Add the feature film LONE WOLF to the scrap heap of independently financed films (outside the traditional studio system) that have fallen prey to someone involved in the financing side not fulfilling their obligation.
Some cast and crew haven’t been paid and might never get paid…and the hard work of a lot of people will not be streamed or released in theatres. Not the first time or last time this will happen.
But what is one of only a few times is where a cast member sticks his nose into a financial fight the producers and/or financiers are having…especially when the cast member is not a producer on the project…which makes you wonder what that cast member knew.
The film’s star Bryan Cranston issued a public statement addressing the troubles of the ‘Lone Wolf’ production and, in the process, unknowingly shined a light on the corrosiveness of power and influence within the Screen Actor’s Guild and the major agencies.
Eyebrow Raise #1: Bryan referenced monies that were not deposited into escrow accounts timely for unpaid cast before or during production after a brief stoppage.
***Anyone who has dealt with the Screen Actors Guild knows the guild doesn’t allow its members to work, let alone board a plane bound for a location until the contractually agreed upon escrow monies are deposited into escrow.
In this instance, SAG ignored the only rule that financially protects its members. Questions: who was/were the SAG employee(s) who were in on the non-enforcement? Who were the actors (aside from Cranston and Gladstone) whose monies should have been but weren’t escrowed before production? It was a huge mistep for SAG to side with producers and financiers and agencies over its members.
Eyebrow Raise #2: Bryan spoke not just for himself getting fully paid but also for his co-star Lily Gladstone by referencing the two of them as standing together in solidarity. This was not Bryan Cranston’s smartest move because…
***Lily Gladstone is represented by the same agency (Independent Artist Group) that represents the financially bankrupt Lone Wolf producers, Yale Productions, who are the center of this underfinanced shitstorm of a production. It raises the Watergate question: What did Lily Gladstone know about the financial troubles and when did she know it (and could she have done anything to help anyone on the production before things went downhill)? She has been eerily quiet and it’s quite telling that Bryan Cranston speaks on her behalf (he even says as much). She will never say a word at the risk of exposing herself to hard hitting questions. By the way, were there other actors on the film that were represented by the same agencies as Lily or Bryan?
Eyebrow Raise #3: In the same Deadline article that published Bryan Cranston’s statement, there a rundown of the agencies that represent actors and the screenwriter and the director and the main producers of the film.
***UTA (Bryan Cranston and the film itself (UTA Sales)), Independent Artist Group (formerly APA—Lily Gladstone, Yale Productions), WME (O’Shea Jackson), Paradigm (director Mark Pellington), Gersh (writer Tom Chilcoat).
Who is the one agency of note missing from this list? CAA.
If anyone can think of a project that led to the financial screwing over of a CAA lead or co-lead actor and/or an unfinished production, please let us know. CAA anticipates and resolves indie film challenges better than any agency in town by scaring financiers with banishment if they don’t finish what they started.