The three young students faced hardships even after the film became successful. According to Variety, Donahue shared how her old car broke down beside her face on a billboard. Williams kept moving furniture even after appearing on the cover of magazines, and Leonard continued doing catering work.
Joshua said that they were all struggling to pay the rent and to make ends meet. Williams expressed, that his wife was in the grocery line, and she couldn’t pay because a cheque bounced. He said that he was in the most successful independent movie of all time, and he couldn’t take care of my loved ones.
It became a once-in-a-generation kind of cult classic movie, setting a benchmark in the horror genre. However, the actors were never fairly compensated. Artisan Entertainment, which purchased it for 1.1 million USD, did not allow them to see it at Cannes or discuss it with anyone else. When the film hit the 100 million USD mark at the domestic box office, Artisan Entertainment gave a fruit basket to each of the actors instead of any money.
The more unfortunate thing was that despite the movie grossing 248 million US dollars, the actors were paid much less. They were only paid the initial salary of 500 dollars and a meager amount of money after that. The artists felt marginalized, among other things, due to their work in ‘The Blair Witch Project.’ Donahue told the outlet, “We were being cut out of something that we were intimately involved with creating.”
Now in 2024, Lionsgate has announced its reboot, and the original actors were shocked when they heard about the reboot. They sent an open letter asking for compensation equal to what would have been negotiated through proper union representation. As a result of the settlement, Lionsgate can no longer use images of the actors for promotions or gain any profit.
Williams made a statement that giant corporations don’t care that this type of mistreatment happens to young artists and it needs to change.
The struggles faced by these performers encompass bigger issues about profit-sharing and credit within Hollywood, particularly as regards newcomers. Despite reaching out-of-court settlements against Artisan in 2004 for amounts worth 300,000 USD each, their experiences highlight ongoing difficulties in obtaining equitable treatment within this industry.