I'm not talking those Syfy quality DVD movies but the joints cats like Val Kilmer, Wesley Snipes, Steven Seagal, 50 Cent, etc. are typically on. I've always been curious about that and I'm not seeing too much on Google about it. I'm assuming the pay is good since those cats stays doing damn near nothing but STD movies. At the same time, they stay churning those things out like product on an assembly line, so I'm also assuming if they're trying to make what they used to make with theatrical releases, they gotta grind out a grip of them. What say any of you?



Since 1976

A lot of times, bigger name actors end up in films straight to DVD in America because they were aimed for an overseas market and never would've found traction at the American box office. It's not that they weren't "released" anywhere... just not in America.

And sometimes, if a movie doesn't turn out the way people wanted, or if they plain think a box office release would cost more than it would make, a straight-to-DVD release might be the swiftest way to recoup expenses.

But to answer the direct part of your question, I highly doubt it's part of the contract negotiation that this film is going to be straight-to-DVD... although for certain veteran actors who've been in a lot, I suspect they have an idea that it will be, they just want the check. And the check varies depending on how much the producers/financiers want that actor in the film, just like in films released into theaters.

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...were meant for the theater, originally but were then thrown on DVD. I figured the flicks with actors such as Bruce Willis, Sam Jackson, and any other actor that mainly do theatrical releases fall into that category.

When you're talking Seagal, Kilmer, Snipes, Van Damme, and them, they're at the point where ALL their current output is straight to DVD. I figured their movies are meant to be DVD releases from the jump. I was more focused on them but if it's a highly varying thing regarding the pay, I can understand if there's no average figure that could be thrown out.




Since 1976

SAG uses the budget as a determining factor on what's acceptable pay and what's horseshit.

If you know the budgets then read the SAG agreements you could probably deduce something but most of that stuff is kept confidential anyway.

Nobody wants the world to know they cut their rate. Next thing you know everybody wants the homeboy discount.

#mistycopeland

No one is really throwing out figures due to not wanting these companies to low ball them. It would be like today's music market where the popular producers aren't on super producer status due to the fact that they can't charge like the producers of the peak sales era. If they did, the cats looking for the "homeboy discount" would definitely go to some no names for the low price.




Since 1976

But generally between 5 and 6 figures.
A lot of the big name acts in those red boxers keep those figures under heavy wraps, a few of them even do NDAs to ensure it.
Most of those straight-to-dvd releases are either foreign movies with no theatrical release, films made YEARS ago - before the star in question was a star, some of them are indies that never made it to the big screen.
What the STD producers used to do, and this in my opinion is the shadiest of shady, is "overshoot" for one of these films, then use the excess in a separate film. Sorta like the last Pink Panther movie. These were "time" contracts and not "film" contracts per se. So, say you're an aging action star, you're spending 3 months in France on vacation. You'll take a gig shooting for 4-6 weeks, thinking you're shooting one movie, only to later discover they squeezed 3 films out of every take. Not only did you get paid for 1 movie when they made 3, but they prolonged the release of the other 2, underselling your big comeback or just reminding cats you made shitty foreign STDs. That type of thing doesn't happen that often anymore though.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

>But generally between 5 and 6 figures.
>A lot of the big name acts in those red boxers keep those
>figures under heavy wraps, a few of them even do NDAs to
>ensure it.
>Most of those straight-to-dvd releases are either foreign
>movies with no theatrical release, films made YEARS ago -
>before the star in question was a star, some of them are
>indies that never made it to the big screen.
>What the STD producers used to do, and this in my opinion is
>the shadiest of shady, is "overshoot" for one of these films,
>then use the excess in a separate film. Sorta like the last
>Pink Panther movie. These were "time" contracts and not "film"
>contracts per se. So, say you're an aging action star, you're
>spending 3 months in France on vacation. You'll take a gig
>shooting for 4-6 weeks, thinking you're shooting one movie,
>only to later discover they squeezed 3 films out of every
>take. Not only did you get paid for 1 movie when they made 3,
>but they prolonged the release of the other 2, underselling
>your big comeback or just reminding cats you made shitty
>foreign STDs. That type of thing doesn't happen that often
>anymore though.
>
>
>"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which
>has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams


Wait whoa. OVERSHOOT? You have any examples of this?
As a filmmaker I thought I'd do this at one point.

If I remember right, Jackie Chan's in a bunch of them, Van Damme, so is Steven Seagal. I don't remember which ones, I don't really follow their movies like that.
This is also how a good amount of the AIP films got made in the '70s.
This sort of thing is really frowned upon. In my professional opinion, it's the kind of thing you do if you only want to make one movie or work with quality talent once. No one's interested in hiring a cat whose done this. Everyone can appreciate the difficulty of getting movies made, but cutting out everyone of the process while you end up with twice as much - I mean, you can see how that looks to others, right?


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

Yeah but in my head it would be an easier / cost effective way to squeeze out a sequel/ part two. I didn't know people actually did this on some CREEPLiFE steez

Yeah, some shady motherfuckers out there.
Of course it's a way for you to save a buck, but conversely it's a way to screw people you work with out of money. The logic of it being that you'll make twice as much money with 2 movies while everyone was paid for 1 movie.
Examples where they shoot multiple movies at once (LORD OF THE RINGS, a few others), everyone is paid for the number of films they're making. If it's something where something was shot, then used in a follow-up (say, a flashback to a character that died in a previous movie, using footage shot during previous movie), the actors involved are either compensated, or they have some stipulation in their contract regarding it.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2740710/

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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." © Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

Yes? THEN LEAVE GRAHAM GREENE ALONE!!!!


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

Like do they make money off of this shit?

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." © Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

...confused folks. Someone who can't see the difference between "Pacific Rim" and "Atlantic Rim" because they aren't the type to keep up may end up buying or renting that joint. The types of folks who think all smartphones are iPhones or all gaming systems are Nintendos.





Since 1976

They make money off the people who will buy it by mistake, but they mostly make money off how many a distributor will buy.
Walmart, for example, will buy a boatload of these dvds. The movie producers, due in large part to previous relationships with Walmart or can pull figures of similar knock-off films, can "pre-sell" the movie - get money from financiers on its projected sales - and voila, you got yourself a knock-off of whatever big summer movie is coming out.
Walmart then sells the dvds for $2 - you've seen those big bins in the middle of the electronics department - and due to its low cost, high volume, high capital, and low competition - they'll pull a steady profit.
The producers used to also sell the movies to television networks. That happens a lot less often than it used to, but every now and then you can find one of these knock-offs on the Sci-fi channel.
Now mind you, percentage-wise, they're not making much of a profit. But it's a steady market.
Think of it in baseball terms. Josh Hamilton will hit 50 home runs, but strike out 200 times. Ichiro Suzuki will hit 15 home runs, never strike out, and get over 200 hits. Who's guaranteed to be consistently better?


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

For the direct-to-dvd/overseas market, you set aside 50-100k for a name, with the promise of a two week shoot, and they accept because the money to time commitment ratio is so promising. There are some people that say yes because they have nothing better to do, and others that just don't like to turn down paying work. Danny Trejo, obviously. Another director said Danny Glover won't turn down much if the time commitment isn't too bad and the pay is okay. Although he will half-ass the hell out of it, understandably.

He also said that it helps if you can film somewhere vacation-ish and make it seem like a working vacation.

Sounds like the one "name" actor these movies secure is by far the biggest expense associated with the production. Spend your money on providing a good experience for the star that you need on the dvd cover to create at least some glimmer of recognition at Red Box, etc., then do everything else on a shoestring, no frills budget.

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