How much do you pay for 'name' talent?

As little as possible

Seriously - you're not going to make them rich so figure out a pitch that will interest them, such as an opportunity to play a role different from what they're known for. Then get their role into the smallest possible shooting time (one or 2 days, if possible) and maximize how much you'll have them in front of the camera during that time. It's also key to be able to work around the shooting schedule for their show, and be sure you're ready for whatever "standard" things they'll want, like (possibly) a separate car and driver to pick them up and bring them home, etc.

If you've got them interested, pm me and I'll tell you what I've paid. But it will cost you

If they are local names that will not really help your film in the broader
market and their first film, then you will not need to pay much more
than the standard in your area. I don't know what that is but 20%
above is a good place to start.

If their names will help you sell the movie you can expect to pay for
that. Perhaps two to three times the local standard.

Here in the States we have the Screen Actors Guild that sets minimums
so it's pretty easy to throw out numbers. But it does get complicated
when making an offer to someone without a “quote” - someone without
previous film credits. I have paid as little as $1,500/day to as high as
$25,000/day for name talent.

Do you have any idea of what either of them has been paid in the past?

directorik said:

If they are local names that will not really help your film in the broader
market and their first film, then you will not need to pay much more
than the standard in your area. I don't know what that is but 20%
above is a good place to start.

If their names will help you sell the movie you can expect to pay for
that. Perhaps two to three times the local standard.

Here in the States we have the Screen Actors Guild that sets minimums
so it's pretty easy to throw out numbers. But it does get complicated
when making an offer to someone without a “quote” - someone without
previous film credits. I have paid as little as $1,500/day to as high as
$25,000/day for name talent.

Do you have any idea of what either of them has been paid in the past?

Click to expand...

Question for directorick: When you are paying an actor more than SAG scale, how you go about it exactly. Say I'm shooting a 150K SAG ULB feature and some B-lister agrees to do a week for 10K. I pay him the $125 daily rate, of course, but as to the rest of the money promised, how do I get that to him? My first thought is that if said B-lister has a loan-out corp, you pay the money to that entity in form of compensation for being an EP, or some other premise like "consulting fee." But what about SAG? They will only get their fringes from his measly ULB day-rate under this model. I imagine they will find out that you are paying the actor much more than day-rate. Won't they want a cut of the whole 10K? What has your experience been with paying actors more than scale? Thanks

That's one possibility: You pay the actor $9,375 as EP and they
agree to act for ULB scale of $125/day. If both you and the actor
agree then that's what is done. Nothing hidden from SAG.

Yes, if the acting agreement is ten large for a week then SAG will
base their P&W fees on that amount.

directorik said:

That's one possibility: You pay the actor $9,375 as EP and they
agree to act for ULB scale of $125/day. If both you and the actor
agree then that's what is done. Nothing hidden from SAG.

Yes, if the acting agreement is ten large for a week then SAG will
base their P&W fees on that amount.

Click to expand...

Got it. Thank you!