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Back on February 12th, I broke the story A-List Actors Pressure SAG To Start Talks about how a carefully orchestrated campaign by powerful actors George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro and others was getting underway in the trades and mainstream press to pressure SAG president Alan Rosenberg and national executive director Doug Allen to start negotiations early. Now a SAG board member directs me to this open letter from actor and rank-and-filer David Clennon attacking those A-Listers for “insulting” their union leadership when ”loyalty and solidarity and courage” are needed:
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Dave,
To a fellow SAG member your warning sounds a lot like, “Be quiet in church!” or “How dare you question the police?” Anyone who’s been watching the WGA and SAG can see the grave difference between the effective solidarity WGA leadership has earned within their guild, and the prolonged & divisive damage the current Hollywood SAG leadership has done to our performers unions — bullying, disciplinary, and obsessively censoring SAG’s own loyal New York & Regional Branch divisions, robbing SAG members of a the protection of an agency franchise agreement for over 5 years, picking destructive & time-wasting fights with our agents in the ATA and with our sister union and traditional negotiating partner, AFTRA in which many SAG actors enjoy membership. And finally to your point, we are delaying informal talks with the AMPTP in the flimsy strategy that this current defacto work stoppage will advantage SAG. It won’t.
The current Hollywood Membership First regime which holds a slim majority on the SAG Board has bloodied the Executive Office of SAG with unproductive firings, produced an unforgiveable lack of organizing of work for our members (AFTRA now has jurisdiction over 50% of scripted dramatic cable TV programming,) holds extremist positions against merger of SAG & AFTRA, and when pinned to the wall and called on it, repeated episodes of shrill, intransigent, and wholly inappropriate behavior. This is the opposite of the union solidarity that you call for. This is incompetent leadership which must be voted out in the Fall 2008 SAG Board elections and the current Executive Director sent back to the NFLPA where he came from.
President Clooney, c’mon down!!!
I’d like to back up what Dave Clennon said. I can’t speak directly to what I learned at the SAG Wages & Working conditions for New Media meeting Friday due to a request for confidentiality, however, I don’t think I’m speaking out of school if I point out that the New Media technical issues related to the contract are insanely complex. Not the kind of thing we want to rush our negotiators into talking about before they’re ready.
Also, we (SAG) have a democratic process we are going through wherein member input is solicited at meetings open to all SAG members. The A-listers’ call to talk came before the conclusion of the W&W meetings.
As I would prefer to think the best of the A-listers who sounded this call, I am going to assume that their only wish is to see the door open for informal talks while SAG completes its democratic processes in preparation for the actual talks. From what I have been able to gather about AMPTP negotiations with the DGA and WGA, though, it seems most of the heavy lifting actually happens before formal negotiations begin. If this is correct, the best interests of the vast majority of SAG members would be better served if our negotiators do not enter into any talks, formal or otherwise, before they are fully prepared, which means having a firm grasp of the New Media landscape as well as a clear mandate from the membership as to what we expect by way of a deal.
In short, like the rest of us, the A-listers who made this call should be patient and publicly supportive as the guild prepares itself and unifies itself for what may potentially be a very difficult negotiation.
FUNNY
Welcome to the board, Mr Clennon….
And thanks for posting – er – almost posting….
Oh, David – never let Terrence Beasor post your post. His history on this board brands what he puts his hand to as often false and/or misrepresenting the truth.
Strike One against you.
Quote:
Four stars — Out of alignment?
(When is it unwise or inappropriate for high-profile actors to comment publicly on the actions of their unions?)
To Mssrs Clooney, DeNiro and Hanks, and Ms Streep:
About your “JUST TALK” advertorials in the trades; and your letter to the L.A. Times:
Nice . “Advertorials”. We like that sort of thing here.
Quote:
If you really want to help the working people in your industry, you should be supporting the leadership of your union, and you should be urging your fellow S.A.G. members to do the same. Rightly or wrongly, many of us look to you to set an example of loyalty and solidarity and courage.
No. There is no “you should be supporting the leadership of your union”. “Loyalty” to the Guild does not necessarily mean loyalty to the “leadership”. Many SAG members in SAG history have felt betrayed by the “leadership”, and they often have gone directly to the press and media – especially MembershipFirst before they got the upper hand. In fact it is one way they got the upper hand.
Strike Two.
Quote:
Our guild leaders were democratically elected through free and fair balloting. (Did you vote in the last S.A.G. election?) And the current elected leadership of your union have exercised their constitutional right to appoint a new executive director, Doug Allen.
Doug Allen was NOT “appointed” – he was hired by the National Board. Hired to represent SAG NATIONAL – not just SAG Hollywood. Doug Allen has consistently ignored nearly one-half of the Guild leadership while siding exclusively with the “MembershipFirst” Party.
Quote:
These are our leaders. In most cases, I voted for their opponents. But this is a union. And these are our leaders. And you’ve insulted them. You’ve insulted all of us. The time for trade paper advertorials and letters to the Times is during the next S.A.G. election campaign. Not now.
You don’t get it, do you, David? We in SAG have never followed “leaders” we did not agree with. These particular leaders have made it very clear that they want “their strike”. Others disagree. These A-list working actors have NOT “insulted all of us”. They have challenged our “leadership” because they recognize that our “leadership” has been carrying on a fruitless war with AFTRA for over a year now, and that that has nothing to do with developing positive strategies for negotiations – in fact it works against it.
SAG is NOT being asked to rush into talks ahead of schedule. Just to do it right.
Our leaders have NOT constructed a strategy. They have spent a whole year instead of trying to invent a stupid war with AFTRA!
Strike Three!
_________________
Tom Ligon
Clooney, DeNiro, Hanks and Streep –
I support your wise and noble efforts; and trust that the SAG leadership will follow your sage advice. And, uhm, you and your fellow actors will be working for scale (no back-end) for the life of the new contract, right?
This, frankly, is the only thing more insulting than the DV, NYT and LAT asking Jerry Bruckheimer, Dick Wolf, Oliver Stone and Michael Bay for their thoughts on the DGA and WGA contracts.
Harumph!
This article seems a bit hypocritical. He points out that the union is a democratic organization (when he references the election of the current leaders). Then criticizes the individuals for exercising their democratic right to openly disagree with said leaders. WTH? He suggests that now is not the time to disagree? I say it is the perfect time. After watching what just happened with the WGA, I think it makes a lot of sense to for these actors to speak up now! Dave Clennon may not agree with them, and that is his right just like it is theirs to disagree with the union leaders.
And can somebody please refer to things by their correct and factual name — “The Writers Strike” was no such thing. Yes, the Writers called a strike, but the day the studios walked away from negotiations (which was ILLEGAL, by the way) that day it became “The Studio Lock-out.”
It is vital to remember what you, the members of SAG, are actually dealing with. The AMPTP shut this town down for no other reason than they are malignant and punitive. And they will treat SAG the same as they treated the WGA.
Stars, like the a-list writers, need to keep their dissension in the locker-room. Go ahead and let loose in there. But not in the paper.
Dissent is one thing–everybody has their own opinion, naturally, and rightfully so…
But divisiveness is a mistake.
As those of us in the WGA will tell you the best way to make strides in a contract negotiation is to present a united front. Even if the deal doesn’t go as far as you think it should (and I’ll be the first to say, that in my opinion, the deal falls far short of what I think we deserve), being united in numbers and in spirit, if not in opinion, gives the opposition pause for concern and incentive to bargain in good faith.
I think it’s destructive for any A-lister–in any Guild–to voice an opinion in public that negates the voice of its membership. Unity is the only answer and is the best way to support those in your Guild who haven’t achieved A-list status. Those who don’t have that power of individual star-driven leverage need the support of those A-listers. In my opinion A-Listers have a responsibility to others in their Guild and can be a powerful force to improve conditions for every member.
And to those A-Listers I say, rise above yourselves and support your fellow members. You’ll be a better, stronger union for it.
Wish George Clooney would keep his yap shut about everything.
the “Writers Strike” was just that. A strike by the writers. the Wga went out and did they get a better deal? Ask all the unemployed writers out there who walked the lines and did not have work to come back to. The writers struck and will not reap their benefits{?} for 10 to 15 years. yea, in my opinion they won, NOT.
Let’s not forget most of these big a list stars are also producers and/or directors. Tom Hanks, George Cloney and Robert DeNiro and many others have much more at stake financially as producers than they do as members of SAG.
That’s true, the strike should be called “The Studio Lock Out”
yea, in my opinion they won, NOT.
This is why people need writers.
So we finally got through one strike, and now we’ve got another one looming from a union that’s already sniping at each other in public, and waiting until the last minute to gather info on new media before they start negotiating? Really, you’re going to wait until 2 months before the de facto production shutdown date to start researching new media and deciding what you want? The incompetence is staggering.
Guess I better start saving up again.
THe last strike cost the Southern California economy, according to the venerable LA Times, an estimated $2.5 billion. A great many people got hurt both emotionally and financially – tens of thousands plus their families – due to the completely avoidable labor strike fueled by the studios and networks betting against the strength, resolve and integrity of the WGA.
A fair deal AND avoidance of another devastating strike is the hope of every SAG member I know. I applaud any genuine effort towards that collective goal. Mr. Clennon’s pontification of “How dare you!” and “Shut your mouth!” to other SAG members, even to those with a voice, is pure unadulterated crap. Mr. Clennon’s unsubstantiated claim that all members are insulted is grossly pathetic. As a SAG member, I am not insulted; I am thrilled and encouraged. Mr. Clennon strikes me as quite counter-productive and will never get my vote if he decides to run for SAG office which I suspect this move of his was testing the water for.
Projects are already being delayed due to the uncertainty of a possible SAG strike. Let’s get a deal now, like the DGA did, not wait for a last-minute rushed pre-Oscar deal because that moment may come to pass AFTER a strike begins – whcih will happen if the AMPTP tries to pull the same dishonest and disrespectful garbage it pulled with the writers. Lets avoid that nonsense – even the WGA was grateful to SAG and its higher profile members for their strong and unwavering support.
In SAG, we are not soldiers and the leadership are not Generals. They are our representatives, not our overlords and certainly not out employers. Our leaders listen to the membership, even individual voices, or they will wish that they had. There are consequences to every action including, I suspect, to the ill-advised public scolding by Mr. Clennon.
I am at a point now in reading comments that while I respect the anonymity offered by this blog’s protocols, I can’t give anonymous comments the same weight I give comments from registered users.
For example, if you click on my name at the end of my comment, it takes you to my personal blog, which enables direct contact with me.
I bring this up only because I see here already comments that may be from AMPTP shills. I am not hiding behind the anonymity Nikki’s protocols here offer, and I’d like to invite others who truly wish to engage in a serious and thoughtful discussion to do the same.
Oh, and Tom Ligon, I do not know if you attended the New Media meeting at SAG Friday (the room was almost full, and I don’t have that kind of photographic recall), but if you did, sir, you would know I wasn’t kidding when I spoke in my previous comment here to the complexity of negotiating on New Media issues. We have a democratic process, and the A-listers who went so public are certainly free to express their concerns at meetings like the rest of us; or, if that offends their delicate sensibilities, the guild does have protocols set up for communications with high-profile members. I’m pretty damn sure Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep can get Alan Rosenberg on the phone any damn time they want.
wow, wtf is this? SAG, wake the fuck up, WGA wasnt forced to go on strike by the AMPTP, they’re own leadership wanted to strike to see what kind of hammer they swing, IN THE END THE WGA SWINGS A RUBBER HAMMER that only bounced back and hit themselves in the face
A-Listers: Signing a petition and woodshedding Rosenberg and Allen is easy. Board service is hard. Step up.
Roberto -
Mr. Rosenberg and SAG’s governing board ARE our elected representatives. What we should be encouraging them to do is respect the democratic process – that series of wages & working conditions meetings that are still going on as I write this. I went to the New Media meeting Friday, voiced my opinion and asked a couple of good questions. You attend any?
And while we’re at it, see my post above about hitting these boards anonymously. We know there were AMPTP shills trolling these blogs during the WGA thing, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they kept that PR firm as well as their little trolls on retainer because of the upcoming SAG negotiations. Unless you pony up an honest identity, why should I respect your opinion???
Michael Heister
http://www.thepodosphere.com
The danger that none of your correspondents mention is summed up in the term “de facto strike.” It has already happened. The last story on DEADLINE is about Steven Spielberg’s decision to postpone the start of filming on “The Trial of the Chicago 7″ until at least August because he cannot risk being in production on June 30, if SAG and the AMPTP do not have an agreement by then.
So perhaps we should cut Clooney, Hanks, DeNiro and Streep a little slack here and accept the fact that they may be trying prevent further damage to those who have already paid a heavy price for what the Writers have achieved.
The most encouraging news I have read appeared in The L A Times Business section on Sat. 2/23/08, p.C6 where “Rosenberg…and Allen” reportedly had “already begun informal discussions with studio chiefs”…[and they] had “met with Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger on Friday and discussed a possible timetable for talks.”
Maybe a little nudging from the A-listers is helping the process along.
Do you think?
William Schallert
After reading Richard Verrier’s story in yesterday’s LA Times, ‘A-list actors want action on contract’ I thought a more appropriate heading would have been:
‘A-list actors want ‘qualified voting’ and to hell with SAG rank and file’
That’s basically what I got out of it. These overpaid and in some cases overrated fellow actors of mine have determined they will decide what is best for me concerning our SAG contract which expires June 30.
As for Mr. Clooney, Mr. Hanks, and the 1,000 plus members who are pushing their petition to implement so-called ‘qualified voting’ in which our guild would adopt restrictions as to who will be allowed to vote on the film and TV contract, I would like them to take their collective petition and push it ‘where the sun don’t shine.’
Yes, I am pissed off. As a proud member of Screen Actors Guild since 1978, I resent and I reject what these elitist snobs are attempting to do. They should all be ashamed of themselves. It is my sincere hope they will immediately put a stop to this course of direction. In other words, “knock it off.”
On the positive side, it was good to read that Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg is totally against the idea stating, “It disenfranchises…people who are already marginalized.”
To Mr. Rosenberg I wish to express my gratitude. As an actor who has had his share of ups and downs and who has felt more like Willy Loman for the past few years, I can only say ‘thanks’ on behalf of the thousands of other actors out there much like me.
We’re not A-list by a long shot, not even close. We’re rank and file, the heart and soul of the Screen Actors Guild. I’ll be damned if I will stand by and be silent while a small handful of actors attempt to take away my right to vote on any contract put before me as long as I am a member in good standing.
In closing, Mr.Clooney, Mr. Hanks, and their fellow petition gatherers would be very wise to go back and review the history of the Screen Actors Guild. Recognize the sacrifices made from day player to big star and remember the important lesson of ‘a house divided.’ As we more forward in our attempt to achieve a new contract, the last thing we need is to be divided.
‘Qualified Voting’? I think not.
Jimmy Arone
The A-listers are stepping forward because they hold the economic hammer. They make the studios lots of money, so they have some leverage. As a SAG member, I have no problem with them getting involved. I mean, they’re not going to CAUSE a strike, I don’t see how they hurt the process. And, blindly following SAG leadership is stupid. We need to avoid a strike any way we can. I can’t afford it, and I’m damn sure most of you can’t either. and, yeah, fighting with AFTRA is really, REALLY stupid. I hold both cards, and I’m sick of e-mails telling me SAG did this, or AFTRA did that. Both of them need to grow the fuck up, shut the fuck up, and make sure we have a decent contract, and decent protections, when we work.
Jesus.
David Clennon is just a SAG Kool-Aid drinker.
His “support your leaders” B.S. is the same idiotic message that some WGA members were shouting before “their leaders” surrendered on every AMPTP demand and took the deal that AMPTP demanded that they take. AMPTP even demanded WHEN the WGA needed to take the deal. It was a total capitulation by the NegCom. There should be no illusion about who had the negotiating power the entire strike.
The A-list actors just want to dispense with a B.S. strike that won’t accomplish anything accept prevent work from happening. As usual, most of the people that will want a strike RARELY WORK. A strike is meaningless to them.
So SAG militants, vote for a strike. Make your YouTube videos. Do your own version of that garbage “Speechless” campaign. Implement your version of WGA’s spectacularly worthless “Pencils 2 Moguls.” Cite the polls that indicate the public’s overwhelming (and overwhelmingly passive) support for you.
But I prefer not to hear about how you will have the public’s support, because public support counts for NOTHING. The WGA can cite several polls that showed public support. It’s meaningless.
Public support will not get you an increase in your DVD residual rate. Public support will not get you a smaller window on free-use streaming. Public support will not get you anything except some free food.
So strike. After you take the DGA deal afterwards, then just shut up. I still hear have to deal with B.S. about how great my strike was. The streets will be pretty smelly if I have to listen to your B.S. strike “success” stories too.
The time to dissent with a union is now, before a strike or no strike vote is called. After that you shutup and support your union regardless of weather you agree or not. But one thing you never, ever do is throw your weight around in public against your union right before the most important labor negotiations ever. I am not a mindless “union” man, and no one wants another strike, but privately disagreeing with your union’s leadership as to not undermine their authority seems like basic common sense, and whoever decided to follow through with this letter should know better. It seems rather self serving and will only breed an us vs them contempt and mistrust. Extremely surprised at Mr. Clooney who could very easily and very influentially lobby privately.
Mr. Heister & Mr. Arone,
You both seem to be against qualified voting or affected member voting. I can see why, according to IMDB neither of you make your livings as actors. You don’t depend on those contracts to feed your children, to clothe them, to pay the rent or mortgage but you sure think that you should have a say in whether those contracts should be accepted or rejected. What if working actors came into the place you work (unless you are living off Daddy’s money) and told your boss what you should make, now and in the future?
When you two loudmouths start having something invested in these contracts, besides your egos in calling yourselves actors, shut your traps and vote on the contracts when you work enough to have something at stake. My family depends on these contracts to survive and I only want people who are in a like position to vote on them, not vanity card holders like yourselves who stand to lose nothing.
It’s not about elitism, it’s about survival.