Can you imagine working in Hollywood? It’s got to be exhausting with the back and forth of arguing what you’re worth and coming up with contracts that benefit everyone. For some who don’t have great management, that can often lead to being left in the dust as soon as a film’s run has taken course. The cast of the original “The Blair Witch Project” is some of those very actors who instead of getting treated like the creative minds they are, have been ignored by Lionsgate when it comes to the future of something they should have credit for.
The first film came out in 1999 and was an American supernatural horror film, written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. It’s a tale of three student filmmakers played by Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard. They hike into the Black Hills located near Burkittsville, Maryland in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend, the Blair Witch. The filmmakers disappear but their camera and footage get discovered a year later. The film is done in the style of “found footage” which went on to inspire other filmmakers when they created movies like “Cloverfield” and “Paranormal Activity.”
“The Blair Witch Project” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival at midnight, January 23rd, 1999. Because of it’s success at the festival, it was picked up for distribution by Artisan Entertainment for $1.1 million. It was a nice return since the movie’s budget had to be increased from $35,000–60,000, to $200,000–750,000 after post-production edits. The movie ended up grossing over $250 million, and the original cast claim they never saw a penny of it.
The cast wants reparations from Lionsgate, which now owns the property. Including retroactive and future residual payments because they never received any of those. What complicates this is that they were originally cast by the independent filmmaker at the time and were not associated with a studio. They are asking for a sum of money equivalent to what a SAG-AFTRA actor would make, saying if they had the proper union representation at the time, they would have gotten at least that much. The movie grossed over $250 million, and they never saw a penny of it.
They are also asking for meaningful consultation on any future projects like reboots, sequels, prequels, toys, games, rides, escape rooms, and more. Anything that may use their likenesses and would be used for promotional purposes.
And finally, a The Blair Witch Grant. This $60k grant- the budget of the original movie- to be paid out yearly by Lionsgate to an aspiring filmmaker to assist in making their first feature film. (This would be a gift of money, not a development fundm so Lionsgate would not own any rights to the project.)
All of this sounds pretty fair and I hope they can get them to agree. Since the film has been rebooted now 2x and hasn’t done very well in either case, it should make sense for the people involved in the original movie to be able to help make the new film great. Or at least not suck like the previous two. I’m sure there is only so much they can do because studio heads get the last say with anything.
