Question on actor rates?

M

mrl72

Well-known member
Hi all

I'm in the process of budgeting for a short film. The film is mainly 2 actors talking and we're shooting it over one night in a single location. Because of the limitation on the location for shooting I also need to ensure the actors go through at least a day's worth of rehearsals so that we can mainly plan the blocking in advance.

Question: What is a good rate that will attract some good calibre of talent? Is $500 per actor a rate that would get me some good actors for 2 days (1 to rehearse and 1 to shoot)? Keep in mind I'm in a non-union state (Miami) and not a ton of actors down here, although some decent shows are shot down here.

Cheers.
 
I'm sure you'll be deluged with people discussing how they don't pay actors for this, that and the other thing. For standard work I pay my actors $1,000/day if they have spoken lines in a scene and $500/day if they don't. Effective Sept 01, 2012 that rate is changing to $1,250/day if they have spoken lines and $725.00 if they don't. Except for the upcoming change I've been paying the former for the last nine years. This is not for feature work as rates are negotiable with lead and supporting characters earning as per their individual contracts. What I've listed are my minimums. The rate you choose to pay doesn't guarantee anything. What someone else chooses to do is entirely up to them. These rates are NOT for extras.
 
That's pretty good for non-union. Usually the fewer days, the higher the day rate. Depending how you get them their agents may ask for a +10% for the agent. It must be pretty short if you're planning on shooting it in one night.
 
I like to work with the same people whenever I can.

When I have a good pay rate on a project, I call them. When I need some help on a test shoot or a personal project at a lower rate, they are glad to help for 1/2 or less of their usual rate.

Then when the next decent paying opportunity comes along, I call them first if there is a fit. It is nice to work with people who you know are professional, who you trust, have a good working relationship with,, etc.

All I'm saying here I think is, use this as a chance to find and hang on to good people and build a team. The more you can delegate and know what you are going to get from your "crew" (makeup, stylist, assistant, model, actor, sound, etc) the better for everyone!

Nice to see someone with a budget and realistic assumptions after all of the Craigslist lowballers (Shoot my music video and I'll give you a credit! For your portfolio! Oh, and I'll buy you a beer. Yeah, f' off .....) :):)

Michael
 
Thanks all, some good info. My script is pretty short and lots of dialogue so I need two really, really good actors. I may list it at $500 and bump it up until I find the right talent. Question on the rehearsals, is this normally factored into the cost or is it expected of the talent to attend at least one rehearsal?
 
You pay what your budget allows and every market is different.
In my area of the world $500/Day would have every agent in town and every actor (union and non-union) within a 200 mile radius beating down your door to audition. I paid $100/day for speaking roles on my last short and I had 175 responses to the casting notice, I had to pull the ad after 2 days as I didn't have the manpower to even deal with the responses.
 
gonzo_entertainment said:
You pay what your budget allows and every market is different.
In my area of the world $500/Day would have every agent in town and every actor (union and non-union) within a 200 mile radius beating down your door to audition. I paid $100/day for speaking roles on my last short and I had 175 responses to the casting notice, I had to pull the ad after 2 days as I didn't have the manpower to even deal with the responses.
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Good to know. Did you place the ad yourself or did you go through an agent?
 
mrl72 said:
Good to know. Did you place the ad yourself or did you go through an agent?
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Placed an ad myself. I was contacted by several agents after I placed it. If you have that kind of money to spend going through an agency might not be a bad idea. Let them do some of the legwork of weeding out for the right physical types, etc...
 
I ended up posting two roles at $300 each on castingnetwork.com and I was told because it was considered a high rate for this area they bumped my account to pro level so that the casting notice went to all the agencies down here, which was great, kinda.. So I've had over 200 applicants so far but 95% of them are all models with no acting skills. Now, I live in Florida and it's a non-union state so SAG members have to have FiCore status in order to take a non-union job, but I'm beginning to wonder if I'd be better off apply for SAGIndie and doing that way. Or it could be that Miami just doesn't have any good actors! In fact I couldn't even go SAGIndie because this project is being bought for distribution rights and I don't think that's covered under SAGIndie. Tough call...
 
I can't advise on what to pay them, but this might help.

Seems the 'voice' is going to be a big part of this and as the project is mainly 2 people talking to each other and there are over 200 applicants,
then I'd first try interviewing some possibles on the phone. Maybe record each interview and tell them.

Here's what I'd do, once you get a shorter list, say 15 or so, email each one a suitable page and with a photo of each one in front of you, get them to read,
again on the phone. Do this with the idea of selecting 2 actors who could 'work' together.

After you cull that list, bring them in to audition on camera, hopefully two by two.

Write out your list of phone questions, take your time don't leave anything out, you could even grade the interviews, 1 awful - 10 great! Good luck.

Cheers.
 
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Good stuff all. Over the weekend we got some really good talent pour in so things are looking up. I do have a question though, since our film is essentially female character talking to male character, is it fair to hold auditions and have both characters read or is that a no-no?

Cheers.
 
For sure, I'd try getting that organised.

But it depends on where they are and how easy it is to arrange it. You could try going to a conference phone centre for a 3 way hookup.

Once you're 98% sure, try arranging a lunch to let 'em bond during a table read, you pay and offer travel costs.

Encourage enthusiasm, listen to their opinions and ideas, it'll be great!! Let's know what happens.

Cheers.
 
Allan Black said:
For sure, I'd try getting that organised.

But it depends on where they are and how easy it is to arrange it. You could try going to a conference phone centre for a 3 way hookup.

Once you're 98% sure, try arranging a lunch to let 'em bond during a table read, you pay and offer travel costs.

Encourage enthusiasm, listen to their opinions and ideas, it'll be great!! Let's know what happens.

Cheers.
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Well, I was just planning on having all the auditions on the same day and callbacks another. We've narrowed it down to about 25 males and 25 females so far. There may be a bit of a juggling act if actors turn up late, or not at all. My main concern was if a good actor is placed with a bad one, but then again that's no different than if they were reading with a casting director.
 
mrl72 said:
My main concern was if a good actor is placed with a bad one, but then again that's no different than if they were reading with a casting director.
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You're correct to be concerned for the initial audition. A good casting director will give a relatively flat read that allows an actor room to present their take on the role. A poor "lively" read can be very difficult for an actor to work with. It forces them to make choices that may not want to make. It's a disservice to both you and the actor.

Callbacks are another story. At this stage, pairing up actors can be a great benefit to everyone.
 
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