Now it was a little funny earlier this year when a high level person at Rich King* Casting started quoting sub-minimum wages for extras in that new Contagion movie starring, I don’t know, everybody, you know, these people right here (and let’s throw in Famous Movie Director Steven Soderbergh too – he’s a luminary as well):
But then somebody, no not somebody from the local Film Commish and not any MSM reporters (who don’t seem to be aware of what the minimum wage is in the place where they live and work), but somebody up here in the 415 got word down to Los Angeles County about The Law ‘n stuff.
So fine, the RKC people changed their minds and decided to pay extras “$80″ for up to eight hours (and then they finally did the math and decided that $79.36 would be the wage, cause, you know, después de todos, dinero es dinero.)
But now word comes that RKC thinks it’s OK to pay people up to six weeks** later?
And the extras still haven’t all been paid?
And RKC is ignoring contact attempts from said extras?
Could all this be true?
Well let’s hear from a Real Life Contagion Extra:
“I got in the film as well, but its now mid April, and I have not seen the payment in the 6 weeks that the casting company stated. Got my work receipt right here – would be nice if someone from this casting agency would follow up with my contact attempts.
“It was still a really cool day either way. I got to see an amazing set up of the set @ Candlestick and didn’t mind standing/sitting around all day. That is what background extras do. All of these girls were being very rude that day saying “when are we going to meet the stars”, and “I can’t believe they are making us stand around”, and “come on! I wan’t to be in the movie already!! Shortly after one of the assistants heard those remarks, our group was dismissed for the afternoon. It is like they never listened to what they told us at the casting meeting at Fort Mason, or the information the casting directors told us over the phone when they offered us the part. I did not get an email confirmation after that day, but a personal phone call.
“Would be nice to see my check, but I will give them a bit more time to respond since I bet the other 5,000 are hounding them as well. I mean come on – I am on unemployment – it would be nice to have the $79 bucks right now, but I can wait a bit”
Now, isn’t it ironic, dont’cha think, that a company what has a cavalier attitude about at least one kind of wage and hour rule would drag its feet about making payments? (Well, maybe not, in my experience.)
Anyway, all you non-union extras ought to form a union or something so you can start playing hardball with the Hollywood vanga vanga.
So why don’t you pay all your extras ASAP, Rich King Casting? Like posthaste or something.
Now, speaking of Hollywood, wouldn’t you like to see a list of all the movies that Steven Soderbergh has seen the past twelve months? Sure you would. See it after the jump.
*Forget about Obama’s birth certificate – I want to see the one with “Rich King” printed on it, and oh, Sandy Beach too, I want to see one of those as well – I think Hollywood still has a few guys around with that name.
**I should make a horror film – it’ll be about the horrors of Regular People dealing with Hollywood People. It’ll be called 42 Days Later.
Per Obsessed With Film, these are the movies what Steven Soderbergh has caught during the 12 months after March 2010. Add them to your NetFlix queue today, why not?
Haywire
Primer
Exit Through the Gift Shop
All the President’s Men
Panic Room
Dune
Please Give
The Godfather
The Special Relationship
The Godfather Part 2
The Tall Target
The Social Network
The Room
The Day of the Jackal
In Cold Blood
Jaws
The Shark Is Still Working
Cloverfield
Rebecca
To Catch a Thief
Inception
Tiptoes
Salt
A Prophet
The White Ribbon
His Way
Catfish
Thrilla in Manilla
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
The King of Kong
Alien
Risky Business
State and Main
Splice
Predators
Smash His Camera
Enter the Void
Jagged Edge
Animal Kingdom
Michael Clayton
The French Connection
Five Easy Pieces
Somewhere
Apocalypse Now
Fair Game
I’m Still Here
Up the Sandbox
Miller’s Crossing
True Grit
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Tiny Furniture
The Fighter
Inside Job
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
The Cranes Are Flying
Funeral in Berlin
The Ipcress File
Black Swan
Days of Wine and Roses
Chimes at Midnight
The King of Marvin Gardens
End of the Road
Buried
The Killing
The Knack
The Right Stuff
Deception
The Birds
Rififi
The Navigator
Last Tango in Paris
The Spirit of the Beehive
The Perils of Priscilla
Rodeo
The Sweet Smell of Success
Stay Hungry
The Hill
Se7en
Eraserhead
The Anderson Tapes
Contagion
Malice
Network
The Goodbye Girl
The World of Henry Orient
Idiocracy
Antichrist
Wattstax
Billion Dollar Brain
Report to the Commissioner
Ugetsu
Sanjo the Bailiff
Tags: 139, 2011, 373-4202, 415 373-4202, 8, 9.79, 9.92, action, actor, actors, Actress, Alan Krumwiede, attorneys, bay area, blogger, bloggers, building, c, c260, california, Candlestick, card, casting, cdc, center, chinatown, com, conspiracy, contagion, department, dept., Embarcadero, extras, fees, film, filmed, food, fort mason, ft. mason, gerald posner, Gwyneth Paltrow, hour, jfk, jude, jude law, Kate Winslet, kate winslett, labor, landmark, Laurence Fishburne, law, laws, lawsuit, lawyers, Marion Cotillard, matt damon, minimum, motion picture, movie, now, oliver stone, park, per hour, photo, Rich King, Rich King casting, rkc, room, San Francisco, Sanaa Lathan, serum, shoot, shooting, steuart street, steven soderberg, steven soderbergh, street, theory, thriller, trothserumnow, truth, truthserumnow, union, wage, wage and hour, ymca
I thought CA State Law was that you had 3 months to pay contractors starting at the end date of the job.
Seems all my “industry” friends down south think it sucks, but accept it as the norm.
Very possibly your friends are correct, but Rich King Casting has issues nevertheless.
Rich King’s job was to hire people and pay them.
He did a poor job, IMO.
I was paid weeks ago for this shoot. RKC may not be the only one at fault: payroll was handled by another company. Um, did you contact them for comment? I have no dog in this fight; I’m just saying I was paid (including overtime) in a timely manner.
Frankly, I’ve have had my fill with those people down there and their sock puppetry, from 76.168.252.65 for starters.
Seems really odd that everybody hasn’t been paid yet, non?
You realize that RKC quoted a sub-minimum wage when they came up here to hire everybody at the cattle calls?
Anyway, it’s good that you got paid…
Well, SFC, seems to me you’ve missed an opportunity to pull a “7 On Your Side” on behalf of the original poster. Get answers from RKC, the payroll contractor (on OP’s pay stub), and SF Film Commish. Rather than bitching and moaning about the LA types. And yes, I remember thinking the pay rate was too low for SF but they rectified it way before the shoot. My thanks to whomever pointed it out to them.
Finally, let it be pointed out that OP was fortunate enough to make it to actual filming. At Candlestick they employed (and fed and sheltered from torrential rains that day) WAY more people than they needed. I only made it out of the tent once then was sent back before getting anywhere near filming. I did manage to espy the director S.S., notifying my fellow waiters-in-line who were clueless.
This is as close to 7 on your side as i get…
I’m supposed to get answers from RKC what doesn’t answer contacts from the 415 these days?
And isn’t RKC in charge of the contractor?
And speaking of the Film Commission, why don’t they require payment of extras in three days in exchange for all the taxpayer goodies they hand out. Anyway, I don’t think the FC has much pull with RKC.
It was I what pointed out the minimum wage of SF County to RKC, for the record.
Yes, lots o’ peeps spent 4 hours in line only to get rejected for whatever reason. The commenter who hasn’t been paid yet, as promised, is actually one of the fortunate ones, agreed….
SFC, you slay me! Your usage of what instead of that is hilarious. An affectation or are you British?
Thanks for the extra (earned) bucks. Although, coupled with the hours of waiting at Ft Mason, brings it back down to below mw. Que sera, sera.
I’m still unemployed, wanna hire me to go after RKC and get some concrete results for the OP?
Scottish half-blood but it’s an affectation.
Well, I’ve never employed anybody in my lifem, actually. Afraid I’d run afoul of all the employment rules.
You should try being an precinct supervisor on election day. That’s probably sub-minimum as well. Three hours mandatory training – unpaid.
No OT. 14 hour day, something like that…
http://sfcitizen.com/blog/2010/06/09/san-francisco-election-inspector-the-toughest-job-youll-ever-love/
Hmmmm, sounds enticing BUT… being a movie extra for one day kinda put me off my feed for those one-off type jobs, even as an unemployed.
But really, you should go all 60 Minutes on those Contagion folk. Tell ‘em it’s on the Internet. You made SFist with this you know. That’s big time in my book. They won’t like the bad press.