As an agent for an actor or actress, one of your responsibilities is to negotiate contracts for your client. In negotiating a good deal for your client, it is important to know what to look for. One thing to be wary of as an agent is the provision dealing with public relations surrounding a movie. Usually these provisions state that the actor or actress will make the usual rounds of promoting the movie such as talk shows, radio spots, TV interviews etc. Be careful with the wording of the provision. Make sure that it is not vague so that you know exactly what is expected of your client.
If the movie flops and isn’t the blockbuster your client or the movie company expected, this clause may end up causing a lawsuit between the movie company and your client for breach of contract for failing to promote the movie.
For example, this summer Paris Hilton was sued by movie investors concerning her 2006 movie, “Pledge This” (I swear to you, like most other people on the planet, I’ve never heard of it until I read about the lawsuit). Investors sued her for more than $8 million for failing to honor her contract in promoting the movie.
While I don’t know the exact terms of the contract, I do know it included provisions which stated that Paris would do the usual rounds of PR. According to Paris, she lived up to her end of the bargain. She stated that ”[a]ny chance I got, any red carpet, any press, if I was doing something for another product, even if I wasn’t asked about it, I would just bring it up.” However, according to the investors, she rejected numerous TV talk shows, radio shows and magazine interviews despite the contract.
The judge ultimately ruled that Hilton was not responsible for the movie’s failure. However, I’m sure it still caused quite a headache for her agent. Therefore, as an agent, it is important to negotiate public relations provisions concerning a movie which state exactly what obligations your client will do and what they are not responsible for in terms of promoting the movie that is the subject of the contract.