paying cast/crew the same amount?

Ralph D

Ralph D

Active member
I read somewhere that on a short film, if you want to pay people, you should pay the cast/crew the same amount to avoid trouble.

Thoughts?
 
Or you could do like any normal business does, and not allow your employees to tell each other how much they're getting paid.

If problems occur because people do find out you're paying somebody else more than them, remind them that they are free to not work for you, and get paid nothing...
 
It can work nicely especially if you are paying a token amount. On my last short I told everyone "I'm paying everyone $80 for the day" from the grips up to the DP, everyone was happy with it.
 
TwistedLincoln said:
Or you could do like any normal business does, and not allow your employees to tell each other how much they're getting paid.
Click to expand...

I've always wondered what makes management think that people pay the least bit of attention to policies like those.

TwistedLincoln said:
If problems occur because people do find out you're paying somebody else more than them, remind them that they are free to not work for you, and get paid nothing...
Click to expand...

Well, maybe if that's how management thinks, it's not a mystery, after all.

Be up-front with everyone involved regarding pay. I have worked on projects where actors were drawing SAG scale, while crew was contributing their time, gratis, and it was understood that it was a necessity of the project and if you didn't feel like helping out for free, well, you didn't have to.
 
Sad Max said:
I've always wondered what makes management think that people pay the least bit of attention to policies like those.
Click to expand...

Oh, you're right -- nobody pays attention to those kinds of policies. But it does give you a very good reason to fire them when they don't. The only point of such policies is so that you can point to them later and say "see, I warned you" when people start causing trouble.
 
That makes sense.

Years back a firend of mine was co-owner of an SFX shop in Culver City; when one of their mold-room guys got pissed off about his pay, he went from station to staion, all around the shop, bellowing YOU make $xxx and YOU make $xx and YOU make $x...

...and lo it did indeed serve as cause to fire his ass.
 
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