed has contributed to a painfully difficult year to work in film. 2023 has brought major career changes, such as layoffs and unemployment and the need for survival jobs to many creatives affected by the strikes.

Facebook film groups are rife with scammers taking advantage of people desperate for work and green people trying to get their start in the film industry.

Here’s some of the latest scams and suspicious posts that I and several community members have come across.

Jake Smith/Jeffery Cooper

This is likely not this guy’s real name. For one, he went from Jake Smith to Jeffery Cooper to Cooper Jeffery. Also a quick Google and both names show up as actors. Maybe they’re just common names, and that helps lure in an unsuspecting individual.

Bad grammar is often a dead giveaway on scams.

“Address will sent.” “400$”

Jeffery/Jake’s posts are rife with spelling and grammar issues. Normally that points to an overseas scammer unfamiliar with English. He appears to be in Atlanta though, because people have worked with him in the Atlanta market before. And one or two of the disposable phone numbers he’s used come back to Marietta, GA.

Be highly suspicious of jobs that are taking place “in a few hours” or the same day. Honestly, it can happen that a production needs last minute help. Someone got sick, had an emergency and couldn’t come in, your feature realizes they don’t have enough extras for a party scene (saw that one happen in person).

But be very suspicious of a job that needs you to throw all caution out the window and immediately jump in head first. They are banking on your desperation, and you will pay for it. Literally.

Yes, I blanked out the phone numbers so nobody makes the mistake of calling him.

One person, who we will call Mary, worked with “Jake Smith” on a rush call gig offering $400 for a PA on a music video. Although Mary had some concerns about it seeing like a high rate for a PA, she took the job. On this gig, she spent over $100 of her own money and was told that someone would pay within two weeks.

What followed was several weeks of ghosted phone calls. No $400 pay or $100 reimbursement. Later when she looked at Jake Smith’s profile, she found he’d changed his name to Jeffery Cooper. His profile pic also changed.

That was weeks ago. Recently, another Atlanta based film worker we’ll call Frank talked to me about the same individual, though now he uses the name Cooper Jeffery. The man sounded very shady on the phone. Frank told me that Jake/Jeffery was asking for a transport PA (Uh, okay?) to use their own car and gas and food and be reimbursed later. Jake/Jeffery then hesitated to give a name of a production, didn’t know what a COI (Certificate of Insurance) was, and soon hung up on the job seeker since they asked too many questions.

The spelling/grammar have gotten even worse. Note that the phone number changed too.

Do your due diligence. Ask questions. Know exactly what you’re getting into.

As I was writing this post, this one popped up:

These “jobs” were posted on different days, on different Facebook groups, and always last minute. This latest one was posted at 10pm, for a rush call “at 12”. So…midnight?

A Data Entry Scam Targets Women in Film

Many people who work in film are turning to survival jobs to get by right now. That includes looking into work from home opportunities. Don’t worry, the scammers have you covered there as well.

I blocked this one’s name because it’s possible this name and profile pic were stolen.

A community member I’ll call Haley alerted me to a somewhat legit looking data entry job targeting women film groups. When she asked for more information, the “employer” asked for her bank information to give her funds in order to purchase equipment.

This is a play on a standard scam that targets film people, so it’s interesting that they re-skinned it as a data entry job. The scam asks a production assistant (usually) to purchase film equipment and then get reimbursed later. It’s not real. If they send you a check, it bounces, and you’re out ALL the money.

Do not use your own money to purchase film equipment or supplies for a job, even if it seems like a legit job. In a real production, they’ll give you petty cash or a P-card in order to purchase supplies, and a PA should never be purchasing equipment at all. A PA could purchase crafty, office supplies, etc, with the production’s funds, but never equipment and never with their own money.

The Huge Paragraphs of Doom

Yet another community member contacted me about a scam she came across from someone we’ll call O. I blocked out the name because I can’t be sure if this name was also stolen.

This is an example I’ve covered before — the word vomit job offer. Honestly, just the giant block of text in enough to provide you pause before you give any info.

The TLDR version of our analysis is this:

  • over explanation of what a PA does
  • Duties that a PA doesn’t do, like check processing and booking travel.
  • “I travel a lot…so I need an assistant there.” That’s a common scam tactic.
  • Requesting a ton of personal info right away. This exact same block of text appears in a number of scams I’ve covered before.
  • overall weird formatting

Most of my job e-mails are this:

“Hi, This is Insert-Name-Here from This Show. Got your name from So-and-So. Are you available to camera operate on a 6 week reality show starting May 7th?”

That’s it. Maybe even less. Producers know you know what a production assistant is. They aren’t interested in giving you a show synopsis. They’ll get your info when you’re officially hired and you sign a Deal Memo.

After this person posted her experience with the suspicious job poster, the job poster O, started sending threatening texts and promised to “destroy you …mess up your F-ing life.” I mean, seems legit, right?

RED FLAGS TO LOOK OUT FOR:

  • Name of famous producer or production company (for instance, just got one from “LucasFilmsLTD” recently.
  • Very short notice request for work.
  • Strangely high rate or strangely worded rate (“weekly pay” “1800 flat” “you get $600 for 2 days”)
  • Job poster doesn’t answer simple questions.
  • They want you to use your money to purchase something for the production.
  • They immediately ask for your banking info.
  • The Facebook account of the poster is new, and/or seems like it’s never used (no friends, no pics, etc).
  • The job poster meets any of these red flags and also just joined the Facebook group you saw the post in.

Where on Facebook did I see these posts?

The Facebook groups I saw these scams in were:

  • Film Production in GA
  • Georgia Film Production
  • Georgia Film Community
  • Atlanta Film Production Group
  • Atlanta Film & TV Casting & Jobs Board (CS)
  • Women in Film & Television Atlanta (WIFTA)
  • Acting and Filmmaking Atlanta

Some groups are less moderated and more prone to scam posts than others (lookin’ at you Film Production in GA). It doesn’t mean you can’t join any and all film related Facebook groups, but it does mean more of the work of identifying scams and bad jobs will fall on your shoulders.

What Can You Do To Avoid Scams?

Ah, that’s easy. Delete Facebook, unplug your internet, and throw your phone into the sea. Not an option?

Then you’re going to have to do more research than you want, but trust me, it’s worth it.

If something seems off about a job, start looking into it. Is the pay rate for the job too high? Are they asking for the wrong job duties for the job title, such as a PA operating a camera? Is the spelling and grammar all wonky?

Google can tell you a lot. Google the name of the employer, the production company they are associated with, or the email. If someone else has run into a scam, they might have shared that info online. Ask your fellow film professionals, “Hey, does this job look scammy to you?”

Look at the Facebook profile of the person posting the job. Is it a new Facebook account? That alone is a warning sign. Doubly so if they just joined the group they posted in. Even more so if they turn off comments on their posts in order to avoid people warning each other.

Be cautious if anyone is trying to pressure you into taking a job without getting all the details straight.

Sources

Layoffs begin in the film industry, as Hollywood strikes continue

Philadelphia film office warns filmmakers against scammers