Survival Tactics for
Creators and Performers
When starting
the first article, I thought this would be a one-off. I discovered very
quickly there was so much more to cover. Deep breath everybody and welcome to
part II.
What Do We Now
Know?
Now that the
writer/actors strike is over, what have we learned about the entertainment
business? Writers and actors want fair compensation including a piece of
streaming revenue and assurances that they will not be replaced with AI.
Gatekeepers want
to own it all and not have to pay much for it. The adage buy low, sell high
would apply here, or rather, spend less sell more. Ticket sales and streaming
subscribers make this business tick.
Producers/movie
companies want to spend as little as possible so they can reap the benefits
when the movie is released. Not a bad thing when production costs are up. But,
why should the artists and writers bear the brunt of the impact?
What are
the survival tactics for creators and performers?
Taraji P. Henson
mentioned in an interview how she had to fight to get a decent salary for the
movie, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. She acted opposite Brad Pitt who
was paid $10 million for his performance.
Taraji had asked
for $500,000. They offered her $100,000 and eventually agreed to $150,000.
She said they
weren’t paying her anywhere near her net worth. Her performance in that movie
earned her a supporting actress nomination. After taxes and paying
managers/agents, her take-home was only $40,000.
Terence Howard
was paid a reported salary of approximately $3.5 million for his role as James
“Rhodey” Rhodes in the film “Iron Man”. He was a first hire after his
academy-nominated performance in “Hustle and Flow”. He was promised a larger
salary for future sequels before Robert Downey Jr. was hired.
Downey’s
performance and the film’s success led to Robert getting a $10 million pay bump
for Iron Man II, more creative control, and a slice of the film’s back end.
Howard’s salary was shrunk to $1 million. Don Cheadle was eventually brought in
for the sequels. It’s not clear if Howard walked away from negotiations or if
he was let go.
There seems to be
a disparity in Hollywood as in most businesses if you are a female or a person
of color when it comes to salary. Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence most
notably spoke about this in her “Lenny Letter”, upon discovering what some
of her co-stars were making in the film “American Hustle” due to a Sony hack.
What is the fix?
Unless you take
a producer role and have the power to hire/fire, you have to fight
hard and negotiate for a better salary. More on this later. The good
news is that if you are a truly gifted performer, people will want to hire and
collaborate with you because of your talent.
You Can't Keep a Good Performer Down.
Taraji P. Henson went
on to appear in the Karate Kid reboot with Jayden Smith, had recurring roles in
Eli Stone and Person of Interest (created by Jonathan Nolan and J.J. Abrams),
and appeared in several Tyler Perry movies. She was in the very popular, “Think
Like a Man” franchise, produced by Will Packer, performed in “Hidden Figures”
opposite Kevin Costner, which won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding
Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. She also was featured in the reboot
of “The Color Purple”.
Terrance Howard
joined the cast of Law and Order: Los Angeles for one season, played as Nelson
Mandela, in the film Winnie Mandela, and was in the Lee Daniels hit, “The
Butler”. He appeared in the hit, “The Best Man” and the sequel, “ The Best Man
Holiday”, performed in a film about the Tuskegee airmen in the movie “Red
Tails” (produced by George Lucas), and had a great run with Taraji P. Henson as
a principal actor in the hit show “Empire”.
Jennifer
Lawrence’s net worth has improved considerably. She scored well with her
portrayal as Katniss Everdeen in “The Hunger Games” franchise. She had a
recurring role as Mystique in the prequel “X-Men” movies, won an Academy Award
for her performance in “Silver Linings Playbook” and won a Golden Globe Award
for her performance as businesswoman Joy Mangano in the biopic “Joy”. In 2018,
she ranked #4 in Forbes as the highest-paid actress and formed a production
company that same year called Excellent Cadaver.
Write/Direct/Produce
Sidney Poitier
won an Academy Award for Best Actor in “Lilies of the Field” in 1963. Denzel
Washington won an Academy Award for Best Actor in the film “Training Day” in
2001. Hattie McDaniel won Best Supporting Actress in 1940 for “Gone with the
Wind”. Halle Berry won Best Actress for her performance in “Monsters Ball” in
2001. Do the math for that gap and what does this tell you? Hollywood is not
inclusive when it comes to writing roles. No roles, no work.
Lately, Hollywood
has come to its senses. The success of films like “Get Out”, “American
Fiction”, “Black Panther”, “Creed I/II “and “Selma” has proved that movies with
a diverse story and casts can also make money. This required the efforts of
directors/producers of diversity to push these stories. Unless you take
a director/producer role to have more creative control this will not
happen. Avoid that work-for-hire mindset. If you want to work, create
the job.
People of all colors want to see themselves reflected in the movies they
watch. Note that the success of films like “My Greek Wedding I/II”, “Crazy Rich
Asians”, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, “The Woman King”, “Us”, and
“Parasite” have proven this point. Disney has taken full advantage of this fact
with hits like “Moana”, Encanto, Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, and Big Hero Six.
Don’t Give Away
All Your Rights.
The beauty of
being a successful author is that you don’t have to sell all your rights.
Authors like Stephen King, Lee Child, George R.R. Martin, Elmore Leonard, James
Patterson, JK Rowling, Suzanne Collins, William Gibson, Michael Crichton, and
Thomas Harris have benefited by optioning the movie rights to their
books. You choose what you want to sell. If you know your worth that can be
very lucrative. Write a series of books with your established characters and
you still have ownership of these characters for future books.
Motion pictures
and TV have even turned to comic books/graphic novel artists/writers for
ideas. Have you thought of using this medium to get your idea out to your
fans first?
Use your
comic/graphic novel sales as a marketing/optioning tool. If you have a hit, you
can option the movie rights for production at a nice price, or produce them
yourself.Need money to get
your writing/ comic empire going? Authors/artists have used crowdfunding sites
like Kickstarter to get the ball rolling.
Here are some free resources for artists right here.
Has all this got
your gears turning? Here are the things to think about:
* Know your
worth.
* If you are
truly gifted, people will want to hire and collaborate with you.
* Want to work?
Create the job. Write/Direct/Produce
* Don’t Give Away
All Your Rights.
Did we hit all
the right notes here? Let me know. More to come in
the next installment.
Need help writing
ideas for your next film/novel/comic book? Check out this
ebook.
You may also like
these articles:
How to Beat the Entertainment Business at its Own Game Part I
So You are Thinking About Filmmaking
Is Film School Really Necessary?
Top Ten Tips When Writing for the Entertainment Medium
