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.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
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?
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?
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
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.
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.
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