Guarantee (filmmaking)

{{short description|Contractual term in the film industry guaranteeing pay if the party is released}}

{{distinguish|Pay to Play}}

In filmmaking, a guarantee, or informally a "pay-or-play" contract, is a term in a contract of an actor, director, or other participant that guarantees pay if the participant is released from the contract, with various exceptions.{{cite web |last1=Appleton |first1=Dina |title=What Does 'Pay or Play' Really Mean? |url=https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/pay-play-really-mean-30130/ |website=www.backstage.com |publisher=Backstage |accessdate=15 October 2020 |language=en |date=12 June 2008}}

Studios are reluctant to agree to guarantees but accept them as part of the deal for signing popular actors. They also have the advantage of enabling a studio to remove a participant under such a contract, with few legal complications.[http://www.rmslaw.com/articles/art60.htm Navigating The "Pay Or Play" Minefield] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907100516/http://www.rmslaw.com/articles/art60.htm |date=2008-09-07 }}, The Business Of Film October 1997.

As Appleton writes, "Memoirs of a Geisha is an example of a film on which the provision came into play... several actors were hired by the studio under pay-or-play deals. When the contracted start date came and went, those actors began receiving their full salary as if they were rendering services."{{cite web |last1=Appleton |first1=Dina |title=What Does 'Pay or Play' Really Mean? |url=https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/pay-play-really-mean-30130/ |website=www.backstage.com |publisher=Backstage |accessdate=15 October 2020 |language=en |date=12 June 2008}}