TOP: PHOTOGRAPH BY MARY CYBULSKI / COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS;
BOTTOM: COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES / UNIVERSAL PICTURES / PHOTOFEST16 SUMMER 2019 MOVIEMAKER.COM
INDIE LAW
really need to be a white male?
Why not cast a Latina?) To en-
courage these casting decisions,
SAG-AFTRA will permit those
working within the confines
of the maximum budget caps
on low-budget films to signifi-
cantly exceed those caps if the
producers meet the require-
ments for the Diversity-in-Cast-
ing Incentive (also referred to as
the “diversity bump”).
These significant increases to
the maximum budget caps apply
only to the Low Budget Agree-
ment and the Modified Low
Budget Agreement. There is no
diversity bump for the Ultra-Low
Budget, Short Film, or Student
Film Agreements.
The threshold maximum bud-
get caps will increase for the Low
Budget and Modified Low Budget
Agreements if the production
meets the following “diversity
incentive” criteria:
- A minimum of 50 percent
of the total speaking roles are cast
with: A. Women B. Senior per-
formers (60 years or older)
C. Performers with disabilities,
and/or D. People of color; and - A minimum of 50 percent
of the total days of employment
are cast with performers who are:
A. Women; B. Senior performers
(60 years or older); C. Performers
with disabilities; and/or D. People
of color; and - A minimum of 20 percent
of the total days of employment
is cast with performers who are
people of color.
So, if you’re doing a 20-day
shoot and have 50 cast members
with speaking parts, then you can
take advantage of the diversity
bump if you fill those 50 speaking
parts with at least 25 actors who
are either women, over 60 years
old, performers with disabilities,
or people of color.
In addition, on at least 10
of the 20 days of filming the
production must utilize actors
who are women, over 60 years
old, performers with disabilities,
or people of color.
Finally, the production must
ensure that on at least four days
of shooting, there are people of
color on the set with speaking
parts. In addition, a single person
cannot be counted in more than
one category. In other words, a
60-year-old Asian woman is only
counted as satisfying one diver-
sity criteria, not three.
If this criteria is met and the
producer has applied for the
diversity bump before commenc-
ing principal photography, then
the budget can be increasedfrom $2.5 million up to
$3.75 million under the
Low Budget Agreement. If the
Modified Low Budget Agreement
is being utilized, that agreement
can be upped from $700,
to $1,050,000.
Remember: You can only qual-
ify for this diversity bump
if you apply prior to the first day
of principal photography and
SAG-AFTRA grants approval
based on the above criteria
(which will later be verified
when SAG-AFTRA reviewsDISTRIBUTION RIGHTS-HOLDER AMAZON FIRST ANNOUNCED THAT IT WOULD ONLY RELEASE MOVIEMAKER TODD HAYNES’ (L)
2017 FEATURE WONDERSTRUCK DIGITALLY... UNTIL FANS PRESSURED THE COMPANY TO PUT IT ON DVD AND BLU-RAYthe Day Out of Days that are
submitted to it after filming
is complete).Q: How does a moviemaker get
the rights back for his or her
film after its release?A: Generally, the distribution
agreements you’ll have for
your film are merely licenses to
distribute the film for a specific
term of years. When the term
ends, the distributors’ right to
distribute the film ends and the
rights automatically revert back
to the moviemaker.
Nothing special needs to
occur, but it is prudent to file a
notice of expired distribution
deal with the copyright office so
there’s a clean, easily under-
standable chain of title on file
demonstrating that all rights
fully revert back to the movie-
maker. Regardless, you should
always read (and negotiate)
your distribution agreements
carefully to ensure that the
distributor did not put in some
strange provision that alters
the general rule that once the
distribution agreement ends, all
rights automatically revert back
to you.
There are also a number of
ways to negotiate a distribu-DETERMINED TO FIND IT A PHYSICAL RELEASE, DIRECTOR WILLIAM FRIEDKIN
FAMOUSLY SUED UNIVERSAL AND PARAMOUNT OVER THE DOMESTIC RIGHTS
OF HIS 1977 FEATURE SORCERER