1st time getting jacked... by an independent film..

    Usually the topic of indie filmmaking brings me excitement and joy! Even though most indie filmmakers(non to measly budgets) are amateurs and aren't too familiar w/making films; IT'S OK! Even though acting on these sets is usually a bit more tedious/chaotic than most professional sets due to lack of organization and experience, I LOVE IT! I usually embrace these environments and do everything I can to help; it's like a family environment.

    However, I can't say the same thing about indie filmmaking again after what happened today:

     I acted on this small $50k budget film a few months ago for a few days and was promised to be paid a low $100/day rate(this is VERY low for actors; even non-union). Getting payment from the director has been a pain... how painful? Well, let's see. 1st she says she doesn't remember my role being a paid role, and then I busted out the evidence from my emails that she mentioned how much I would get paid. What came next? An email saying "Oh yeah, your right, ok we'll pay you, but...." I would only get 50% of what I was suppose to get paid due to "working less than 6 hours" and she mentioned this applied to ALL actors and in their contracts. She didn't think I'd call her bluff, and I did. I contacted fellow actors and they told me they all got paid full day rates regardless of hours worked. And I was also reminded producer told us on our last day we would all be getting paid full day rates. So what did I do? BAM! Fire back an email to let her know how i felt about being screwed. I won't be revealing names; I do want to show some class and not have to scoop that her level.

Hey X X X XX,

I checked with other paid actors about the 1/2 day rate and it seems that it's not true. X X X X, please correct me if i'm wrong, but I spoke with other actors (people who had the same # of lines/role as me as well as others), and they all confided in me that they got paid the full rate even for days that they worked less than 6 hours.

I'll be honest: I feel like I'm being screwed. I did everything I could to be professional by coming to rehearsals when I could have said no or asked for $$$, spent my own gas $$$ driving to everywhere, crossing bridge fees to SF, and I was also willing to drive and do a free day for your ADR. I think I did my job; I deserve better.

If there's anything I did wrong during the production or other things you guys aren't happy about, please let me know and I'll understand that being the reason I'm being paid 50% than everyone else. Otherwise i don't understand why I'm not being paid the same rate as everyone else and I feel it's not fair. I don't think I'm asking for too much; I just want to be paid what was promised to me in the first place; I believe in trust and integrity and it was on that basis i took the role believing i was doing something that was all about love and passion in this indie film, please assure me I'm not wrong about that; otherwise I'd be very disappointed and probably won't see indie film making the same way again. Thank you.

A big shout out to all the OTHER indie filmmakers that HAVE treated me great in the past and made me fall in love with it in the first place: Diffusion Films, Cityband, Greysand, Shanghai indie crews, Johann in France, Annika in Sweden, and everybody else I worked with that was legit and didn't try to take advantage of me, much love to all you guys, may there be more of you out there in this world and making a good name for Indie Filmmaking.