On a Netflix show I watch, the main character, “Dev,” is a bit actor who gets by doing commercials here, small TV parts there, the odd small movie part. He’s not broke like the prototypical struggling actor, but he’s by no means a big name in the industry.
On the movie set, he sometimes hangs out in the trailer of a big-name actor who’s appearing in the movie with him. I would imagine that small-time actors like “Dev” can’t afford their own trailers. Does the studio provide them for free? Rent them? Or do actors who can’t afford trailers just have to find a place to hang out until they’re needed on-set?
“Dev” did several takes for a commercial before the ad agency decided to go another way, and fired Dev. Dev lamented the money he lost from being fired; but does his firing means he gets nothing, despite the work he did? By my estimations he should have made scale for his work, at a minimum, whether his scenes were used or not. Is this correct? Also, if you film a scene for, say, a movie or TV show and it gets cut, do you still get paid for your time?
Do all actors get residuals, or only those whose contracts include residuals? Are residuals paid for commercials, or just TV shows?
I’ve not done movies or commercials, but have appeared in a couple of videos. This is how it works for them:
The sets that I’ve worked on have had a trailer for the star, one for the band and a large one or two for the extras. There are also tech trailers for gear. One set that I worked on actually used a big tent for the extras. I would imagine that a feature film would be a larger scale version of this.
He would have gotten paid scale for his hours. What he wouldn’t have gotten was exposure that could lead to other roles.
Residuals have to be written into a contract. It’s pretty common for lead and supporting actors in television and feature films to have this, but rarely extras. When my brother acted in commercials, it was unheard of, but that’s been thirty years ago.
My father-in-law was a small time actor late in life (he was one of the Japanese business men who rent out the drawers in Kramer’s dresser), and my mother-in-law is still receiving small checks for most of his small parts.
I doubt he had any swing to get anything other than pretty standard contracts.
Paul Sheer was on a podcast (I Was There Too, which is great if you want to learn about what it’s like having a minor role in a movie) talking about when he had a small part “Meet Dave.” Basically it worked to where the big stars would get trailers to themselves (Eddie Murphy had multiple trailers), while the small roles would be in trailers that were divided up. So a supporting person might be in a trailer that was split in half, smaller role would be in a trial split in thirds, so on and so forth.
Paul had two lines and was in a trailer that had been divided into eighths, so he had a space about the size of a handicap bathroom stall.
My daughter did commercials, industrials and a series in New York, and a friend she got an agent for did a movie on location.
Where were they filming - on a lot or on location? It depends a lot on where you are, and of course what your agent negotiates. Small role are unlikely to get a trailer, but might share facilities. (The director wants talent to be where they can find them.) Her first commercial, with lots of people, had a bunch of kids in one big room in the studio (and parents) but the featured talent got dressing rooms. The series was shot on location, and all the kids got dressing rooms - classrooms since most of the ones I went to were shot in a school, and a room in a rented house for another location.
Adam West, who was on one, didn’t like these facilities and rented his own room across the street.
Most of the money you get from commercials is from residuals. I’m sure he got the day rate (assuming it was a union gig) but that wouldn’t be much compared to what he would get if they showed the thing 50 times a day all over the country.
You get paid long before the film airs or is edited, so the scene being cut won’t affect your pay any. I don’t know what happens to residuals in that case - it probably is in the union contract somewhere.
All non-extras do in union shoots. My daughter got them for her first commercial which didn’t have a speaking role and in which she was a face in the audience - but in front of the audience. The extras were in back. Her role was even named though I’d challenge anyone to guess what it was from the commercial. It was for Hess Toy Trucks, which sell starting Thanksgiving in the East. It ran about twice before they sold out of trucks - some people she knew in later years were in Hess commercials which never ran because they sold out so fast.