Identifying Key Cast
One of the most annoying things you will hear as you work to build your film package is that it will takes name talent to get it funded. You will come to hate those words for a variety of reasons.
- First “name talent” is a fairly meaningless phrase. People use it to mean almost anything and so it means nothing. Some people use the phrase to describe people listed in the top 1000 of the IMDBPRO Start Meter. Other people are referring to the “A-List” or “B-List” talent listed in the Ulmer’s Scale. This is a book you can buy which ranks the marketability/profitability of specific performers using a variety of statistics gathered from the trades. The Ulmer’s Scale goes from A to D. The 20 A-List stars can get a hundred million dollar film funded almost without regard to what it is about. You will quickly discover that what is a “name” to one funder will not be “bankable” to another.
- Furthermore not every film is built on having name talent. Juno had some familiar faces, but none that contributed measurability to the box office by adding their name alone. Little Miss Sunshine had some great performers and performances, but no name stars. Slumdog Millionaire wasn’t built on name talent. Paranormal activities didn’t have it either.
- Finally a short film that costs $10K, and a direct to DVD feature that costs $300K going direct to DVD is not a film that needs much name talent. Mostly those films appeal to customers by genre and apparent similarity to other films.
That said, celebrities do offer real financial value to a film. A film with a performer that get 800,000 hits on Google every single month is going to be very easy to market. People are actively looking for information about this performer and if they hear about a film coming out, they are likely to buy it. The press is also likely to find your film interesting, because they too need to be of interest to the general public and celebrities sell magazines as well as books.
Documentaries do benefit greatly when a “name” is involved as narrator and the cost of doing that is usually low enough that it should be built into your production costs in almost every case.
Attaching key cast to your film is one of the few places where having some start up capital can be helpful. If you can find someone to give you 10% of your budget in an escrow account you can use it to attach key talent and to build the rest of the project. Some investors prefer to pay more up front for a film and to get the largest back end.
Here are some practical suggestions for getting your cast together before funding.
- Signup with SAG. If you are doing a low-budget film, use one of the contracts atwww.SAGINDIE.com that will allow you to pay SAG actors as little as $100 per day. If you are making a webisode or you may want to visit SAG.org and to search for the SAG Made for New Media Agreement which provides even more lenient regulations regarding using SAG talent in films. Note, you can always elect to pay name more than the minimum if desired, and you should for leading talent, but this agreement significantly reduces your casting costs. Talk to your line producer, who should be quite used to SAG regulations, as well as working with SAG, about the ramifications of using a SAGINDIE contract. Once you sign a SAG agreement, and provide all the required paperwork, you are a SAG Signatory and you’ll be able to talk to agents representing SAG talent. To get the insurance you need to sign with SAG, you may want to talk to www.FracturedAtlas.com which has very, very cost effective General Liability and Workers Comp insurance.
- Pick two or three roles you want to feature in your funding package. These are roles that represent the the compelling heart of your film. These are the “plum” roles which you already know actors love because you’ve gone through the reading process. Make a list of five to seven actors for each role. Use IMDB’s keyword search tools to see how many people search for these performers every month. This will give you some indication of how easy marketing your film with those actors will be. Show this information to your potential funder and confirm that if you attach these performers they will complete your funding.
- Find the management and/or agents for each actor (using WhoRepresents.com or IMDBPRO.com). Contact each manager/agent and tell them you are making a short list of talent to give offers to, then tell the agent what you plan to pay and how many weeks you’ll need them for. Ask if that compensation level is in line with what their performer might expect to expect to receive for a key role. If you are uncomfortable doing this, your lawyer can ask for this information. This is the kind of question manager and agents field every day. Managers are usually the friendlier person to contact. They will be very friendly if you have money in an escrow account you can use to attach them.
- If the amount you can pay is in the correct range, ask if you can send the agent or manager an offer along with a copy of the script to review. If you have any development funds, in the offer say you’ll provide 10% of the expected amount you plan to pay them as a non-refundable deposit to appear in your film at a date to be mutually agreed within one year of the current day. Indicate the full amount of the agreement will be escrowed after full funding. If you do not have development funds, send the offer with the amount to be paid contingent on full funding and offer to pay them more than the minimum they usually get paid. Your objective is to get a letter of intent, or a letter of interest, you can show to funders. Make sure you work with attorney’s to make the offers.
- Alternatively, you can sign up with www.breakdownexpress.com and you can post your role, and your projected compensation (subject to full funding), and you can ask for NAMES ONLY. Agents and managers review this site several times a day. You’ll be surprised who comes to you through this service.
Remember, your only objective through this process is to get letters of interest or letters of intent from 2-3 performers. That will allow your funders to back in your film. Do not cast all the roles. You will find that you can fill supporting roles with great people very cost effectively once you have full funding.
Documentary filmmakers will find this process easier than feature filmmakers. Finding an actor who will record narration for use in a documentary film is usually a very straight forward process and payment is usually SAG minimum.
