salary v. contractor

D

dstevens

Well-known member
Hi-
I have a question on hiring/paying crew and cast on a no-budget film. The advice I've seen is to give a salary of some token amount like a $1. Then you don't run into minimum wage laws, etc.

More accurately, wouldn't you hire people as independent contractors? Otherwise, don't you have potential issues with paying social security, worker's comp, etc?

I'm going to check out the various, online resources, etc, but I thought maybe folks would have 'real world' experience of what works.
 
I did not pay salary, I did as you suggested and paid them $1 for their services as an independent contractor.
 
I'd do neither. I want the classification to be "a bunch of my friends having fun". The scary part is liability, not necessarily the tax/payroll status. Should one of your friends slip and fall, even an independent contractor can sue you. But a "bunch of friends" has a liability situation to a bunch of friends playing touch football on the beach.

fn
 
Another business question about filmmaking to which there is no clear cut answer?

I'm shocked, simply shocked!

:)
 
crew should be contractor..if you do salary..those are considered employess of your company (meaning each film). you wont owe taxes ext....and you can deduct them as expenses
 
Mabye pay minimal amount to key people in the crew such as - DP, A1, head Grip, LD, etc, than supply the rest with food during shoot and whatever credentials they need. If its a low budget independ film i think is good, i'll work for nothing to help add to my reel if it's going into festival runnings.
 
There is no binding law that I am aware of that requires you to pay independent contractors for their time. I am free to donate my time to you if I choose. But as Esperman said, do not list them as salary. I would to protect yourself consider signing a basic deal memo with your crew that spells out the agreed to terms. But also keep in mind when not paying people, their commitment will tend to be lower. And there are some people that will not work w/out pay. If you have a DP, Gaffer, or other key person that you like their style and they are asking for pay, it may be worth considering. Your film will only be as good as your crew.
 
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