The Blair Witch Project’s original cast ask for retroactive payments as reboot announced (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

Do they have a case?

I’m guessing the buyout says no
========================

The stars of The Blair Witch Project have called for more compensation for their work in the original film, as well as “meaningful consultation” on any reboots and sequels, after it was announced that the horror franchise is being revived yet again.

On Saturday, actors Rei Hance (formerly known as Heather Donahue), Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams issued an open letter to Lionsgate, the studio that now owns the Blair Witch franchise.

The letter, published on Leonard’s Facebook page, called for “retroactive and future residual payments” for the three actors for their work in the 1999 film, “equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through [actors’ union] Sag-Aftra”, and say they did not have “proper union or legal representation when the film was made”.

The actors also asked for creative input in the Blair Witch franchise, which to date has spawned two more films, multiple novels, comic books, a video game series and an upcoming revival that Lionsgate announced this month, in collaboration with popular horror studio Blumhouse.

“Our film has now been rebooted twice, both times were a disappointment,” the open letter reads. “As the insiders who created the Blair Witch … we’re your single greatest, yet thus-far unutilized secret-weapon!”

The third and final request in the letter was the development of an annual US$60,000 (A$93,000) grant for “an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making their first feature film”.

The sum of the grant reflects the initial budget of the 1999 film, which went on to make more than $248m at the worldwide box office.……

In an Instagram post following Lionsgate’s announcement of a Blair Witch revival earlier this month, Leonard said he and his fellow two stars were paid $300,000 each for a full buy-out of their ownership over the original film.

“I’m so proud of our little punk-rock movie,” Leonard wrote at the time. “But at this point, it’s 25 years of disrespect from the folks who’ve pocketed the lion’s share … of the profits from our work, and that feels both icky and classless.”……..

The Blair Witch Project’s original cast ask for retroactive payments as reboot announced

Actors Rei Hance, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams – who improvised most of horror film’s dialogue – claim they didn’t have proper union representation in 1999 and seek residuals

www.theguardian.com

 

[superchuck500]

I suspect the buyout would be solid as to the interest that it purports to buy out. But intellectual property in filmmaking is tricky and there are sometimes gaps in the agreements. It also appears that they are making a claim for amounts they argue were owed to them as actors under film labor rules that weren't followed. I would imagine they're making that argument because they have identified that as a possible payment area that isn't covered by the buyout.

 

[kcirdor]

I did enjoy the "sequel" remake.

 

[St. Widge]

I did enjoy the "sequel" remake.

I thought the original movie was good from a "this is interesting art and film making" point of view. Although I didn't find the story itself particularly good. I watched about 30 minutes of the sequel and blech.

Then again, I've never been a horror fan and the sequel was pretty standard horror stuff.

As far as this request for money and consultation, I guess it never hurts to ask. But, I suspect this is more about these people regretting selling the rights to the franchise for what now looks like very little money and the desire to start to profit off of their idea again. Thing is, I don't think they can capture the "magic" of the original. There was an excellent word of mouth marketing campaign around the original that had a lot of people thinking it was a real video that was found in the woods. It was viral marketing before social media. But, I don't think they can repeat that.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I thought the original movie was good from a "this is interesting art and film making" point of view. Although I didn't find the story itself particularly good. I watched about 30 minutes of the sequel and blech.

Then again, I've never been a horror fan and the sequel was pretty standard horror stuff.

As far as this request for money and consultation, I guess it never hurts to ask. But, I suspect this is more about these people regretting selling the rights to the franchise for what now looks like very little money and the desire to start to profit off of their idea again. Thing is, I don't think they can capture the "magic" of the original. There was an excellent word of mouth marketing campaign around the original that had a lot of people thinking it was a real video that was found in the woods. It was viral marketing before social media. But, I don't think they can repeat that.

not just before social media but in the relatively early days of the internet too. Everything presented this as a found footage documentary

whoever came up with that marketing idea is the one who should also get a huge payday and residuals

That was also the summer of Sixth Sense

Both movies are probably the last best examples of word of mouth driven blockbusters

 

[St. Widge]

not just before social media but in the relatively early days of the internet. Everything presented this as a found footage documentary

whoever came up with that marketing idea is the one who should also get a huge payday and residuals

That was also the summer of Sixth Sense

Both movies are probably the last best examples of word of mouth driven blockbusters

Yep. Very different times for marketing and those two movies, especially Blair Witch, did a great job. I don't even recall seeing a TV commercial for Blair Witch.

 

[kcirdor]

I thought the original movie was good from a "this is interesting art and film making" point of view. Although I didn't find the story itself particularly good. I watched about 30 minutes of the sequel and blech.

Then again, I've never been a horror fan and the sequel was pretty standard horror stuff.

As far as this request for money and consultation, I guess it never hurts to ask. But, I suspect this is more about these people regretting selling the rights to the franchise for what now looks like very little money and the desire to start to profit off of their idea again. Thing is, I don't think they can capture the "magic" of the original. There was an excellent word of mouth marketing campaign around the original that had a lot of people thinking it was a real video that was found in the woods. It was viral marketing before social media. But, I don't think they can repeat that.

Did you watch the remake sequel... looking for the original cast? not the sequel of the witch itself. There's one from like 2017 that's pretty much the same movie as the first one with slightly more attention paid tothe house. The original is last scary movie to actually scare me, closest feeling you can get now is watching uncut gems and being anxiety ridden.

 

[St. Widge]

Did you watch the remake sequel... looking for the original cast? not the sequel of the witch itself. There's one from like 2017 that's pretty much the same movie as the first one with slightly more attention paid tothe house. The original is last scary movie to actually scare me, closest feeling you can get now is watching uncut gems and being anxiety ridden.

I think what I watched was Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 which was made in 2000. It was more or less a sequel made with a much bigger budget but a much worse movie.

 

[kcirdor]

I think what I watched was The Blair Witch Project: Book of Shadows. It was more or less a sequel made with a much bigger budget but a much worse movie.

Yea that movie is trash. The one im talking about they are going look for the original cast, or any traces of them cause its like the females characters brother and friend going out there. They each have go pro equivalent equipment, and it's pretty decent, not super shaky cam like the original.

 

[St. Widge]

Yea that movie is trash. The one im talking about they are going look for the original cast, or any traces of them cause its like the females characters brother and friend going out there. They each have go pro equivalent equipment, and it's pretty decent, not super shaky cam like the original.

Yeah, I was done with Blair Witch after Book of Shadows so I didn't bother when other stuff came out. Just figured it was Lionsgate trying to make some money off the IP they bought.

 

[whodatbe]

I remember the marketing for the o.g. Blair Witch was the scariest movie ever. I watched it and was so mad. Did not waste my time with the other films.

 

[Sailorsaint]

The first time I watched it was late at night then I had to walk almost 3 miles down a very dark road with mangroves on each side. It was nerve wracking. I was a mess when I got home.

 

[Saintman2884]

I thought the original movie was good from a "this is interesting art and film making" point of view. Although I didn't find the story itself particularly good. I watched about 30 minutes of the sequel and blech.

Then again, I've never been a horror fan and the sequel was pretty standard horror stuff.

As far as this request for money and consultation, I guess it never hurts to ask. But, I suspect this is more about these people regretting selling the rights to the franchise for what now looks like very little money and the desire to start to profit off of their idea again. Thing is, I don't think they can capture the "magic" of the original. There was an excellent word of mouth marketing campaign around the original that had a lot of people thinking it was a real video that was found in the woods. It was viral marketing before social media. But, I don't think they can repeat that.

The fact that the original filmmakers and producers of Blair Witch sold their rights to the film shows either they had inept, incompetent representation, or they were incredibly naive, young and likely thought their film wouldn't become the pre-social media and box office success it did. Or perhaps a little bit of both and if that is the case, they are partly responsible, IMHO, for this mess their in for not getting proper legal representation.

Is it the film studios fault if you have improper, incompetent, incapable lawyers or agents way in over their heads and don't know how to negotiate effectively?

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Im not an EE lawyer (or any other type of lawyer for that matter)- but i tend to agree with Chuck in that i doubt they have a case.. as i started reading thru, i figured maybe they got really shafted and earned SAG scale or even less- but the fact that they each got $300k, back when $300k was actually a decent amount of money- now it cant even buy a starter home- leads me to think it wasnt *that* much of a raw deal .. though im sure that $300k is long, long gone and , as mentioned- they are probably regretting it and wish they’d held out for more or tried to retain a point or two of backend ownership in the franchise .



ETA re-reading i see that it says they’re seeking an amount equal to if they’d had SAG Aftra representation- so im guessing that means maybe they havent gotten any residuals, which could (or could not) have been substantial .

 

[Saintman2884]

Im not an EE lawyer (or any other type of lawyer for that matter)- but i tend to agree with Chuck in that i doubt they have a case.. as i started reading thru, i figured maybe they got really shafted and earned SAG scale or even less- but the fact that they each got $300k, back when $300k was actually a decent amount of money- now it cant even buy a starter home- leads me to think it wasnt *that* much of a raw deal .. though im sure that $300k is long, long gone and , as mentioned- they are probably regretting it and wish they’d held out for more or tried to retain a point or two of backend ownership in the franchise .



ETA re-reading i see that it says they’re seeking an amount equal to if they’d had SAG Aftra representation- so im guessing that means maybe they havent gotten any residuals, which could (or could not) have been substantial .

Blue, their regret comes from the fact that they made some bad business decisions because they didnt know the future and what it held for their extremely low-budget art horror film that became a bit of a pre-social media word-of-mouth classic that earned $248 million at the box office. When they saw how successful their art film became (despite their private expectations), they regretted giving it away for a measly 300k that doesn't mean as much now as it did 25 years ago.

Make no mistake, this is a "We wish we had known better" lawsuit or "We were young, niave, and idealistic and now we have regrets" lawsuit.

None of which holds up too strongly in a civil lawsuit. This is why young draftees this week have good lawyers to analyze, research, and scrutinize their soon-to-be generational wealth multi-million dollar contracts.