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For days and weeks and now minutes ago, I’ve been bombarded with lists of name actors who are supporting either AFTRA’s AMPTP contract ratification or else SAG’s effort to get AFTRA to renegotiate. (Seriously, is someone going to choose how to vote just because AFTRA paraded Tom Hanks and Sally Field or SAG trotted out Jack Nicholson and Holly Hunter?) Then there are the letters, the membership emails, and all the other nasty missives back and forth between the union heads, most of which I’ve decided against posting for now. I’m sick of it, truly sick of it. This is not news. This is meaningless spin. There’s a reason I am sitting out these propaganda games underway between AFTRA and SAG – because only the AMPTP wins. What I am doing is putting the final touches on a SAG/AFTRA/AMPTP package of urgent news and information that Hollywood needs to absorb. For those who are impatient for the posts, please understand that they represent a lot of research and analysis and fact-checking. Just know I’m working around-the-clock. My goal is the same since the start of all these guild negotiations: to chronicle how Hollywood talent collectively bargains in the face of impossible odds since a handful of Big Media moguls control the movie and TV business and hold all the power.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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The fundamental problems with the proposed AFTRA deal remain the same. Opponents of the AFTRA contract generally have it right, but greater emphasis needs to be placed on the egregious union-busting New Media provisions. Even most of the “working” actors I have read on both sides of this debate do not, IMHO, have a firm grasp on how significant IPTV is, and how deep the moguls’ plans are for obliterating network and cable television in favor of Internet channels. The telecoms and cable companies aren’t busy laying fiber optic all over the country out of boredom.
Between the low-budget New Media exemption, the 17/24 day windows, the joke New Media residuals, and AFTRA’s capitulation on clip use, the moguls are clearly establishing what they think the terms of New Media should be vis a vis all of the creative unions. Even if AFTRA members turn down the proposed deal – and they damn well should – I suspect after this round of actor negotiations is concluded, we’ll have done what the WGA did with New Media: put off the big fight for a couple of years. And make no mistake about it, the choices then will be either a HUGE fight or the end of the meaningful unionization of Hollywood’s creative community.
Get off Aftra’s back. Those who don’t support Aftra’s deal can choose not to work Aftra. If SAG goes on strike most of the working class actors are going to be quite grateful for a way to make rent and their car payment.
SAG should worry about SAG and make a deal based on their own Merits. Forcing another group to gain them leverage is downright un-’merican.
SAG is just like George Bush forcing Dem’s in congress to vote for the war even though they didn’t want to because he knew they feared like looking like wusses. SAG thinks Aftra will look like wusses if they don’t strike with them.
Wow…SAG and Bush…so proud together.
We can parse the issues forever, but poster Tom Segerson hits it right on the head. Blow it all up and start again…and if not, you’ll be taking what they (producers) give you.
SAG and AFTRA have no leverage. Without leverage you cannot be successful in a strike. It’s not like a striking steelworker whose rationale is, “well, the job is physically demanding and boring and pays low. If I can’t get what I want, I’ll go do something else.” Actors are not going to pick up another profession; they are actors and it’s what they do. No one gives up acting, they just don’t get hired.
The producers only care about the 150-200 top level stars who open movies or get eyeballs in front of the tv screen. That’s why they make all the money and everyone else gets scale plus 10. If these 150 actors would support SAG (by that, I mean: stop rushing movies into production to make a June 30 deadline), you might have some leverage.
For a union to work, you must have common causes. The disparity of income in SAG between the top and the bottom is too great. Poly Sci 101 teaches that: a well-organized minority defeats a disorganized majority every time.
@just a thought>/i>: and your point is?
Your previous post indicated the need for “stars” or no movies–which, as I suggested, isn’t true. Now this post seems to say “be happy you have a job at all, otherwise no will see your performance.” Also bullshit. Using your logic (or lack there of), in theory, you and your friends could just post a video on you tube and be just as happy to be seen by the masses. No money (kinda like AFTRA), but hey, it’s showbiz, right?
Hollywood is in the business of making money. I got no problem with that. Art vs commerce? It’s commerce, baby. But the point is, since it is a business, you might as well get as much as possible. Studios invest money to make money and because they do, writers, actors, directors, and support people should get as big a piece of the pie as reasonably possible. SAG is an actors best chance at getting what he/she deserve. It’s only fair.
If you wanna work for free (or AFTRA–it’s pretty much the same) that’s your business. But if I’m an actor I’m going with the group–SAG–who’ll get me the most money. And I’ll support them the best way I can, strike call or not.
“Any actor who collects a multi-million dollar paycheck is an enemy of the rank and file SAG actors. ”
Close. A multi-million dollar paycheck is the envy of the rank and file SAG actors.
“Hey, just a thought, I have another thought for ya: try making a movie with no background players or supporting “non-star” actors and see how far the story goes.”
It was called Cast Away. Made lots of $$$.
Question now is this. Will SAG on Strike next Monday? Now with Tom Hanks and Jack Nicholson logging heads could the strike now take place? Beocuse the two unions are now coming to head in heated negations? The more it plays out the more interesting it gets.
By the fact is these days studio moguls no longer have the controls like they used too. Corporations now run studios. That could be the real problem there too.
This is why a strike will make me stiff actor/waiters in this town
If you look at the last sag strike, the 2000 commercial strike, it was the vanity card holders that voted to strike. Well what happened? All commercials left the country. Thats what started the whole Canada as the new Hollywood deal. That then carried over into TV and Features. The results of that strike was a net zero for sag. As a matter of fact you net less than zero because the work left the country in the form of buyouts.
Lets look at what the writers actually won. In my opinion, the only thing they won was the language, “percentage” in the new media contract. Even though the percentage is capped at 40k, which really isnt a percentage in the current contract. They can in 3 years use that precedence to negotiate a removal of the cap. Thats all they won. Lets look at what they lost. Studios have reduced the amount of staffed writers on a show from around 12 to 4. They lost animation. They lost dvd. They lost every other item they were negotiating for. So for this strike, net gain at zero but with the possibility of a back end deal in the NEXT contract because of the “percentage” language.
The DGA deal. They aren’t at a net zero here folks. They made gains, didn’t give anything up, and didn’t strike. They have more now than before they negotiated. Thats a plain fact. You can argue that they could have gotten more but thats pure conjecture. It didn’t cost them anything, didn’t cost jobs or staffing positions and didn’t set the rest of the industry on a course of lost wages.
When you go on strike you effect more than just your union. You put other people in harms way by causing the loss of THEIR jobs and wages. I went through the 88 strike, 2000, and this one. No one wins with a strike. A strike should never be the goal. You should also consider who you are striking for and at what cost to you and others. Most contracts for those other than extras are negotiated by YOUR AGENT and these deals are above scale and union minimums anyway. In fact, even though I am BTL my contract is negotiated by my agent as well. I am paid well above scale and treated contractually well above union standards. If there is something in your deal that you don’t like then you talk to your agent and have him take it out. If you get a Michael Bay film and you don’t want to hold a Coke can and feel that you are advertising, then talk to Bay or your agent. It’s done all the time. If you are just a 5 and under, and don’t like it talk to your agent. If being a 5 and under isn’t enough pull and you really have a moral conflict then don’t take the part. No one is forcing you to do it. Just like when I read a script and don’t like the story I CHOOSE not to take that project. You don’t want your clip used and your agent has tried but can’t negotiate that part out? THEN DON’T TAKE IT!!! Thats the benefit of being free lance. I mean how desperate are you? So what actors are we really going to strike for? Who is really voting to strike? It’s the vanity card holders who are a MAJORITY in your union. These people have other jobs, not acting. They have nothing to risk by striking. They think they will not lose wages so that is why I will not tip. No waiter/actor is going to cause financial harm without joining in the cause “oh union brother”. What about solidarity? Does that only apply if there is a reward? Doesn’t solidarity mean that everyone should share in the risk? and the rewards?
A note for next time. Please have someone other than actors negotiate your contract. You have an agent, manager, lawyer do your contracts for work but when it comes to your union you decide, “well take it from here MBA’s”. That makes as much sense as having them give you a line reading.
“I Sometimes think we must all be mad and that we shall wake to sanity in straight-waistcoats.”
- excerpt from Bram Stokers’ Dracula.
I’m not an actor, but am disgusted by actors like Tom Hanks. I stopped seeing movies with these “big name” actors because it is boring to see the same merry-go-round of faces in movies all the time (Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, blah blah blah), and because it is sickening how much they are idolized for being actors, and because they get paid waaay too much money which is part of what causes a dearth of interesting movies and new interesting faces.
Now Hanks et al. are highlighting their selfish putziness with their anti-union shenanigans during these labor disputes.
Can anyone really take these guys seriously? Dump on the union that protected you on the way up? Make sure you don’t have to share the pie now that you got yours?
Clooney is probably conducting his putziness behind the scenes because his career is deteriorating too rapidly to grandstand
This is about deal-making. It’s not about capitulation or “fighting the man” or any other drama-queen definitions that get thrown around by union members. Actors are creative people, really good at being emotionally brave and living in the moment to tell a story. They are abysmally bad at deal making.
You want a good deal? Go find a professional deal maker, give him the job of making that deal, and then get back to work.
The deal won’t strike a blow for the working man, it won’t insure the future, it won’t secure the rights of the middle class actor, it won’t be a revolution, it won’t make you “feel better”, it’ll just be a good deal for this moment. Which is all a deal can ever be. You may live to regret it as things change, or it may turn out to be better than you thought. It’s just a baseline deal. If you get some success, some experience, you’ll be able to have your agent get a better one.
And by the way, despite some basic issues, Tom Segerson is very much onto something….even if the enterprise isn’t that big, even if it isn’t very successful, the entrepeneurial spirit of what he’s describing is the essence of successful art. Vision meets boldness meets practicality…
It’s the opposite of disgruntled resentment.
nicely done, Tom
Nikke,
I feel like a 13 year old white female child in a Perlman v. Duff custody battle. On one hand, I love my union SAG, on the other hand AFTRA is my parent union.
AFTRA allowed me to go through its backdoor and join SAG after I did a radio commercial for Disneyland back in 1981. (When I worked there as a Character in a Mickey mouse suit) Now, I am being asked to choose which parent I love the most. Well, after several calls from Rosenberg, the President of SAG and Ed Asner (Cool Papa Bell) telling me to vote NO on the AFTRA contract I am truly dazed and confused. I was doing to vote yes until they got me to change my mind.
I had to take away my selfish need to work in front and behind of the camera and think what this possible strike would mean in the long term of Hollywood. Reality has ended scripted programs for most actors and writers… the Internet has a promotional window forever if you really do the math… Gas prices to drive to the Warner Bros. in valley from LAX area is and back is $15.
SAG is 100% right this time so I must Vote “NO” on the AFTRA contract. I made my decision. It comes a time when all actors have to choose a side on our future and the future of all actors.
Think of where we will be once Microsoft and Google owns the entire world. It will be like the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee stealing the 4 Clinton Michigan Delegates and awarding them to Obama — just because they can.
I urge every AFTRA member to vote NO and stand by SAG. because the timing has ticked down to the wire.
Our destiny as performers against free product integration, no DVD residuals (I have lived on since 1985 from Police Academy 2 residuals), yes residuals do matter when it comes to the loneliness you feel around rent time and you haven’t worked in months.
It’s the check in the mail that gives you dignity to say you are a professional actor/pizza cook/security guard at FOX/Waiter…
Residuals are what dreams are made of… NOT promotional windows…
WGA, SAG & AFTRA current member in good standing.
“Take a strike vote SAG and see where you stand.”
Well, they (the leadership) know where they stand and that’s why there’s no strike vote going on…
It is highly unlikely that 75% of SAG will vote yes.
So a no vote will be more crap icing on the crap cake SAG has turned the “we won’t talk until AFTRA fails” negotiations into, even though our contract is up in a week and the AFTRA results won’t be in until two or so weeks…
Note to SAG: Concentrate on YOUR OWN CONTRACT instead of AFTRA’s!
I don’t enjoy my SAG dues (which were already hard enough to pay this year because of the WGA strike fallout) going to tons of anti-AFTRA mailings and phone calls when what you are supposed to be doing is NEGOTIATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SAG: The more you keep up this ridiculous behavior, the more your whining about the producers is being ignored (and resented by hard working below the line people & actors that want to work in this town).
Signed,
Longtime member of SAG & AFTRA
Anybody who believes anything out of SAG’s current MF leadship are morons! They have been yelling at the top of their lungs for weeks now how shitty AFTRA’s tentative deal is and that it is horrible for all working actors. Now that they have received feedback that their Anti-AFTRA Exhibit A campaign will not succeed they agreed in NEC to extend the their own current contract??? So AFTRA’s tentative deal which made improvements on the current SAG/AFTRA contract (negotiated together) is unacceptable, but since SAG can’t negotiate anything better they are willing to extend their own contract which undeniably has lesser terms all around from AFTRA’s propsed deal??? Are they serious??? And are you MF defenders serious??? They obviously don’t even believe the crap they say, but mindless drones repeat it like gospel.
Pay attention, SAG leadership can’t negotiate a deal with AMPTP, they can’t convince people to vote down AFTRA’s deal, and they can’t get a strike authorizataion. What exactly CAN they do? Besides repeatedly make claims they can’t back up? In fact the only thing I have seen them accomplish is to alianate AFTRA and splinter the different factions within SAG.
Here’s a perfect example of who MeFirst is getting to vote no!
Chris Jackson: “(I have lived on since 1985 from Police Academy 2 residuals….It’s the check in the mail that gives you dignity to say you are a professional actor/pizza cook/security guard at FOX/Waiter…”
More parking lot attendants voting for actors to strike. Great.
I look at these comments and I’m stunned. This is truly the beginning of the end. Only a fool or a liar would disagree that since the deregulation took place in 95-96(thanks to Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress)that the entire industry has shifted from creative talent based leverage to a corporate leverage system exerted by network and studio conglomerates. For a bunch of liberals, Hollywood sure is full of Bushisms.
Hanks and Spielberg are classic examples of the hypocracy and greed that now ruins our commerce and our craft. Band Of Brothers actors got no pension and health contributuions from these two. They didn’t want to give up their producers commissions. How much did they make on DVD sales? True American Patriots indeed.
The only winners in this war are the media, they’re getting more column inches in the last year than most have had in their career thus far.
The losers are the actors/craft persons/even the execs the industry is changing and there is no clear leader with a vision.
AFTRA/SAG will implode, films will be done non-union (save the we’re a union town, when bills need payment some aren’t as all for one as they are when the bank account is flush) and states will revive their right-to-work status.
The sad part is if the two Alans spent as much time educating their members who aren’t Hank/Clooney etc on the contract perhaphs they’d be spending less time pissing on AFTRA as the enemy.
And yes, where IS the WGA they are suddenly very quiet.
Just need to make another few comments. First, when you look at that video of Tom Hanks laughing, picture him laughing at the guild.
Second, both Bob Fraser and Tom Segerson have a point. The working actor should think about forming a new guild and leave behind the SAG and AFTRA. At the same time, every actor and actress should work hard to avoid working on a big name actor or actress’ movie or TV show. Make sure that the biggest name on the marquee is going to be either Michael Cera, Ellen Page, Olivia Thurby, and/or has the last name of Bateman. In other words, the lead is in the early to mid 20′s or fully supports the SAG.
Finally, and not least, everyone should find the courage TO NOT STRIKE. Granted, the SAG might just be avoiding the enviable, but working without a contract would be a major blow to AMPTP plans which were to expect a strike next Tuesday. The AMPTP would be at a total loss as to expect anything less than a strike. What would happen next is that the SAG would be in control of negotiations because the guild would have the power to call another strike vote at anytime and the next vote will empower the SAG board to set a strike date.
With that said, Notgoingtotip is dead wrong in his analysis regarding the WGA. The WGA was pushed to the breaking point and had to strike. Their negotiations with the AMPTP were not serious at all until they set a strike date for 12:01 AM on Monday November 5th. That lead to a round of negotiations that ultimately failed.
What resulted was a four month strike that to a deal that both sides can be happy. This deal included no rollbacks at all except for some deals that were cancelled by the networks. You have to understand that the showrunner makes all the decisions regarding who is hired or fired and this includes the number of writers on staff. An concession requiring cutbacks on writing staffs to only four people would have been caught by the WGA during negotiations and if made during the last round, would have been a major dealbreaker that would have resulted in the breakup of talks, a third six-week cooling off period, one very angry Nikki Finke who would have made a major post that would have taken up 10 pages of 8 X 11 paper minus our comments, no Oscars, WGA members targeting annual meetings, and congressional hearings.
The final result would have been an April arbitration hearing that would have given the WGA everything they wanted and more with one person being appointed by the President, one appointed by the Senate Majority leader, one appointed by the House Speaker, and two appointed by the FCC. Again, the final result would have been the WGA getting everything they wanted in negotiations and more. About a few weeks later, the AMPTP would reach an agreement with both AFTRA and SAG on those terms, and why not.
Cassie, it is AFTRA that has a me first attitude. They broke negotiations on how joint AFTRA/SAG negotiations were going to commence then AFTRA goes ahead and fully capitulated to the AMPTP. Meanwhile, they never briefed SAG on negotiations while they were going on, and when the deal was announced, they fled until they were caught and forced to brief SAG. This lead to the action we are seeing right now where Roberta Reardon’s me first attitude is causing both guilds to go to war against each other and small struggling actor vs bigshot $20 million dollar a picture actor who doesn’t care one bit about the SAG.
George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, Sally Field, and their ilk should be blacklisted right now. That means that any actor or actress that doesn’t support the SAG must quit shows who’s names I mentioned. I am sure that ABC would love to cancel Brothers and Sisters just because Emily VanCamp refuses to work with Sally Field or that the producers of Angels and Demons must find their working actors from Americans visiting the Vatican.
The vitriol against Hanks, et al is truly odd. Hanks supports AFTRA because it has traditionally been the gateway for struggling actors to get into the business. You can buy into AFTRA and get things jumpstarted in your career. Or not. Depending upon your talent and drive.
Worth noting, it’s been many moons since Hanks has done much of anything AFTRA. He supports them for, believe it or not, fairly selfless reasons…because they help young actors, one of which he was once.
Jessy S.
It seems that you can’t even read. Because if you could, you would notice that Jack Nicholson is actually on your side. He wants actors to vote down the AFTRA deal.
SAG taking the wait and see approach is dangerous in the sense that these studios can lock SAG out. To think that not having a strike vote is empowering to SAG position is just plain nonsense. If they can’t get a strike vote now what makes anyone think they can get one three months for now.
the writers are quiet because they know they should have waited. Now they are saying OOPSI
Jessy S. is a moron. Does he really think SAG would have leverage against the AMPTP at this point? What a fool. If SAG extends their current contract 30 days, the AMPTP would still accept those terms. SAG can;t just unilaterally extend the contract. Now if AMPTP were to accept the extension, then SAG would have 30 days to accept AMPTP’s terms (which won;t change much). SAG would not be able to hold a “strike at anytime” scenario over the AMPTP because they are too smart for that. If SAG doesn’t seriosly negotiate in those 30 days, I can guarantee you when SAG asks for another extension, AMPTP will say “you better get a strike authorization because we are done playing with you”
Have any of you folks seen TV ratings recently? Film grosses? Do you really think we can survive another strike? The WGA strike accomplished NOTHING compared to what the largest portion of the day-to-day working members lost in salaries. Saying nothing of the other union, guild and production salary losses. If you work 2 days a year, then great, you’re probably gung-ho strike! But if you actually make your living being paid 52 weeks a year working in film or television you really have to ask yourself how will this industry survive another strike. Big, tough talk means nothing, and there’s a lot of it here.
Well I think the vitriol at Hanks is coming from frustration. While Hanks intentions could very well be done out of earnestness for the young actor, it does nothing for the established middle class actor.
Who cares that Hanks makes $20 mil a picture? It’s easy to say it’s obscene but not a single actor posting on this site would pass it down if it was offered to them.
Once again it comes down to the AMPTP, if they want to pay that amount of money that’s their right. Just like professional athletes, the owners determine value for a players skills.
It doesn’t matter which witch camp you support Hanks or Nicholson, because neither of them are going to be affected by the outcome. They will still get paid handsomely, they will have clauses that protect them from clip-use and if they work in TV they will give them Producer credits to offset the lack of new media residuals.
In a perfect world both acting guilds work together.
In an ideal world the AMPTP would realize that giving something tangible weather it be a DVD increase, force majure or a higher residual rate this whole thing could be done with everyone feeling like they got a fair deal.
THIS JUST IN…
I have it on good authority that the estates of some MAJOR Hollywood players have weighed in on the AFTRA contract & SAG Board & NED behavior, and here’s how it breaks down:
Pro-YES-on-AFTRA Contract: Rodney Dangerfield who reputedly said “I tell ya, as an AFTRA member I get no respect at all. Last week SAG sent me a t-shirt…with a bullseye on the back!”
Pro-NO-on-AFTRA Contract: Ronald Reagan who said, “Well, Nancy and I used to take lots of costumes home from the set without permission, and this is no different…is it?”
Pro-YES-on-AFTRA Contract: Paul Robeson who said, “That old man river, he just keeps rollin’ along…”
Pro-NO-on-AFTRA Contract: Bela Lugosi who said, “Where the hell can i get a snort of China White around here?”
Pro-YES-on-AFTRA Contract: George Washington, who said, “I never tell a lie.”