This week’s column — about a topic that caused reporters from both Time Magazine and The LA Times to contact me as a source earlier this month — is going to require a little outside reading. First, the email from a long-time reader that prompted me to write about how actors can protect themselves against misrepresentation of their image, their craft, their brand.

Hi Bonnie,

So, by now everyone’s probably heard about the actors who were tricked into being in Innocence of Muslims by being cast and shot doing a low-budget indie film called Desert Warrior. If you want a detailed, horrifying account of how this happened, Neil Gaiman’s posted a letter by one of the women in the cast: https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2012/09/a-letter-from-scared-actress.html.

Derek Houck

Shortly after receiving that email, I received a tweet from Rose Auerbach with a link to an article about the use of actors’ voices in political ads. The piece is called Babies, Khakis, and Minivans: Meet the Women Behind those “Concerned Mom” Political Ads.

Now, if you’re not up to speed on either of these issues — and probably even if you are — I suggest you follow those links to grasp the relationship between the two, and to fully understand why I lump them both in with things like the ways in which actors’ images are used after releasing them in stock photography modeling deals and how actors in particular must be on top of disabling the use of their likeness in Facebook ads, due to commercial conflicts that can arise simply from hitting the “like” button too freely.

It is one of the many responsibilities of actors — or anyone out there who is both building a brand and hoping their reputation will lead to future work that aligns with that brand — to be absolutely certain they know exactly how their work, their image, their very brand itself is being exploited.

I’m no conspiracy theorist, but I was educated very well in journalism school that there are many ways in which the media — not to mention producers of “agenda” films like the one mentioned above — can manipulate its messages (and, sadly, make unwitting participants the face or voice of its manipulated messages). Limiting the use of your brand — especially when it is being rented for very little (like copy, credit, meals, for instance) — to a specific, contracted term is not only your right, it’s your responsibility.

It’s no different than my days as a journalist for BackStage, which started me out in 1999 at ten cents per word. For that rate, I was only loaning my words to the publication. I shared the rights to my work, which would revert back to me after six months. Similarly, when actors are getting paid minimal amounts — or worse, not getting paid a thing, but are granting rights to the unlimited commercial use of their image via Terms Of Service for the privilege of using a free site like Facebook — there needs to be a limit to the use. But in a world where actors feel that they must say yes to every opportunity to act — contract or no contract, script or no script, legitimate casting process or not — we’re going to see such abuses as those detailed in the links I’ve shared above.

How do we, as artists, protect ourselves while still doing the work we need to do to get established? I mean, I can remember back to my actor days and I know that there are gigs I would’ve accepted — and probably did accept — without knowing all the details of the project. But if I had thought ahead to myself (my actor self) as a brand, and thought ahead to my career as one that would span many decades, I would’ve been much more particular in my choices.

Otherwise, how are you to build a brand in which the top-tier producers cannot wait to invest if you are unwittingly the face of something so very off-brand for you?

The actor whose words are shared in Neil Gaiman’s blog post, linked above (as well as other actors from the film who have shared their stories), has a huge opportunity, now, and that’s to hire a publicist — someone whose job it is to manage spin and run damage control on behalf of high-profile clients every day — to help her story get out there. While that actor (and all the actors who were duped by the producer of a film they thought was called Desert Warrior) will always probably be known as “that actor from Innocence of Muslims,” she could — and should — build upon this attention with a brilliant and on-brand second act that could water down the negative association faster. That Anna Gurji in particular is talking about producing her own content makes me very pleased. Talk about having guaranteed control on how your brand gets out into the world!

While this particular film was never billed as a political ad, that’s certainly area into which it veered, as it was redubbed by voiceover actors and turned into a propaganda project. Because all of this connects at the “how do we protect ourselves” point, I reached out to Anna Vocino, who is not only a very busy on-camera and voiceover actor but also a former political consultant. Here’s what she shared with me on all of this — specifically regarding the “concerned woman” political ads story, linked above:

We as talent have to be in charge of covering our own asses. Folks on the outside watch ads and have emotional responses so great, it can cost you some dings to your career if you don’t protect your brand by aligning with ads that you can believe in and stand by.

As voiceover talent, we are used to working at a quick pace. The speed at which political ads are made is double the fastest production turnaround I’ve seen in Hollywood. The rushed nature of the beast might make you forget to do your due diligence, but take that extra two minutes before accepting the job to make sure you’ve at least Googled everyone involved and the issue or initiative in question. Most importantly, please, for the love of all that is sacred, see a script FIRST, before ever agreeing to anything.

The takeaway for all actors, I hope, is to have a contract with incredibly specific terms, to always see a copy of the script, to have a contract in which the script — as of a specific version made available to you as of a specific date — is mentioned as the project on which you have agreed to participate, and to be strong enough to walk away if those bare minimums are not met. I’ve talked about this sort of thing before with regard to nudity and any other changes that are made, after a deal is entered into.

Sure, as several actors who unwittingly participated in Innocence of Muslims have reported, sometimes there is no script, sometimes there are only sides, and sometimes there are valid reasons given on set as to why that’s the case. Guys, it’s one thing if that’s something you’re experiencing on the set of the latest hush-hush JJ Abrams project. It’s quite another if you’re experiencing that on the set of a project brought together by producers with no IMDb presence who choose to post casting notices on Craigslist.

I have a friend who makes no bones about being a bit of a pain in the ass when it comes to protecting herself on set. “I say, ‘Sorry, guys. I’m an attorney’s daughter, so I’m overly cautious,’ and then I require a script, a contract, explicit detail about our work together,” she told me. I love that!

Bottom line, when we respect ourselves, we protect ourselves. Absolutely, we can all get duped. We can take all the precautions in the world and still have the wool pulled over our eyes in this business. But it all comes back around to respecting what you’re building — long term — before saying yes to a project. Look up everyone on IMDb. Google them. Demand a contract and a script. Research the agenda, the angle, the political campaign for which you are about to become the face or the voice. Read the Terms Of Service before hitting LIKE all over the place. Be sure you’re being paid ridiculously well if you’re granting commercial rights to your image in perpetuity on some stock photography gig. Don’t be so hungry for work — for a paycheck or footage — that you ignore the red flags that what you’re signing up for does not align with your brand.

Only say YES to being a part of the stories you WANT to tell in this business. That is the ultimate protection.

Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!

Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001563.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.