Actors wanting to be producers....

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FilmBoy77

Veteran
I finished a short film a month ago, was pretty simple, has been getting some good feedback, now I notice the lead actor is being persistent about offering to pay for festival submissions and mentioned wants to help "produce" -- except it's already been produced. He mentioned he has contacts that are telling him to push it in th festival circuit, etc. Personally I just did the short to keep my directing chops up and experiment with my new cam. I told him I can handle the associated costs with festivals but he's still asking to help pay money for whatever....would this entitle him to some kind of rights to the film in any way or am I being too paranoid? Just find it a bit weird....I could be overacting, but it's just my general distrust for most people.

What are your thoughts?
 
Why in the world would you NOT let him pay for and handle festival submissions if you had no plans to do it yourself? Just write up an agreement where it's made clear that he is doing this in exchange for a producer credit and that you retain all rights blah.. blah.. blah...

On a side note, actually festival submissions ARE a producer's job, so he is correct in his job title he's throwing around.
 
FilmBoy77 said:
Personally I just did the short to keep my directing chops up and experiment with my new cam.
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He probably wants it out there to help further his career...and you should let him. If you had no intention of ever putting it out, then it seems like it might be a waste of time for people, especially if they weren't paid.
 
It's on vimeo and every other social network since I finished it. Some of the actors already put their scenes in their reel and updated their websites, blogs, etc. I told him I was going to put it in 2 festivals I saw that had deadlines by end of next month. He was paid. So was everybody else. I initially told everyone from the start I was doing this short for the web and to get used to the learning curve on my new cam and everybody was cool with that. it was in their contracts and in the casting ads. He did a really good job, nice guy, I'm thinking he just wants to help but is just being a little more peristent about it than I'm used to.
 
gonzo_entertainment said:
Why in the world would you NOT let him pay for and handle festival submissions if you had no plans to do it yourself? Just write up an agreement where it's made clear that he is doing this in exchange for a producer credit and that you retain all rights blah.. blah.. blah...
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That's a good idea.
 
Your hesitation isn't unjustified. For every success story, there are ten horror stories of control disputes, lawsuits, slandering, misappropriation of credit, etc. It doesn't sound like this guy has any sinister intentions, so I would just call or sit down with him, put everything out on the table and figure out what he wants out of it. If all he's asking for is producing credit, and in return he's willing to put up the fee for a couple extra festivals, yeah I'd say go for it. Like Gonzo said, it's probably a good idea to write up some kind of contract or agreement (would a deal memo cover it? I don't know) before you accept any financial investment into the film's "release" or festival circuit on his part.

-JMT
 
Michael Traven said:
Your hesitation isn't unjustified. For every success story, there are ten horror stories of control disputes, lawsuits, slandering, misappropriation of credit, etc. It doesn't sound like this guy has any sinister intentions, so I would just call or sit down with him, put everything out on the table and figure out what he wants out of it.
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Yea and that's all I'm getting at.
 
Frankly, I don't know what you're worried about. Do you have any illusions that your film is gonna make money? You don't think that, do you?

If financial gain isn't a realistic goal, then why in world would you not let him pay for festival submissions?

Executive producer. That title would fit just perfectly, should he end up paying for festival submissions.
 
Cracker Funk said:
Frankly, I don't know what you're worried about. Do you have any illusions that your film is gonna make money? You don't think that, do you?

If financial gain isn't a realistic goal, then why in world would you not let him pay for festival submissions?

Executive producer. That title would fit just perfectly, should he end up paying for festival submissions.
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I sold the rights, full treatment and outline to the first short film I made 6 years ago to another filmmaker who had investors at the time and was looking for ideas. Wasn't a ton of money, but I ended up getting story credit as well after also helping he and his writers and the money helped pay my car off. While I don't have "illusions" this short will make money especially since I already stated the goal for making it above, I've already witnessed first hand how anything's possible and I'm not so quick to accept money from anybody when I'm financially able to pay for everything on my own with no problem.

Thanks for your input though -- spoke with the actor the other day and he's cool, he's talking moreso about working on a bigger project together where he can produce -- and I'm cool with that.
 
FilmBoy77 said:
I sold the rights, full treatment and outline to the first short film I made 6 years ago to another filmmaker who had investors at the time and was looking for ideas. Wasn't a ton of money, but I ended up getting story credit as well after also helping he and his writers and the money helped pay my car off. While I don't have "illusions" this short will make money especially since I already stated the goal for making it above, I've already witnessed first hand how anything's possible and I'm not so quick to accept money from anybody when I'm financially able to pay for everything on my own with no problem.

Thanks for your input though -- spoke with the actor the other day and he's cool, he's talking moreso about working on a bigger project together where he can produce -- and I'm cool with that.
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Cool, man. That's great to hear. I hope my statements didn't seem condescending, cuz they weren't intended as such. It's just that you previously stated in this thread that you only wanted to make the movie for self-improvement. Add that to the fact that VERY FEW short films make money, and well I put 2+2 together.

Nothing wrong with you playing it safe, though, so like Gonzo said, a contract would be good.

It's great that you have an actor who wants to take a larger role. Any help you can get, from anywhere, should be cherished.
 
Cracker Funk said:
Cool, man. That's great to hear. I hope my statements didn't seem condescending, cuz they weren't intended as such. It's just that you previously stated in this thread that you only wanted to make the movie for self-improvement. Add that to the fact that VERY FEW short films make money, and well I put 2+2 together.

Nothing wrong with you playing it safe, though, so like Gonzo said, a contract would be good.

It's great that you have an actor who wants to take a larger role. Any help you can get, from anywhere, should be cherished.
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Hey thanks, and no I didn't really take the comments as condescending since words on these forums don't have much connotation it's too easy to assume someone means one thing when they really don't so no big deal.

It is cool to have a young actor as hungry as this dude is, to be honest I'm not used to working with that many people who are as hungry as I am. The last actor previous to working with this guy was a nightmare from hell so it's a slight adjustment working again with a lead who's the polar opposite, lol.
 
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