Real-Life Communication
As a talent agent, you have to be an expert in diplomacy. Hashing
out a contract between an actor and a studio involves careful handling of
two completely different types of people.
You are negotiating a deal
with a studio for one of your clients. Your client, Rilly Bighead, is a rising
star on his way to becoming a Hollywood sensation. He knows it, too, and he
wants to be treated like a star. The problem is that the studio offering him
this job doesn't think Rilly is a star yet -- and, in fact, they are
right.
Rilly has been offered a supporting role in this comedy, which
stars two famous, well-established comedians, Allan Schtick and Buzz Gagg.
There are five other supporting roles of equal weight to Rilly's role.
All
six supporting roles are being offered with equal pay. You know that Rilly
can't get more money than the actors playing the other roles, but he
figures he is worth more. So his solution is to be billed separately from
the other supporting actors.
Plans call for the opening credits to
go like this:
ALLAN SCHTICK
BUZZ GAGG
in
a Charlemagne Jackson Production of
DON'T BE LATE
With
Daniel Anton Rilly Bighead
Adair Blanchard Adam Holdom
Karen Valdez
Kelly Van Melon
Directed by Stanley Schwartz
Your
client Bighead wants it to go like this, so that he gets more exposure. He
wants his name right up there with the lead actors and on a line by itself.
ALLAN
SCHTICK
BUZZ GAGG
in a Charlemagne Jackson Production of
DON'T
BE LATE
Starring
RILLY BIGHEAD
with Daniel Anton
Adair Blanchard
Adam Holdom Karen Valdez Kelly Van Melon
Directed
by Stanley Schwartz
You show the setup to the
producer, who hates it. There's no way he's about to shell out more
money for one actor when the other five are just as worthy. Besides, the other
actors won't put up with that and he wants them as badly for his production
as he wants Bighead.
There's also no way he's going to bill
Bighead as though he's an attraction, like the lead actors are. Nobody's
even heard about this Bighead guy. While the producer is willing to give him
a chance, he's not going out on a limb for him.
But Rilly is a
legend, at least in his own mind. He insists he get special billing. You have
to admit he is better than the other supporting actors and he has a higher
profile, even if he isn't that well-known. Plus, the better Rilly does,
the better you do.
You must talk this over with the two of them. The
producer is thinking about money and business. Bighead has a sensitive and
sizable ego, and is thinking about integrity and personal achievement.
Write
down what you would say to the two of them, keeping in mind that you have
to be sensitive to each person's interests. What would you offer as a
solution? How would you speak about it all? Be sure you don't hurt Bighead's
feelings and be sure not to frustrate the producer to the point where he takes
his business elsewhere.