Guarantee (filmmaking)

Last updated

In filmmaking, a guarantee, or informally a "pay-or-play" contract, is a term in a contract of an actor, director, or other participant that guarantees pay if the participant is released from the contract with various exceptions. [1]

Studios are reluctant to agree to guarantees but accept them as part of the deal for signing popular actors. They also have the advantage of enabling a studio to remove a participant under such a contract, with few legal complications. [2]

As Appleton writes, " Memoirs of a Geisha is an example of a film on which the provision came into play... several actors were hired by the studio under pay-or-play deals. When the contracted start date came and went, those actors began receiving their full salary as if they were rendering services." [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Cagney</span> American actor and dancer (1899–1986)

James Francis Cagney Jr. was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances. Cagney is remembered for playing multifaceted tough guys in films such as The Public Enemy (1931), Taxi! (1932), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), City for Conquest (1940) and White Heat (1949), finding himself typecast or limited by this reputation earlier in his career. He was able to negotiate dancing opportunities in his films and ended up winning the Academy Award for his role in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him eighth on its list of greatest male stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Orson Welles described him as "maybe the greatest actor who ever appeared in front of a camera".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Actors' Equity Association</span> American labor union for theater performers

The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly called Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book or through-storyline may be represented by the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA). The AEA works to negotiate quality living conditions, livable wages, and benefits for performers and stage managers. A theater or production that is not produced and performed by AEA members may be called "non-Equity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pixar</span> American computer animation studio

Pixar Animation Studios is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, California. Since 2006, Pixar has been a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy Dalton</span> British actor (born 1946)

Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett is a British actor. He gained international prominence as the fourth actor to portray fictional secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, starring in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disney animators' strike</span> 1941 organized labor action

The Disney animators' strike was a 1941 American film industry work stoppage where unionized employees of Walt Disney Productions picketed and disrupted film production for just under four months.

Hans Matheson is a Scottish actor and musician. In a wide-ranging film and television career he has taken lead roles in diverse films such as Doctor Zhivago, Sherlock Holmes, The Tudors, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Clash of the Titans and 300: Rise of an Empire. In addition to acting, Matheson sings and plays guitar, violin and harmonica, and released an album of his songs in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Brolin</span> American actor (born 1968)

Josh James Brolin is an American actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casting (performing arts)</span> Pre-production process for selecting actors, dancers, singers, or extras for roles or parts

In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra for a particular role or part in a script, screenplay, or teleplay. This process may be used for a motion picture, television program, documentary film, music video, play, or advertisement, intended for an audience.

<i>Glengarry Glen Ross</i> (film) 1992 American drama by James Foley

Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1992 American drama film written for the screen by David Mamet from his 1984 Pulitzer Prize–winning play of the same name, and directed by James Foley. The film depicts two days in the lives of four real estate salesmen, and their increasing desperation when the corporate office sends a motivational trainer to threaten them that all but the top two salesmen will be fired within two weeks.

<i>Freaky Friday</i> (2003 film) 2003 film by Mark Waters

Freaky Friday is a 2003 American fantasy-comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon. Based on Mary Rodgers's 1972 novel of the same name, it is the third adaptation of the same story and fifth installment overall in the Freaky Friday franchise. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as a mother and daughter, respectively, whose bodies are switched by a mysterious and magical Chinese fortune cookie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naseeruddin Shah</span> Indian actor

Naseeruddin Shah is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan awards for his contributions to Indian cinema. He is widely regarded as one of the finest actors in the World Cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Participant (company)</span> American film production company

Participant Media, LLC is an American film production company founded in 2004 by Jeffrey Skoll, dedicated to entertainment intended to spur social change. The company finances and co-produces film and television content, as well as digital entertainment through its subsidiary SoulPancake, which the company acquired in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HBO</span> American pay television network

Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based at Warner Bros. Discovery's corporate headquarters inside 30 Hudson Yards in Manhattan's West Side district. Programming featured on the network consists primarily of theatrically released motion pictures and original television programs as well as made-for-cable movies, documentaries, occasional comedy, and concert specials, and periodic interstitial programs.

<i>Battlefield Earth</i> (film) 2000 film by Roger Christian

Battlefield Earth is a 2000 American science fiction film based on the 1982 novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. It was directed by Roger Christian and stars John Travolta, Barry Pepper, and Forest Whitaker. The film follows a rebellion against the alien Psychlos, who have ruled Earth for 1,000 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay Lohan</span> American actress and singer (born 1986)

Lindsay Dee Lohan is an American actress and singer. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at the age of three. Having appeared as a regular on the television soap opera Another World at age 10, her breakthrough came in the Walt Disney Pictures film The Parent Trap (1998). The film's success led to appearances in the television films Life-Size (2000) and Get a Clue (2002), and the big-screen productions Freaky Friday (2003) and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004). Lohan's early work won her childhood stardom, while the teen comedy sleeper hit Mean Girls (2004) affirmed her status as a teen idol and established her as a Hollywood leading actress.

<i>Thor</i> (film) 2011 Marvel Studios film

Thor is a 2011 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures, it is the fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It was directed by Kenneth Branagh, written by the writing team of Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz along with Don Payne, and stars Chris Hemsworth as the title character alongside Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings, Clark Gregg, Colm Feore, Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins. After reigniting a dormant war, Thor is banished from Asgard to Earth, stripped of his powers and his hammer Mjölnir. As his brother Loki (Hiddleston) plots to take the Asgardian throne, Thor must prove himself worthy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Parsons</span> American actor (born 1973)

James Joseph Parsons is an American actor. From 2007 to 2019, he played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. He has received various awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2018, Forbes estimated his annual salary to be $26.5 million and named him the world's highest-paid television actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmett/Furla Oasis</span>

Emmett/Furla Oasis Films, previously known as Emmett/Furla Films and Oasis Ventures Entertainment separately, is an American film and television production and financing company founded by Randall Emmett and George Furla in 1998. It is notable for funding and producing the films End of Watch, 2 Guns and Lone Survivor. To date, Emmett/Furla Oasis Films has produced more than 80 films which have grossed a total of $1 billion from box office ticket sales worldwide—an average of roughly $13 million per film.

<i>Snow White</i> (2024 film) Upcoming American musical fantasy film by Marc Webb

Snow White is an upcoming American musical fantasy film directed by Marc Webb, from a screenplay by Greta Gerwig and Erin Cressida Wilson. Co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Marc Platt Productions, it is a live-action remake of Walt Disney's 1937 animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which itself is loosely based on the 1812 fairy tale of the same title by the Brothers Grimm. The film stars Rachel Zegler as the title character and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1980 actors strike</span> Labor action in United States

The 1980 actors strike was a labor strike held in July–October 1980 by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), two labor unions representing actors in the American film industry. The strike was caused by a breakdown in labor contract negotiations between the two unions and representatives of film studios, television networks, and other independent producers. The primary point of contention regarded residuals from home media, such as videocassettes and pay television. Specifically, the union was seeking a form of profit sharing wherein they would receive a percentage of the revenue made from home media releases. Additionally, the unions wanted a 35 percent salary increase across the board for their members. By mid-July, the union and industry representatives were at an impasse, and the strike started on July 21. Several days later, the American Federation of Musicians also went on strike for similar reasons.

References

  1. Appleton, Dina (12 June 2008). "What Does 'Pay or Play' Really Mean?". www.backstage.com. Backstage. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  2. Navigating The "Pay Or Play" Minefield Archived 2008-09-07 at the Wayback Machine , The Business Of Film October 1997.
  3. Appleton, Dina (12 June 2008). "What Does 'Pay or Play' Really Mean?". www.backstage.com. Backstage. Retrieved 15 October 2020.