New Interview with OG Blair Witch Stars
https://instagram.com/p/C8IDG6RM5Fw
** a bit of an expansion on this earlier post.
** Stars of one of the most influential horror movies of all time are asking for "meaningful consultation" on any future Blair Witch projects after Lionsgate announced a reboot in April. They are "requesting retroactive and future residual payments for the movie 'equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.'"
** Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard starred in one of the most successful indie films of all time but for months after its release could not book any other work (including interviews) to maintain the facade that it was a true story.
** The trio were taught how to operate the cameras and sound equipment, given story prompts and then dumped in the woods where they largely improvised the movie.
** They were told that what they were going to film would be about "10 minutes of the movie" but it ended up being the entire movie.
** Heather's '84 Toyota broke down under a billboard with her face on it. Michael was still moving furniture in NY. Joshua was serving food to his agent at a catered event. They endured this limbo for months hoping they would finally receive their due. Instead, they were sent fruit baskets when the box office broke $100 million.
** “That was when it became clear that, wow, we were not going to get anything,” Heather says. “We were being cut out of something that we were intimately involved with creating.”
** A representative for SAG-AFTRA said the union has been in communication with Lionsgate to assist the actors and is “hopeful that the performers will achieve some compensation, but when there is no union contract covering the production, the actors and the union are generally limited to appealing to fairness."
** “I’m embarrassed that I let this happen to me,” Michael says. “Because everybody’s wondering what happened, and your wife is in the grocery line and she can’t pay because a check bounced. You’re in the most successful independent movie of all time, and you can’t take care of your loved ones.” (Michael becomes emotional at this point and apologizes.)
** At the end of the summer of 1999, the actors received a modest “performance bump” in the low five figures - it allowed Michael to spend more on the cocktail hour for his wedding, and enabled Heather to buy a Mitsubishi.
** Their names and likenesses were used for merch following Blair Witch's success (such as character journals & comic books) as well as the 2000 sequel Book of Shadows. They sued to stop this and reached a settlement but Heather says "they keep doing it anyway."
** As the film’s lead and its sole woman, Heather also had to endure the brunt of the often misogynist backlash. It was "relentless".
** Michael says: “Giant corporations don’t care that this happens to young artists. It’s bullshit. And that’s got to change somehow. Hopefully, we will help somebody to see: Don’t do what we did.”
SOURCE
I thought this was interesting!
** a bit of an expansion on this earlier post.
** Stars of one of the most influential horror movies of all time are asking for "meaningful consultation" on any future Blair Witch projects after Lionsgate announced a reboot in April. They are "requesting retroactive and future residual payments for the movie 'equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.'"
** Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard starred in one of the most successful indie films of all time but for months after its release could not book any other work (including interviews) to maintain the facade that it was a true story.
** The trio were taught how to operate the cameras and sound equipment, given story prompts and then dumped in the woods where they largely improvised the movie.
** They were told that what they were going to film would be about "10 minutes of the movie" but it ended up being the entire movie.
** Heather's '84 Toyota broke down under a billboard with her face on it. Michael was still moving furniture in NY. Joshua was serving food to his agent at a catered event. They endured this limbo for months hoping they would finally receive their due. Instead, they were sent fruit baskets when the box office broke $100 million.
** “That was when it became clear that, wow, we were not going to get anything,” Heather says. “We were being cut out of something that we were intimately involved with creating.”
** A representative for SAG-AFTRA said the union has been in communication with Lionsgate to assist the actors and is “hopeful that the performers will achieve some compensation, but when there is no union contract covering the production, the actors and the union are generally limited to appealing to fairness."
** “I’m embarrassed that I let this happen to me,” Michael says. “Because everybody’s wondering what happened, and your wife is in the grocery line and she can’t pay because a check bounced. You’re in the most successful independent movie of all time, and you can’t take care of your loved ones.” (Michael becomes emotional at this point and apologizes.)
** At the end of the summer of 1999, the actors received a modest “performance bump” in the low five figures - it allowed Michael to spend more on the cocktail hour for his wedding, and enabled Heather to buy a Mitsubishi.
** Their names and likenesses were used for merch following Blair Witch's success (such as character journals & comic books) as well as the 2000 sequel Book of Shadows. They sued to stop this and reached a settlement but Heather says "they keep doing it anyway."
** As the film’s lead and its sole woman, Heather also had to endure the brunt of the often misogynist backlash. It was "relentless".
** Michael says: “Giant corporations don’t care that this happens to young artists. It’s bullshit. And that’s got to change somehow. Hopefully, we will help somebody to see: Don’t do what we did.”
SOURCE
I thought this was interesting!