American Film Labor Two Screen Actors Guild Contracts for The Godfather Part II 1973

Godfather Production Archive

Archive

Coppola, Francis Ford. Two Screen Actors Guild employment contracts dated September 1973 document the labor and administrative processes behind The Godfather Part II, Coppola’s parallel account of Vito Corleone’s early life and Michael Corleone’s consolidation of family power. Executed immediately before principal photography began on October 1, 1973, the agreements show how performers were hired for designated roles through standardized union contracts, countersignatures, and authorization by Francis Ford Coppola Productions, Inc. The archive reveals how a major New Hollywood production operated in practice through union-regulated employment and company representatives, providing primary-source evidence for research into performers’ labor, film casting, production administration, and the institutional framework underlying an Academy Award-winning motion picture.

Two Screen Actors Guild employment contracts for The Godfather Part II. Francis Ford Coppola Productions, Inc., September 1973. One agreement comprises a single 8 x 14-inch sheet; the pagination and dimensions of the second are not supplied. Both identify the production by its working title, The Godfather, Part II, and are countersigned by the contracted performers and by “Garey” on behalf of Francis Ford Coppola Productions, Inc.; full names and precise signature forms should be confirmed from the originals. The first states in part: “Screen Actors Guild . . . Employment Contract . . . Producer: Francis Ford Coppola Productions, Inc. . . . for the role of Esther. In a photoplay, the working title of which is The Godfather, Part II.” The second is described as a similar Screen Actors Guild contract for the same production, though its performer, role, date, compensation, and other terms are not supplied.

[1] Francis Ford Coppola Productions, Inc. Screen Actors Guild Employment Contract for the Role of Esther. September 1973. One-page agreement naming the performer’s role as Esther and identifying The Godfather, Part II as the photoplay’s working title. Signed by the actor and by Garey for the production company, it demonstrates the process by which even a limited role was defined and placed under union contract before filming. [2] Francis Ford Coppola Productions, Inc. Screen Actors Guild Employment Contract for The Godfather, Part II. September 1973. Similar performer agreement executed for the production and countersigned by the actor and a company representative; the role and complete contractual terms are not identified in the supplied description. The film received eleven Academy Award nominations and won six, becoming the first sequel awarded Best Picture; Coppola also received Best Director, and Robert De Niro received Best Supporting Actor. Stapled at the upper corner with filing holes punched through the blank upper margins; light handling wear, without other specified defects, overall very good. Closely dated production records preserving the union and corporate mechanisms through which Coppola assembled the cast of The Godfather Part II.

Item #11960

Price: $285.00