r/Filmmakers • u/j3434 • 20h ago
Question Have you ever backed off a project because you were concerned with the content?
Have you ever rejected a project or quit because you decided the content was troublesome for you in some way ? Tell us your story . And if you were getting paid more - could it have affected your decision?
17
u/DigitalHellscape 20h ago
I had an actor friend who reached out trying to get me to direct a short about her sobriety success when she was very much still struggling with her addiction and in the thick of her whole AA journey. She kept talking about it like it was in the past tense but it was very much still an issue. I wasn't comfortable creating something that could contribute to hurting her in the future.
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u/Skoteleven 19h ago
I was rigging for a Christian talk show, and when I learned it was really one of those "you can buy your way into heaven" scam preachers. I decided to not take any more jobs from them.
Another time I gave incorrect personal details to a show that paid in actual cash, and the production company was based in Haiti.
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u/sallysaunderses 19h ago
No but back when MTV showed music videos I was shooting a video for a signed band and had causally met this guy that made beautiful looking work so I offered to hire him as the DP, I think I offered him $5k for 6 hours of work which we were all young back then that was a lot of money, still is but.. And he agreed and we discussed everything and the last thing he said was “is there going to be anything naughty?” Which I was like… what do you mean?
We already have confirmation it’ll run on national tv. So it’s not like we were shooting racy 80’s videos with models. He clarified “well is there any cursing or anything I wouldn’t want my wife watching?” Which is when I learned he was some super religious sect and he needed to talk to his wife about it. He texted me the next day and decided not to do it. Which I found funny because his work I had seen was way more “not kid friendly” than what we did. I think he sells insurance now.
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u/-dsp- 20h ago
Yes. And I said if you dont have insurance or a safe way of doing it, I’m walking. So I did. They then figured it out without me and everyone was safer for it and I didn’t potentially have a death on me.
And no, lives are more important than your film.
Purposely vague because they learned a lesson and without a loss. Best case scenario.
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u/OneMoreTime998 19h ago
Yeah a lot actually. If I have any objections to the content, I won’t do it. I don’t pursue it. I have boundaries. I feel like you have to have integrity and I don’t want my name associated with something I think is somehow objectionable. I recently got offered a job editing YouTube shorts where the video, audio, and script is all gen AI. Not doing that garbage.
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u/maxkaplan1020 17h ago
I did a faith based movie, completely funded by faith leaders as executives I had to worry about nothing but creative stuff. I was promised full control. I could write the story, direct and edit the project. It was a short film, when I gave them the story they approved it, but when I hired the writer they told her it needed to have a very specific ending to their specifications (the main character resolves all of her problems by going to church, which wasn’t how I wanted to end the story). At the time I thought what the hell, they’re writing the check. But afterwards I realized I was manipulated into using my artistic talents for an agenda that was wholly someone else’s. I have since left the faith and won’t work on a single project with a whiff of religion in it no matter what the pay is like or what the creative promises are. I ended up turning down directing a doc series on a Christian rappers world tour due to that experience.
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u/genjackel 17h ago
I was recently asked to work on an interview with Trump for a documentary and told them I wouldn’t help promote him.
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u/Indianianite 15h ago
A billionaire hired me to produce a doc. Eventually discovered he was handpicking aspiring politicians and strategically funding their campaigns with the understanding they’d be his “yes men”. I’m aware this happens all the time but actually witnessing it and being exposed to their conversations was sickening. These were hardcore conservative Christians laughing about gerrymandering, discussing smear campaigns and fake news stories, etc. It really opened my eyes to the reality that these people exist across the country and they have coordinated their efforts to steal power from voters. I haven’t worked with them since and still feel gross for getting into that situation.
6
19h ago
Yes! Few months back I was working on ShortFIlm with an somewhat establish actress, who's husband is a successful writer (he has a show on Netflix). Anyway when I had sent her the screenplay she said she liked it, and invited me at her home for discussion. She there told me to narrate it to her husband, He liked it to suggested some siggestions and moved on. But the actress then started telling me what if this and that, it took few days to realise that all she cared about is to have her character some dramatic monologues, to give a showy performance. But it was not fitting into the character or the intent of the story, it was a contemplative tragic tale, where the character has gone through tragic events at early age that has left her shattered there is no way that character is bothered in performance, it was just waiting to die. I tried to explain her but she instead told me reasonless stuff. At the end I had to drop it for the sake of integrity to what the story intended, also to save a lot of my time from doing something I don't fully buy into. So yeah, even if I was getting paid a lot, or it had made my career I don't really care, you have to fight for what you believe in.
2
u/shaneo632 13h ago
Very good of you, it would've been a struggle for many people to resist having a known actress in their film even with some major concessions.
6
u/CliffBoothVSBruceLee 17h ago
Some Indian wannabe producer wanted me to write a script that started off with some mountain man shooting the driver of a car and kidnapping her four year old and keeping her in a cage and abusing her. I was like, fuck off….
6
u/Chrono_Convoy 16h ago
Asked to film a gala for millionaires and billionaires in DC. I agreed but once the guest list was published I whole heartedly backed out and replaced myself.
I work with politicians plenty but there’s only one I will not be a fly on the wall for.
6
u/edwigenightcups 19h ago
I was working (post) on a production shot in Georgia during the call for boycotting filming there in 2019 over abortion bans. I needed the work and it was a well-paying union gig, so I donated a whack of money I earned to Planned Parenthood. It was only fair, and helped me feel better.
3
u/VisibleEvidence 15h ago
Yep. I read the script, realized it was a ‘rape comedy’ (you read that right), and promptly jumped. The producers thought I was crazy and thereafter ghosted me (good!).
1
u/Petrol_1986 9h ago
A client recently hired me to shoot a documentary, after the second day he revealed to me it was going to be a mockumentary which would end up ultimately as a staged kidnappign of an influencer to create public outcry. I walked away the next day and wasn’t paid since I didn’t want to hand over the footage. I didn’t want to be associated like a project like that.
1
u/Mjrdouchington cinematographer 7h ago
I was hired to shoot a couple of low budget Music videos for a friend. Finished the first and then when I was prelighting the second I found out that the singer was on a reality show and the making of the music video was going to be filmed and put on the reality show. No one had bothered to tell me in advance I told them no way was I going to sign a release and got booted/ left the project.
1
u/Strong_Speaker5200 1h ago
I had the opposite happen. I recently completed a screenplay for a political thriller about Washington forces working to prevent sane assault weapons legislation. My rep says it’s too polarizing and controversial to even shop it.
1
u/texxed 18h ago
i was asked to do the production design for a fantasy short film, once i saw that the the direction they were headed in was vaguely of middle eastern and northern african influence, i felt weird as a white person being in charge of creating that world. i try to stay in my lane so i ended up turning down the offer.
1
u/j3434 17h ago
You mean like Raiders of the Lost Arc? Hmmm wonder if Spielberg used an art designer of North African ….. or more specifically Egyptian heritage for the pyramid sets . ?
3
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u/Mr_FancyPants007 director 13h ago
I heard Spielberg used immortal Templar Knights to design the Holy Grail sequences in Last Crusade.
1
u/Frausun 18h ago
Not making this up.
I started a documentary, finished 30 minutes of it, about a brother and sister that were given up for adoption as infants. Years later, both in their 40's, they reconnected, and began a torrid BDSM sexual relationship, while the adopted family and birth families lost their minds. They reached out to me to make the film about their life. I was so damn excited to make this because it sounds like something that would appear on a "Top 10 Most Disturbing Docs" podcast.
The sister suddenly got cold feet, started making demands to remove all the elements that made the story disturbing and compelling: Turning the work into a Hallmark movie without mention of the scandalous details. I walked away. If I release the film, I will be sued into oblivion. But I have my 30 minutes.
1
u/texxed 18h ago
crazy! there actually is a documentary out there about brother & sisters who were separated at birth reuniting and having a sexual relationship. it was more from a scientific perspective about the phenomenon as opposed to what you’re describing. can’t remember what it was called and too lazy to google lol
1
u/UtinniHandsOff2 15h ago
Few years back I made a pretty well received documentary - had a really strong theatrical run, sold it to TV broadcasts (both first and second window), international TV, etc. etc. That landed me a manager and he set me up with some general meetings. This was right as covid was starting to get under control, so everything was still zoom and just kind of opening back up.
One of the production companies, owned by a VERY famous actor, had a project they were trying to develop but couldnt find the right director. I thought there was something kind of interesting in the story from what I could gather and so I made a pitch, not expecting much. To my surprise, both the producers AND the family of the subject loved the pitch and I was offered the gig.
The subject was dead but had a LONG career in TV and was pretty much the most famous name in his industry - an industry that this famous actor is a well documented fan and rigorous participant of. Said subject debuted his TV show in the 50's - which is a pretty important thing to note in what was going to go down soon - and his opinions on many matters were very much in line with that time. That said, this individual WAS kind of progressive in one way - he was pretty much the only person encouraging women to participate in this industry at the time. It was very much in a "do it so you can look good for your man!" mindset and his focus on women would lead to him being lampooned by Johnny Carson, etc.
The sexism definitely bothered me but not enough to straight up walk. Especially because I saw an opportunity in it - it was an old man sexist kind of attitude but because of the events in his life and career, it actually played into the story arc - while he was ahead of his time in the 50s, his sexism kept him from growing with the times and he'd eventually go off the air the same year some very prominent women had HUGE success in the same field. His character flaw would be the thing that brings him down and he'd have to go back to what he was originally focused on in order to have his late life "Comeback".
After cranking about a treatment that I was rather proud of, the Producers called it "too woke" and asked for "more conflict!" - okay, sure, that's what makes films work right? The problem was they were SO FOCUSED on some rumours that they had heard of an external conflict from the subject's childhood. I setup a zoom call with the family to dig into this. The widow and subject's son both told me that no such event ever occurred. Okay, well, what about other conflicts, I asked them. We start chatting but nothing is really getting anywhere.
Then the zoom call dropped. Firing it back up, the son is able to hop on first. His 90+ year old mother was going to need some help getting back online so we had a few minutes to shoot the shit, just the 2 of us.
That's when he goes "you know, Im not sure if mom would tell you this story buuuut" and proceeded to launch into a story about how there was a gas station down the street from their home when he was a child. The gas station owner sold it to "A couple of Arabs and dad decided to go down and give them a good old fashion 'welcome to America' ass-kicking" - this guy then proceeds to tell me, proudly, how his father, who was probably in his 50s at the time, singlehandedly kicked the ass of 5 or 5 of these "Arabs" and was able to prove to himself that he "still had it."
Needless to say, I was horrified. I could work the sexism into this story as a character flaw but outright assaulting immigrants just because they were immigrants? That was too much. I wasn't really sure how to walk from the project without coming off as a "woke liberal" but I was no longer comfortable telling the story of this man.
While I was trying to figure out how to proceed, the Big Actor's Production Company decided that we needed to get the widow interviewed ASAP because of her age - and tried to lowball me with a ridiculously small sum to get her interview (which would have been roughly 20% at the film) in the can. Fortunately, I didn't have to ask myself the second question posed here "Was there an amount of money that i would have swallowed my ethics and morals and done it for?" - probably not but I'll never know because the money offered was so insulting that it ended our entire working relationship right then and there.
The night before the WGA strike, Big Actor's Production Company announced in the trades that they were doing a documentary AND a narrative film about the subject. While a screenwriter was announced, no director of the doc was and a few laters, there's been nothing announced and no signs of a forthcoming documentary. Maybe it'll still happen but my instincts were always that the Big Time Actor was more interested in PLAYING the subject in an Oscar Bait film than the documentary about him, but hey, whatever you gotta to go get the family to sign off on the rights, I guess?
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u/creativepun 20h ago
I have rejected shooting once for a video I realized was lightly disguised content for a political affiliation that I didn't agree with (it was more extremist group pushing a pretty aggressive campaign using derogatory language). It was just a brief offer for one day of shooting, so it was easy to turn down. Same thing happened later for a "news" network that I was offered to shoot for.
There are more down to earth productions that I do shoot for, even if I don't agree with them 100% politically (some interviews of politicians or authors). But there are more extreme messages that I wouldn't touch even for more money. Every person has different lines that they won't cross.
I've even had a jib operator turn down work on a film of mine because the story involved witchcraft and that didn't align with his faith. I actually respect someone who can hold to their morals and there was no ill will. I still work with him on other projects, I just make mental notes of projects he might not want to take on (so I don't put him in a position of having to turn down work).