Seven years ago, Patrick Downs was a film student at Columbia University working on his graduate thesis, Broken, a 17-minute short about a day in the life of a suburban New Jersey cop. Though no one in it suffers anything more severe than a loss of pride, the film adheres to a classic form of ironic tragedy: By trying to do the right thing, the hero initiates his own demise.
By making Broken, Downs has not endured anything tragic, but he has accrued what he said is a "low-six-figure debt," a portion of which is a direct result of the film's success. The movie, which earned the award for best film at Columbia's 2002 film festival and admission into almost 40 more, received a distribution deal through Hypnotic Films with HBO Latin America. Because of that, the filmmaker was obligated—by virtue of the Student Film Letter Agreement he signed with the Screen Actors Guild—to pay the movie's five principal performers, a bill he said has added to his financial obligations.
For Jerry Della Salla, who played the cop in Broken and initiated the claim against Downs, the ordeal he went through to get paid is part of a larger issue: the lack of respect afforded actors on the lower levels of the entertainment business. "Why does everyone in the industry want to duck and cover when it comes to paying actors?" Della Salla asked. "We're feeling neglected."
The matter was finally resolved last week, when Della Salla and the other actors received final payments for their work. The amounts, which were negotiated by Downs and SAG, were about 30 percent of what an arbitrator ruled the actors were entitled to receive. Della Salla said he was paid about $1,300 after taxes. The other actors, who received amounts based on the number of days they worked, could not be reached for comment. SAG spokeswoman Pamela Greenwalt said the union would not comment on the case.
Though the dispute involved a minuscule amount of money compared with other legal battles in show business, it illustrates the controversy that success can bring, no matter how small.
"It became a very tangled process," Downs said. "In terms of distribution on a student film, I'm kind of down on it and I just wouldn't do it."
Said Della Salla, "For a fringe actor, it's a struggle to keep yourself honorable. You have to keep your employers honorable."
According to the SAG Student Film Letter Agreement, which Downs signed in August 2000, actors must be paid for every day they work "in the event of any commercial release of the film." It also states, "Such payments are to be made within ten (10) days after receipt of the proceeds of the picture's release…before any other payment of any kind is made." At the time the movie was made, the day rate for principals was $617.
Della Salla worked for 10 days on the film between November 2000 and June 2001, but he didn't expect to see any money, because short films, particularly those made by students, rarely get a commercial release. His perspective began to change, however, after the 2002 Columbia University Film Festival. Not only did Broken earn the honor for best film, it won awards for its editing and cinematography and a best actor prize for Della Salla.
The film was then accepted into New York's Woodstock Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, and the USA Film Festival in Dallas, receiving awards at each stop. Before Downs was finished, his short had been shown at dozens of festivals around the world, including one in the Czech Republic. Downs and Della Salla stayed in touch, with the director telling him a distribution deal was possible with IFC/Bravo.
The actor kept track of the film via the Internet. One day he saw it listed on a Portuguese-language website, what he called "Brazil's version of TV Guide." Further research showed that it was playing throughout South America. He then called the filmmaker, who told him he would "pursue it," Della Salla said.
What he didn't know was that Downs had signed a deal with Hypnotic, a company affiliated with Universal Pictures that specializes in distributing short films. Hypnotic then made a deal with HBO Latin America. Downs would not talk about specifics of the deal, except to say he lost money on it. Officials for Hypnotic could not be reached for comment.
Cinefemme.org, which advises female filmmakers on distribution and production issues, states in an article on the 2003 IFP Film Market that a deal with Hypnotic for a short film typically involves a $500 advance to the filmmaker against earnings that average $10,000 to $20,000. One film distributed by Hypnotic earned $80,000 for a filmmaker, but that was an exception, the site states.
In the interim, Della Salla had taken a detour from acting to enlist in the Army Reserve, mostly in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. He was assigned to a military police unit and was sent to Iraq in December 2004. Even in Iraq, where he worked as a guard at Abu Ghraib prison (after the torture scandal broke in early 2004), the actor kept track of Broken. And ex-girlfriend who lived in Brazil emailed to tell him it was still playing there.
After Della Salla returned to the States in December 2005, he contacted Downs, and they met for dinner at a Thai restaurant off Union Square in New York. The two caught up, with Della Salla telling the director war stories and Downs telling the vet about his film career. Then the actor, "almost as a sidebar," he said, brought up payment for Broken. Downs told Della Salla he was looking into it, and the actor wanted to believe him. "I kept wanting to trust him, because he's a good guy," said Della Salla.
But still unsatisfied after their meeting, Della Salla went to SAG, and attorney Vanessa A. Primack was assigned to his case. An arbitration hearing was scheduled for June 2006, but Downs did not appear. The arbitrator ruled in Della Salla's favor, and a settlement was eventually reached. Though he is getting only about 30 cents on the dollar, Della Salla is pleased with the union's efforts.
"SAG usually deals with half-million, million-dollar discrepancies," he said. "Their efforts spoke volumes about how they don't neglect actors who aren't the Tom Cruises of the world, the people who aren't putting a new wing on the guild headquarters."
As for Downs, "I lost a pretty significant chunk of money distributing," he said. "And most students can't afford it." On top of the money he paid to the actors, he is still paying off a large student loan. Still, Downs is continuing with his career, teaching at the New York Film Academy and planning to begin another short film.
"It's a great form to work out your skills as a director," he said. "It's been a while and I just need to keep my muscles active, because I'm also crazy enough to still want to do this."