Reasonable compensation for actors?

Y

yingtaoshenfu

New member
Hi, I am a student filmmaker and in my previous work I normally casted actors who were willing to work for free. However, this time my project is much larger than before, we are planning to shoot 4 days. Plus, we are going to film in an apartment which locates in the suburban area ( which will take actors about 40 mins to get there).

At first, I posted the casting call on line under the "no-pay" column. Well, very few people respond to it. I understand because the deal I offer sound like I am ripping off actors. I like my script so much that I don't want some bad actors to ruin them. So, I am willing to spend some money to atrract more competent actors.

But the question is that I have no idea how much compensation is well-suited for my project. I don't want to offer a insulting number, but I am also on budget.

In short, I am in a dilemma now, can anyone tell me how much is enough?

P.S. my film includes some half naked & makingout scece, maybe that's another reason actors shun away from it.
 
Well if you go low just remember not to offer a day rate that comes out to less than minimum wage. Other than that it is up to you.
 
If it were me, I'd offer $100 a day - that's in the neighborhood of scale for no budget productions, and should not break the bank. So an actor you use for all four days would get $400. If you use 10 actors, that's $4000, so it's not exactly cheap. But remember, when building a budget, your cost per actor will be a bit more - you have to feed them for free, provide coffee/tea, water etc. plus other expenses like perhaps chipping in for gas and the like. I'd give a $10 per day for transportation (gas+car use, bus etc.) for such a distance, personally. Realistically, you'd be spending about $150 per actor per day, IMHO, though only about $110 in direct cash payment to the actor. Again, that's just my opinion - also, I'm in LA, and that's about what I've seen as kind of a minimum if money is involved around these parts; disclaimer: it's possible that outside of LA different standards apply - I just don't know.
 
that's the number i've seen a lot of people come up with here in NYC too. $100/day sounds about right. Now if you're looking at your wallet after hearing that number and deciding maybe it's not SOOOOO important to pay your actors... you could think about paying just one or two leads, or offering them a $25/day stipend. It's still mostly considered working for free, but at least they can get around a little easier so maybe you'll pick up one or two actors from it.
 
I pay Extras gas money, featured non-speaking (or maybe 1 line of dialogue) $50 + Expenses, and speaking roles $100 + Expenses. I had to pull my last casting ad at 150 responses in 2 days.
 
if you take your time you can find great actors for free. If you are in a rush - start peeling that wallet!
 
Actors have no interest in the product from an up and coming director - because most vanish, so if they're any good, pay becomes important. If you want a sax player who can read music, they arrive play what you give them and go. enjoying it or having fun are optional. It's their job, or serious hobby.

Extras need paying too. Here in the UK there's a pretty strong undercurrent about extras - caused by a well known person advertising for expenses only extras for a shoot and getting stood up against the wall for it.

Friends and enthusiastic people might work for expenses or for free, but asking strangers to do it is taking advantage. I never even ask my friends to do freebies - it's bad business and puts you in a difficult position. I always offer money but perhaps explain it can't be more, and give them the no option. For strangers it's so easy to get tagged as a dodgy company.

ps expecting kit to come off for no money is very dodgy!
 
For professional actors, I think it's ok to pay $100 a day plus all expenses and meals. That's the SAG Ultra Low Budget minimum. That's what I pay on the shorts. Sometimes more when I can or if they have a face or a name or just kill! For shorts you can have SAG actors for no pay, so that it's whatever you arrange. It's fine, so if your friends want to help you out, feed 'em good!
 
It increases your pool of talent exponentially. Even low pay will triple, quadruple, or more the number of people you have to choose from, usually including people with actual experience in front of a camera.
 
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