In 1999, The Blair Witch Challenge ushered within the age of discovered footage horror movies, and it had the distinctive contact of a advertising marketing campaign that pretended its forged members–Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, and Joshua Leonard–actually went lacking whereas investigating a neighborhood legend and had been feared lifeless. The film earned $248.6 million off of an preliminary price range that was estimated to be between $35,000 and $60,000. It additionally sparked the start of a two-decade and counting struggle for the celebs to be correctly compensated.
Final month, Lionsgate introduced plans for a brand new Blair Witch Challenge film that shall be produced by Jason Blum and Roy Lee. In response, Donahue, Williams, and Leonard issued an open letter asking for “significant session” for any initiatives that use their names and faces in addition to retroactive and future funds for the unique Blair Witch Challenge as if it had been filmed underneath SAG-AFTRA guidelines. Subsequently, the trio spoke to Selection at size in regards to the battle they’ve endured for the final 25 years.
“I am very grateful for what I’ve now and the way f***ing onerous I fought to get it,” mentioned Williams. “But it surely nonetheless impacts me. I buried all this. Big firms do not care that this occurs to younger artists. It is bulls***. And that is obtained to vary someway. Hopefully, we’ll assist any person to see: Do not do what we did.”
The report goes into element about how a lot work the trio not solely put into making the movie and capturing most of it themselves, but additionally sustaining the phantasm that they had been lifeless and residing with the legacy of a film that used their actual names. Their preliminary compensation was reportedly in 5 figures earlier than the trio sued Artisan in 2002 and ultimately received a settlement of $300,000 every. A part of the phrases of that settlement known as for the studio to cease utilizing their names and likenesses to promote the film and its sequels. However as Donahue notes “they preserve doing it anyway.”
Williams and Donahue have since settled into lives exterior of the leisure trade, however Leonard continues to be a working actor. And he’s very forthright about the place he stands with Lionsgate.
“I do not want Lionsgate to love me,” mentioned Leonard. “I do not care that they know that I feel their conduct has been reprehensible. I do not need my daughter to ever really feel like something is extra invaluable than her self-worth.”
It is unclear if the trio’s efforts will get Lionsgate to fix fences with them or correctly compensate them. For the reason that unique Blair Witch Challenge was a non-union manufacturing, SAG-AFTRA haven’t any jurisdiction over the dispute.
