What is the actors contract?
The actors contract is a contract which an actor signs in the pre-production stage of a production. The contract lists everything which they are taking part in and what they get out of it. For example, if there is a pay, what character they are playing, what the film/television show is, the dates of the shoot etc. This is all necessary because it means that they have a clear understanding of the outcome and what they expect to get out of it. It also prevents them from fining the production team for not paying them etc.
ACTORS CONTRACT
Name of actor: actor cast for role Name
of production company: SceneItSam Productions
Company
address: N/A
Actor or Agent’s Address: N/A
Date 10/10/13
Dear actor cast for role
This letter confirms agreement that you will
take the part of Luke in the film Lose Your Mind. This is the working title and the final name of the film may change. As you
know, this is a low budget production and we are keen to ensure that everyone
understands the basis upon which the Film is being made. If there is anything
about this letter that you do not understand or you wish us to clarify, please
do not hesitate to contact us.
1)You agree to be available to work during
the filming period (“the Shoot”)
from April 2014 to June 2014 (or you can name the exact dates).
2) You agree that the filming will take place
in the following locations
Southend college, other locations tbc.
3) You agree to give over any rights you may
have in the finished film to SceneItSam Productions. This will allow us to distribute the film in
any and every way we can.
4) We
will pay a fee of £0 for your performance in this Film. You therefore agree that this film is purely a student film which will gain no profit. However we will provide you with a free copy of the DVD which can act as a piece in your portfolio which can gain you future acting roles.
5) We will aim to ensure that working days
are not longer than 10 hours.
6) We will do our best to ensure your health,
safety and welfare during the Shoot.
7) We will have public liability insurance to
cover you during the Shoot.
8) We will provide you with food and
refreshments throughout the Shoot. We
will liase with you over your travel arrangements to and from the Shoot and
either provide transport or pay travel expenses which we need to agree in
advance.
9) We will be provide you with a VHS of the
finished Film within 3 months of the completion of all post production.
signed by the actor signed on
behalf of the company
date date
Shooting
People Good Enough Contracts
These contracts are designed to be ‘good enough’ for low budget filmmaking. If you have a commission from a TV station or
are making a fully funded feature film, you should seek to use the PACT
contracts (Producers Association for Cinema and Television – www.pact.co.uk)
which are based on full Equity fees and contain a great deal more details about
exclusivity, overtime and repeat fees and copyright clearances.
These contracts are designed to be as clear
as possible – no fancy legal language just plain English. They have been drawn up in consultation with
a professional media lawyer, Mark Lloyd.
The contract should be printed out on company
letterhead.
2 copies signed by the producer should be
sent out – one for the actor to keep and one for them to sign and return.
WHAT ARE THESE CONTRACTS
FOR?
A contract is there to protect - to protect
the producer and to protect the actor.
A contract makes sure there is as much
clarity as possible between both partners so both know what to expect from the
other.
You
should always use a contract with your actors no matter how informal the
shoot. It will save you from the
consequences of any misunderstandings or disagreements further down the line.
The Shooting People Actors Contract contains
things that the actor promises to do – such as turn up. These are covered in the first 3 clauses
which start ‘you agree’
And things the producer promises to do – such
as provide insurance. These are covered
in the last 6 clauses which start ‘we will’.
AT
THE VERY LEAST
Shooting People members expect that at bare
minimum, a producer will pay for travel and food expenses, provide a copy of
the finished film and provide Public Liability Insurance to cover the crew and
cast for any accidents during the production.
We strongly urge you to retain these elements
to the contract, even if you amend or remove other clauses.
RIGHTS
AND PAYMENT
Creative people such as directors, writers,
composers and actors automatically own the rights to their own creative
contribution to a film. In order to sell
or show a film the producer needs to control all the rights to the film.
On a fully funded production, the producer
pays the actor money in exchange for which the actor assigns all (or some) of
the rights in their work to the producer.
On low budget films the producer is often
paying the actor a minimum fee or even no fee at all. Yet they must still obtain the rights they
need to distribute the film even if they simply wish to show it online for free.
Ideally actors will agree to assign all
rights in a short film or low budget feature when they sign the contract. Largely speaking these films do not make
much, if any, return on their original budgets and those involved are doing so
in order to progress their careers so asking for all rights to be
assigned is a reasonable request.
However you may be forced to be specific about the distribution rights
you want to clear with the contract – they are primarily cinema, TV, film
festivals, internet, video and DVD.
The draft contract is filled in with the
Equity Film School rate - £36 a day - this does
not legitimise your shoot in the eyes of Equity, these rates are intended
only for film school productions, separate rates apply to low budget
productions. See the ‘Paying Actors’ FAQ
for more detail on actors rates. If your
film is very low budget and your actors have agreed to waive their fee, simply
remove this clause.
DEFERED PAYMENT CONTRACTS
Both producers and actors are aware that
every low budget feature is a potential Blair Witch even though the odds are
very low indeed. It may be that you
have an actor who you consider to be essential to the production whose agent is
not prepared to sign away all rights for no fee or for only the Equity film
school fee. In this case you may want to consider an additional deferred
payment contract which promises to pay the actor more money if and when the
film is a commercial success. [see
Deferred Payment Contract]
