Does the Director have the right to kick off the EP from the set

E

Ed Ng

Active member
Hello everyone,

Before you answer with a simple yes or no, please let me give some insight as to the situation.

I am working with the writer who is also funding a film, solely with his own money (EP) and hired myself, my crew and the Director.

Well the Director lost control of the shoot and the vision of the writers story so the writer/EP went on set before the next shot to speak with him, next thing everyone (cast and crew of over twenty people) heard was the Director yell "get the f**k off my set" "you have no right telling me how to run my film" He has yelled at the EP many times in front of everyone before.

He has since issued a statement to me saying that the EP is not allowed to express any ideas and that we are to work with the Director only.

My question is this:

I was hired by the EP, the crew I hired was approved by the EP, my paycheck is from the EP, the story was written by the EP and the Director does not know how to be a Director and set a very poor tone for the cast and crew with his explosive behavior. So does the Director have complete control?

Please give me some insight as I have never had an experience of this nature.

Also here are some side notes of what the Director did:

He did not want to work with me on the shot list

He did not watch the monitor or check framing while filming

He was not present for important shots and really did not understand what was in frame and out of frame

He has never directed from what I have researched

AND

He did the most unforgivable thing which was the exploitation of three actresses (I will not give details but he had me shoot things that were not a part of the script nor story) Since then, I have not given any of the footage to him.

Cheers

Ed
 
That'll teach you to hire Michael Bay to direct one of your movies. Seriously though, this guy is a poser to end all posers and you need to send him packing and see if he can frame a shot at the back of the unemployment line. In indie film he who has the gold makes the rules, if he didn't kick in any scrill and he is pulling these types of shenanigans, boot him. I'm sure there are 100 qualified people on these boards that would be on set ready to work in the collaborative art of filmmaking right along side you tomorrow morning.
 
Does the EP have a contract with the director? If not, boot him but beware; if so, boot him and use the contract to make it stick. Contracts are designed to make this sort of thing easy. Contract, Contract, Contract; and do it any and every level of production. For real, I can't over emphasize the importance of a contract.
 
The EP has the right... but like pharpsied said... contracts... I have a friend in the same situation... wrote and funded a no budget thing... but in the contact he gave the director creative control... 2 years later the film is still sitting there... they'll never finish it...
 
The producer is the businessman who owns the film and runs it. The producer hires the director -- and when necessary, the producer fires the director.

So who's the producer in this scenario? Is the writer holding the title to producer, in addition to executive producer?

Basically, the director is in charge of the film until he's put in his place or fired by the producer. If the EP allowed himself to be thrown off the set, then he's allowing the director to maintain control, so... as long as that director is running the show, you do what he says. It's up to the producer to fix the situation.
 
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Thank you for all of the input, everyone has given great input.

Yes, the writer is the producer and the sole funder BUT the writer did make the director a producer as well.

It has been a really hard day of meeting with them today, more information later.
 
This guy must be a real bully! How the heck did he get away with all this AND he never directed before!

Please tell us how he even got hired as a paid director - who has never directed before.
 
Barry is correct. Producer hires Director and its the Producer who decides if Director will be fired or not. The Director DOES run the set until the Producer says otherwise. That's the official pecking order.

I've only worked on one feature project where Producer/Director/Writer/Lead Actor were the same person. (Yes it was way too many hats for that person. Nuff said.)
 
Reiterate: if there is no money, there are are no paychecks, so whoever writes the checks SHOULD be in control. im imagining there are no contracts being that it's a low budget affair.

Let us know where you are based out of, im sure someone here can give you a hand in dealing with this.

First thing above all is to officially fire the director, state that it was for professional mannerism and control issues. then hold a production meeting with the cast and crew to explain the situation and that a new director will be brought in. if you happen to find one right away then bring them to that meeting and introduce them. a director should be professional, calm, and have a very VERY apparent sense that he knows what he's doing.
 
Hello everyone,

Today has been crazy. To answer some questions:

The budget was not too large for a pilot, just under $100k but it is self funded so to me, that is a decent amount.

The Director does not have any credits to his name nor any acting to his name.

The EP is the sole writer and creator

YES, I think the EP was bullied and was taken advantage of. Yelling and using profanity in front of a cast and crew is not necessary. The EP was bullied into giving a VERY large percentage of the money if it gets picked up but in the contract, it did not state that the EP could not fire the Director. The EP may need to eat the very large profit share if it does get traction but that does not concern my end of my contract.

I do not want to give too many specifics but just wanted some advice. It has been very helpful and I thank everyone for their input and support. It says a lot about this forum.

Cheers

Ed
 
ed, this is entirely 2nd hand speculation but it sounds to me like if the EP said eff off to this "director" and tore up the contract, i doubt the director would have much legal knowledge or any decent amount of money to hire a decent lawyer to try and sue to get the percentage in the contract. (not my legal advice, just 3rd party observation)

also, legally speaking, the contract is valid unless the director violates in in one way or another. if he violates it the EP has legal grounds to nullify it. It sounds like so far the director has shown in front of several witnesses a lack of professionalism, and from what it sounds like has also hindered the production in more ways than one. that, and if the production falls behind schedule, these things all add up to a TECHNICAL violation of the contract, because the contract is for a job, and if the job isn't being performed correctly... well you get the idea. This is all very speculative and not concrete, but just shows the EP is not without rights or wiggleroom.

cheers
 
Hey Djay! Thank you for the great insight. I am firmly on the EP's side because he was not treated with respect and was reprimanded and abused on set. My honest thoughts are this:

If the Director sat down with the EP and had a talk with him instead of tell the EP to "get the f**k off my set", I would still NEVER work with him again because he took advantage of three actresses by shooting scenes that were not a part of the script. I will not explain further but it was exploitation of new actresses for his own pleasure and yes, I took a stand and have since not released any footage to anyone. Although the EP owns the footage, I have informed him that having the footage only fuels my fire.

I will take your advice and pass it along, the EP is just new to this and was taken advantage of and bullied so I want to help him.

Cheers

Ed
 
More sad news, the three women have spoken to the EP and they did not understand the scene but did not want to argue with the "director" even though they questioned his actions. I am even more pissed off because at first it was only my take on the situation.

no cheers
 
Ed Ng said:
More sad news, the three women have spoken to the EP and they did not understand the scene but did not want to argue with the "director" even though they questioned his actions. I am even more pissed off because at first it was only my take on the situation.

no cheers
Click to expand...

Well, this further adds to the case that the EP can terminate the services of the Director - and, as this could be gross misconduct (and perhaps more), it its very unlikely that the Director would have a strong case if the pilot gets picked up.

It sounds like the Director took advantage of the EP and these young/inexperienced actresses... it might be prudent for the EP to get a professional legal opinion now (just to be safe).

Sounds like a crappy situation for all. Hope it works out.
 
not trying to be a jerk - but I wonder why with $100k you hire a guy who never directed before and seems like you did no prep-work with him before you hired everyone and cast it and stepped on the set.

There isnt anything to discuss - get rid of dude. If you got a contract sue him - if you dont - eat the costs and keep moving and shooting with a new director , one of you guys step up and be the director!

This guy must be a powerful svengali who has you all in sway!
 
yeh Im not sure what kind of hypnosis this director has over you guys. His ass would be grass a long time ago. I also am wondering how the heck this dude got hired in the first place as he has NO track record and also seems he was a problem from preproduction (still plenty time to have replaced him then)
 
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