Peter Dinklage: non-negotiables in action

There's a fantastic profile of Peter Dinklage in the NY Times right now.  A real world application of what I was writing about in my post on non-negotiables.

It's a great example for actors who struggle with the idea of short term financial gain, but long-term moral costs. Early in his career, Dinklage ate ' potato chips for dinner every night because he conscientiously objected to playing one of Santa’s elves in Kmart ads.'

In the interview, he talks about prejudices against dwarves, "Dwarves are still the butt of jokes. It’s one of the last bastions of acceptable prejudice. Not just by people who’ve had too much to drink in England and want to throw a person. But by media, everything.” He goes on to point out that media includes the actors who play the roles and that “You can say no. You can not be the object of ridicule.”


As an emerging actor in New York, Dinklage worked in low-budget film and onstage, but couldn't book commercial work, specifically because he didn't want to play leprechauns or dwarves, which were the most high-paying roles available at the time.  He did take on a character in the indie film maker's indie film, Living in Oblivion, playing a little person actor who argues with the director that his dream sequence is stupid 'when does anyone have a dream with a dwarf in it?' 

Dinklage built relationships, made friends, worked with people who saw the whole person and his leading man chops and capabilities, which led to films like The Station Agent, and playing stage roles like Richard III.

Of course, Dinklage is now playing, arguably, the role of his career, Tyrion in HBO's Game of Thrones series, and is receiving tons of recognition from both fans and critics, including a Golden Globe.   

It's an inspiring story about an actor who knows what he will and will not do, rather than saying yes to every job, just because it's a job. RTWT.

Negotiation: timing!

The most difficult part, and I think the last of the chunks on this topic: when do you do the asking?

Let me be clear: I don't think there are absolutes here.  When you ask for the things you want is going to depend on the nature of your non-negotiables, what you want to ask for, and a lot of other things.

I think non-negotiables, if they seem applicable to the project in question, should be raised during the process of making the audition appointment.  It might lead to you not even making the audition appointment.  If you're a woman who has no nudity ever ever ever as a non-negotiable, and you see an audition notice which says that the character will be topless, you wouldn't go to that audition.  A different woman might have a non negotiable of no nudity that is exploitative or gratuitous, and would inquire about the audition appointment, but ask to see a script or have a phone conversation with the director about what happens in the topless scene in order to make a decision about the nature of the nudity in the project.  Super bad form: doing the audition, getting cast, and then saying "oh, by the way, I never take my clothes off for acting work"  If it was a non-negotiable, this person has just wasted everyone's time.  The production made it clear that going topless was a requirement for the role.

Now, if you're talking about the perks, the things that it would be nice to have, but that aren't requirements for you, these are things to ask about when the part is offered.  And, outside of the tight casting timeline that often takes place in film/tv/commercials, it is perfectly fine when offered a role to say "thank you so much! I'd like to call you back in 4, 8 or even 24 hours to talk more about the project."  Acknowledging that you've received their offer, you're excited by it, but then waiting to talk business until the initial adrenaline of getting the offer has worked it's way through your system.  And then put on your business hat, and ask "is there any wiggle room in your stipend?" or "one of my goals this year is to increase my name recognition in this region - I'm hoping you'll have me be in the press photos for this project"  They may say no, but they just might say yes.  And, if they don't say yes (or aren't able to say yes) this time, you've built a framework for discussion on future projects.

Hoping this series of thoughts has been helpful.  Let me know about how your negotiations go!

Negotiation: extra thoughts and questions

I know I still need to write about when and how, but here are some of the smaller thoughts that didn't seem to each need their own full post.

What are you bringing?  Think about what you might offer in addition to what you want.  You may have a mailing list, or a connection to a caterer, or a car that is appropriate for the 1970's time period of the indie film.  Something that you have that they need might help you get what you want.

Unions - if you're in one, they've already done a significant portion of the negotiating for you -  minimum salaries, size of dressing room, you name it.  If you're not in one, you should still go to the union websites and find the info about pay rates and contracts.  Start here for Actor's Equity.  Then look at the 'codes' and 'agreements'  Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) won't let you look at the full contracts, but you can see summaries and rate sheets here. AFTRA rates are here. 

With non-union on-camera projects and industrials, knowing union rates can help a lot with your negotiation.  The person making the industrial may not know a lot about what the rates are - starting from 50% of union rate as an offer on your end is often a good way to go.

Usage - with camera, voiceover and print, the question to ask is what are they using this for - where will it be shown and for how long.  Are they asking you to give them usage rights for a limited or an unlimited time?  For a limited or an unlimited geographic region?  web only? cable only? The fewer limits to usage, the more careful you need to be about taking on the project.

Negotiation: what do you want to ask for?

The second in a series of bite-sized chunks. 

I think that many who are new to negotiating think that it's about money, and asking for more money.  There's a lot more to negotiating than that - when you're asking for a weekend off rehearsal to go to a friend's wedding, you're negotiating.  You can negotiate schedule, level of inclusion in a project's publicity, where your name goes in the program/credits, getting the production company to pay for your dry cleaning, and more.


What you ask for might relate to your non-negotiables,  It might relate to your goals as an actor - if you are interested in this project for the level of exposure, you might negotiate to have your name above the title in the postcard, or in a larger font, or that you're in the publicity photo used in the press kit.  It might relate to practical issues brought up by the production - they want you to use your own clothes for the costumes (common on indie films), but it's a horror film and you'll be getting spattered in fake blood - can they pay your cleaning bill?  You might negotiate the degree of nudity, or the hiring of a coach to help you w/a particular skill you'll need for the project.

In a non-musical where I played a character who sang, the company didn't have any musical director to help me with the songs.  I was taking voice lessons at the time, and got the show to pay for two hours of my voice coach's time.

Often though, the negotiation is about money.  Think creatively here - are you negotiating relating to transit costs?  Could the company buy you a transit pass for the month? A prepaid gas card?  I had a company write a check specifically to FasTrak (the bridge toll pass provider in the SF Bay Area) for the total amount of times I'd cross the Golden Gate bridge to do their show.  Is food as good as money to you?  Maybe the company has a connection to a restaurant you like or a grocery store you frequent - maybe they can give you a Trader Joe's or Starbuck's gift card instead of increasing the stipend.

Really important here is research and careful thought - know what they're offering, what they've offered in the past, and what other companies that are of similar size offer.  Figure out what is realistic, given the limitations of the company's time and resources.

When you've figured out what you want to ask for, know what's essential, and what's not - I think the pro-negotiators call this the 'walk-away' or something like that, as in "if I don't get at least $3million for this deal, I'll walk away"  So when all is said and done here, you'll have a list of the things you'd like to get from the project, and the things that you must get from the project in order to do it.

Then it's a matter of when to ask, and how, which are, you guessed it, other bite sized chunks...

But in the meantime, are there things I'm not thinking of?  What else do you want to ask for?

Negotiation: the non-negotiables

So, I've wanted to write about negotiation and acting for a while now.  I'm realizing that it's a giant topic with many facets and I've got a ton of opinions about it.  My ultimate solution: bite sized chunks.

Here's one of them:  independent of any project, be it indie film or outdoor Shakespeare or whatever, figure out what is non-negotiable for you as an artist.

It may be that you won't work for free.  Or that you won't play characters who are ethnic stereotypes.  Or that you won't take your clothes off.  The things that you know in your heart of hearts you will never ever do, even if it meant you were guaranteed to be on the short list for an Oscar, or you got to work with a director you've idolized since you were 12, or you'd get to be onstage at the most respected LORT Theater in your region. 

Identifying what is non-negotiable to you will help you look for work, and starts to establish your walk-away point.  It means you know what information to look for when you start the audition process to know if you even want to audition for the project in the first place.

A quick example:  let's say that one non-negotiable for Actor A is that she will not work on shows where she will be out of pocket on transportation costs in order to do the show.  The audition notice says $100 stipend.  It gives a 5 week rehearsal schedule, 5 nights a week, plus 3 performances/week for 6 weeks.  It's a two character script, so she'd be called to all rehearsals.  25 rehearsals plus 18 performances means 43 round trips on public transit. At a cost of $3.50 per trip, this means a total of $150.50 for transit. 

So, there's roughly $50 that Actor A will want to negotiate for.  And that is a bite -sized chunk for another day.