Lights, Cameras, Wills

People who have never been able to be a movie star in their lifetime can now become one after their death with a videotaped will. For $350, Royal Color Portraits Inc. of Massapequa and Albany, N. Y., will record up to 15 minutes of an individual’s reciting his or her last will and testament. The tape can then be played back after the person has died. The service, called Posterity Pix, includes a scriptwriter and makeup.

Posterity Pix was launched in 1980 by Kirsten Alpren, 26, a 1976 Miss Denmark, who took business administration courses at U.C.L.A. Says she: “I thought that if you had a videotape of a person saying in his own voice what he wanted to do with his estate, it would be almost impossible for anyone to contest the will.” In fact, the recording supplements, rather than replaces, written legal documents.

Videotaped wills have existed for several years, although they have only recently started to be more widely used. They have even entered pop culture. Last week two network TV programs—WKRP in Cincinnati and Too Close for Comfort—worked the wills into their plots.

Posterity Pix has added other services besides wills. They can also tape statements that people are reluctant to express in person but are willing to put on tape. One client could not work up the nerve to tell her husband face-to-face that she intended to leave him, and so she taped a “Dear John” message—and then left.