In filmmaking, a guarantee, or informally a "pay-or-play" contract, is a term in a contract of an actor, director, or other participant that guarantees pay if the participant is released from the contract with various exceptions.[1]
Studios are reluctant to agree to guarantees but accept them as part of the deal for signing popular actors. They also have the advantage of enabling a studio to remove a participant under such a contract, with few legal complications.[2]
As Appleton writes, "Memoirs of a Geisha is an example of a film on which the provision came into play... several actors were hired by the studio under pay-or-play deals. When the contracted start date came and went, those actors began receiving their full salary as if they were rendering services."[3]
References
edit- ^ Appleton, Dina (12 June 2008). "What Does 'Pay or Play' Really Mean?". www.backstage.com. Backstage. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
- ^ Navigating The "Pay Or Play" Minefield Archived 2008-09-07 at the Wayback Machine, The Business Of Film October 1997.
- ^ Appleton, Dina (12 June 2008). "What Does 'Pay or Play' Really Mean?". www.backstage.com. Backstage. Retrieved 15 October 2020.