How many times have you told a little fib?  Often, right?  We all do.  Things like:  Sure I read that book; I weigh exactly what it says on my driver’s license; I’m comfortable swimming; I’m completely proficient in using a teleprompter.

Talent lies because talent wants to work!  Some lies seem easy to forgive (especially if you don’t get caught) like learning how to use a teleprompter on-set.

Naturally, if a show you’re audition for is called Swimming with Sharks (and you really want to be the host) but aren’t a strong swimmer, you’re incented to lie to get the job, right?  It’s practically entrapment!  Here’s the deal, you think your little swimming lie is not a big deal and that producers won’t let you die.  Steve Irwin DIDN’T lie and he still died. Continue Reading »

There are a few terms you’ll need to know when going into a looping session. Some of these are better described in a live class situation, but I’ll do my best to explain on paper in the next few blogs. In this blog we’ll tackle Specific vs. group (or walla walla) cues

When you loop, sometimes everyone will be up and around the microphone at the same time (usually in a horse shoe or group formation), or there may be 1-2 individuals doing a “specific” cue. A specific cue would be where there is/are a specific person/people IN the scene that you are adding dialogue for. For example, there may be a couple walking by behind the principal character(s) that you can see having a conversation. Sometimes you will even be directed to cross by the mic in the direction the couple is walking for effect (make sure you wear lose clothing and no noisy jewelry and if you are wearing a hat to turn it backwards) Maybe there is a person talking on a cell phone. The closer these people are to the principal characters, the more likely you would want to HEAR these people in the final product. These specific cues are usually done separate and you would do that same scene (cue) again to have the entire group of actors fill in the sounds of the people you don’t specifically see (walla walla)

Some loop leaders I know will pre-assign the cues to the actors (there could be over 100 cues to get through in a day so it may be quicker to just say “Paula you’re up” than to explain the cue and get a “volunteer”), other times it is your responsibility to just “jump up” to the mic when you want to take a stab at a cue. The more you get up, the better you’ll do in my experience. If it is an “effort” you are doing (swallowing, getting punched, falling down, sighing, etc), you will most likely always do that same character’s efforts throughout the show. The same goes for voicing a specific character. If that receptionist you just voiced shows up two scenes later…you’ll voice them again! Food for thought…if it’s TV series and you voice a character in the background you may get a recurring looping gig out of it…my husband was a crazy Arab neighbor heard through the wall in many episodes of a popular show.

I’ll tackle some group terms you may hear in the next blog.

You just booked a looping gig and were told there would be Police calls, Hospital calls, and the “regular” stuff. You said “sure” but have NO clue what to prepare. This is where research comes in.

As you continue to get more and more looping jobs, you will start to put together a binder or file folders full of info and cheat sheets from all of your jobs. You bring this binder with you at all times and it becomes your “bible”.  The producer walks into the session and says… “we are adding some police radio chatter here” and you can say “No problem…I happen to have some NYC Police radio calls right here in my binder” and BAM you save the day!!!!!

So where can you get this info? Well, if your roommate is a nurse you can just ask her for some hospital lingo and write it down. If not…you’ll have to be more resourceful. Google is my best friend. Find out as much as you can about the location of the film/show (Does it take place in the Bronx? A specific college campus? Or just a feel of a certain area of the country?) This will help you get the right kind of dialogue. A military hospital “talks” different than a county hospital. Google “lingo”, “terms”, etc and copy/paste into a new doc or print out the page from the website. I like to put my full sheets of paper in clear plastic sleeves that have holes to be placed in a binder. This way I can take the full sheets out and the paper won’t make noise during the cue. Other people use note cards.

Police calls can also be heard streaming online (on police radio sites) if you want to get a feel for what they sound like in real life. Sometimes I’ll copy an entire call I hear. These and hospital calls (the intercom’s you hear saying “paging Dr Jones to the ER stat”) are pretty common. So are airport PA’s (“Flight 626 to Cincinnati is now boarding at gate 12A”). “Regular stuff” can include coffee shops, downtown street, and any “common” places. You never know what you’ll need to know next. This is why if you are an expert at something (for example you were in the Army for 10 years or you have a degree in criminal justice) you should note it when trying to get looping jobs. They want the real deal most of the time. I know it seems silly when you don’t even hear the looping all the time, but the producers will want to know everything is authentic for the times you WILL hear it. If you can fake it, fine, but you’d better be prepared!

Your mom was right when she told you that “please” is a magic word.

I have another magic word for ya – one that no one has probably told you about yet.  One that, more often than not, will lower people’s defenses and produce a positive response to your request.

The magic word is:

Continue Reading »

Box Office Bonuses: While back end points are based on a percentage of the profits, box office bonuses are usually a flat rate, based upon Daily Variety’s weekly box office chart.  They work as follows: If your film earns $1 million dollars in the box office as per Daily Variety, then you will get a $10,000.  Then, for every additional $1 million the film earns, you will get an additional $10,000.  These bumps are negotiable, and vary in how much the bonuses are and how often, and often the producers will try to put a cap, so that the actor stops earning any bonuses after $50 million.  The reason why box office bonuses are attractive for talent are that they are easily verifiable.  There are no auditing statements to look at, no accounting to do, you can simply open the trade and see when you should start bugging your agent to get you your check.

Back End Compensation v. Box Office Bonuses:  Depending upon the success of the film, the size of the budget and the drafting of the profit definitions, sometimes it is better to have profit participation over box offices bonuses or vice versa.  You can imagine that even when a film does very well, if the film had a high promotional budget, or if a star was taking a big chunk up front, it would take longer for the film to earn profits, as the investors get paid in full before anyone can earn their profit participation revenues.  It is not uncommon for a film to do very in the box office but barely break even because it was so expensive to make.  Not to say this is all guesswork, and an experienced attorney and/or producer would be able to advise you regarding the likelihood of what the film can make.  Sometimes, an actor will get both back end and box office bonuses, and then they don’t have to predict, they are covered on both aspects.

Please note: The information contained herein does not constitute legal advice and is intended for educational and information purposes only.

Interchangable Terms:  When negotiating a profit provision in a contract, the definition of profits must be well worded, clearly defined and negotiated very carefully.  Net profits, gross profits, gross revenue, gross points, adjusted gross profits, adjusted net profits, producer net profits—these terms can necessitate extremely different calculations or very similar accountings, depending how they’re worded, when they are calculated (i.e., before or after certain other profit participants) and what deductions are or are not acceptable.

Percentages: Many indie films will offer their actors a percentage of the producer’s net profits, and usually that is defined as 50% of 100% of the total profits.  This isn’t always stated clearly, and it obviously makes a big difference if you’re getting 2% of 50% or 2% of 100%.  These nuances become significant when and if the film earns a profit, and that is why a considerable amount of time is spent negotiating these definitions.

MFN in Profit Definition: If there isn’t time to come to an agreement on the definition before a client agrees to take the role and signs a deal memo, I will push to have the deal memo add a phrase that obligates the producers to give Most Favored Nations (MFN, further discussed in a previous posting) on the definition, i.e., “2% of Producer’s Net Profits, to be defined no less favorably than any other profit participant, including all cast members and producers.”  This way, no matter how they define ‘Producer’s Net Profits,’ as in this example, I know that the actor will be participating in the same pool as all the participants, including the producers. There is no doubt the producer’s will negotiate the most favorable definition they can draft for themselves.

Please note: The information contained herein does not constitute legal advice and is intended for educational and information purposes only.

Profit Participation on Lower Budgeted Films:  Sometimes actors receive back end points if they are working below the SAG minimum and on a lower budgeted film.  SAG has 3 alternatives for films budgeted under $2.5 million: Low, Modified Low and Ultra Low Budget Agreements.  These agreements allow producers to pay less in up front fees, so if an actor agrees to work under “scale,” sometimes the producer will add profit participation to the deal to attempt to make the actor “whole” by allowing them to earn their fees if the film does well.  Profit participations attempt to make up the difference between what the actor should have made at full union rates and what the actor actually earned with the reduced fees.  Also, profit participation ‘rewards’ the actor for agreeing to the reduced fee, and allows the actor to participate in the profits of the film for their contribution in its success.

Defining Profits: Now we have to take a brief moment to discuss the definition of ‘profit.’ While it is no surprise that most independent films rarely see a full return of their investment, let alone make a profit, negotiating profit participation becomes one of the most important provisions in a talent agreement.  Frankly speaking, that’s the whole ballgame, folks.  How the profits are defined could make the difference between you getting paid or not.  There have been numerous lawsuits regarding Hollywood accounting practices and the major studios’ creative accounting methods, where it is common practice to inflate the film costs in order to reduce or remove the production company’s obligation to pay profit participants.  What this means is that even if you are entitled to receive profits from a film that is doing well, you may not see dime one if your definition of profits (if any) is overly broad, one-sided or otherwise prohibitive.

Please note: The information contained herein does not constitute legal advice and is intended for educational and information purposes only.

There are different ways an actor can get compensated on a feature film: 1) Flat compensation, which is an “up front” daily or weekly rate, payable in lump sums or on a weekly basis; 2) back end compensation, which pays an actor out on the “back end” of a project, once the film has been released and starts to earn money (if ever); and 3) residuals, which compensates an actor for re-use, after a project’s initial release (I’ll tackle this topic in another posting).

Flat Compensation:  This is a flat rate you will be receiving on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.  Sometimes you can get your fee all in one lump sum upfront, which your representatives should negotiate for you in the event the production company is not established or well known, and there are concerns about their ability to pay their cast and crew.  As a SAG member, producers must comply with the union’s minimum day/weekly rates, with a reduction in those basic minimums for projects under $2.5 million.

Profit Participation: Deferred compensation, contingent compensation and box office bonuses are all different ways an actor can make money on the back end after a film’s release.  When someone mentions “back end” compensation, they are usually referring to contingent compensation or profit participation, where if the film makes a “profit,” then the actor gets a percentage (a/k/a “point”) of the profits.  Back end compensation provides actors additional opportunities to earn money on a film dependent upon the profitability of the film.  Actors receive back end participation if the producer’s are trying to sweeten the deal and give the actor more incentive to take the job and get them fully behind the project.

Please note: The information contained herein does not constitute legal advice and is intended for educational and information purposes only.

So you wanna loop, but you aren’t comfortable in front of a mic. Or you want some practice. What can you do? I have a few thoughts…

Improv is one of the BEST things a looper can have in their back pocket. You will be asked to get “up” and watch the screen in front of you while you talk. It’s no different than on camera EXCEPT you need to remember the mic is in FRONT of you AND don’t make ANY noise except your voice (no jewelry smacking or clothing friction noise please). Many times if it’s a “specific cue” (the actor’s mouth is seen ON camera and has specific dialogue…example…”Here’s your change sir”) the dialogue will be written out for you. Other times it’s not and you will literally make up the entire conversation.

Watch TV with the sound off and practice putting dialogue in the actor’s mouths you see walk by, etc.  Sometimes these actors will be “on camera” (you SEE their mouths move) and other times they will just be passing by the principal actors or sitting in the background.

Another thing you can practice is changing up your voice. You will need to sound like MANY different REAL people (no cartoonish characters unless you are voicing a TV in the background). If you have access to a mic, record yourself and practice saying the same thing different ways. Listen to other people and try to match their voice cadence and sound. Try to mimic what you hear. If you think you can match a celebrity all the better….make note of it so you can say you could voice match them if the opportunity comes up. Dialects and accents are also fun but remember to keep it real.

Taking a class is also a great way to get comfortable in front of a mic. If you’ve never taken a voice class, any intro level will do. I also think an improv class is a great idea for ANY actor. Ask your fellow actor friends and look around town for the best one for YOU. Have fun & practice, practice practice!!!!!

If you do get a meeting with someone after requesting a very specific amount of their time (as we discussed in part one of this post), make sure that you honor the boundaries of your request.

If you asked for 13 minutes, at minute number twelve say something along the lines of: “I requested 13 minutes and it’s been 12 and I want to respect your time so…”

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