Quote Originally Posted by oldboy View Post
Jack paid Mary a million dollars to appear in the film.
Will who be appeared in the film: Jack or Mary?
I believe it would be Mary who is going to be in the film. Jack is paying her to appear. Typically, you are not paying someone so that you can work, you are paying them to do work or in this case, appear in the film.

Another example of that type of sentence would be the following one that is much clearer as it includes the name of the film:
20th Century Fox paid $550,000 to the Smithsonian Institution for the right to use its name in "Night at the Museum 2: Escape From the Smithsonian," the Washington Post reported.
So, the Smithsonian is getting paid by 20th Century $550,000 so that 20th Century can use the name Smithsonian.