paying child actors

[j]

I've got a commercial shoot coming up, and I'm paying my actors $500/day for 2 days.
Two of the actors are children.
What is the best way to pay them? A check to the parents? to the children themselves?
What should I consider for taxes, should I get their social and 1099 them?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-J

 

[Fourth Line]

Pay them in gummi bears.
Seriously though, I would be interested to hear what the answer is concerning a 1099 because if you pay them, doesn't that violate some sort of child labor law? There is obviously a work around or Hollywood has a collection of short people that the make up artists make look like children - I always thought Dakota Fanning was really 30.

 

[Steve House]

Are these SAG actors? Better check with the union if they are. And whether they're union or not, a visit with your lawyer would be in order because California has some incredibly strict laws regarding employment of children in productions. Things like teachers required on-set under certain conditions, etc. Better find out from a real expert before hand, any advice you get beyond that for free here on the net is worth exactly what you paid for it and ignorance of the law can get mighty expensive mighty fast.

 

[grinner]

You'll havta pay their parents unless they have a bank account.
the gummy bear idea sounds pretty good.

 

[Prodigi Pictures]

It doesn't matter if they are SAG actors. What matters is if you are a SAG signatory company. If you haven't signed a deal with SAG, then you're a non-union corporation and you can hire anyone you want. Union actors have to deal with their union if and when they break the rules of their union...but if you aren't signed with that union then the union can't do anything to you.

However, that explanation is simply to clarify how unions work, not how we should behave.

Here is how you should handle this:

1.) Ask the parents how they prefer their children to be paid.
2.) Have the parents sign on their children's behalf.
3.) Pay promptly.
4.) Look up SAG rules on child employment and obey that, even if you're non-union. If you do this then no one has anything to complain about.

And remember this:
1.) The parents should have set up a Personal Services Corporation on behalf of their kids. You would write the check to that company. That's how it is normally done.
2.) If the parents don't know about those things it is a red flag. It doesn't mean they're bad people...it means they're green. But, inexperienced stage moms can create lots of problems. So, the better your paperwork trail the more your protected.
3.) It is in your best interest to get a copy of the SAG Basic Agreement and look up the rules that deal with child actors. SAG will give you a copy for free. You can call them up and say "I'm thinking of becoming Signatory." They'll send it to you...and then you can change your mind. However, with this (massively) thick book you can look up what their guild rules are and choose to model your policies after that.
4.) If you do #3 you'll have bragging rights! When you hold an audition you can say "Although this is non-union, our policies regarding child actors are modeled after SAG's. They'll be in good hands." And now, you've won some kudos from the stage moms!

One final note. I use the word "union" because most people think SAG is union. Technically, it is a Guild. It's similar, but not the same thing, as a union.

 

[Willis Chung]

Children actors are designated to register for a work permit, therefore you're not violating any laws using them. As far as paying them, that's your negotiation with them, unless you're going through their agent (if they have one of course). Therefore, if you want to do everything the right way, go through a payroll company. Otherwise, children also have saving accounts they can deposit checks into, they also work for cash.

 

[JonathanLB]

Hehe, this reminds me of this awesome production manager guy we had in film school. He told us how hard it is to work with child actors because of the various laws, and how you have to be really careful with U.S. film productions with child actors and U.S. kids. Someone asked, "What if they're foreign kids?" He said, "If they're foreigners then exploit the hell out of the little bastards!" Hahaha, it was one of the funniest things a teacher ever said. Obviously he was joking but it was classic. This guy was like 65, and I remember another time he said, "You can call me any time, even on weekends, except on Sunday between the hours of 4 and 6 p.m. because that's when I am doing drugs." He said this totally seriously and everyone was pausing, like should we laugh or what? Then there was delayed laughter, it was awesome.

As far as union rules, I agree that even if you're not signed to any union it's always a good idea to obey as many of their rules as possible only because there are some generally good guidelines. For instance, I'm very anti-union, but I still make sure that everyone gets food every 6 hours or sooner. I don't care about any sort of maximum hours per day, though, I'll pay according to how long the project is planned to take and if for some reason it goes way over I can always pay more, but the various overtime hour rules they have don't apply to low budget filmmaking.