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SAG’s National Board met today and issued as statement.
(The AMPTP’s reaction is below it):
Los Angeles, July 26, 2008 — The National Board of Directors of Screen Actors Guild passed the following resolution at its meeting today:
It is a core principle of Screen Actors Guild –That no non-union work shall be authorized to be done under any Screen Actors Guild agreement and;
That all work under a Screen Actors Guild contract, regardless of budget level, shall receive fair compensation when reused.
Passed unanimously 68-0.This resolution represents guidance from the National Board of Directors to the National Negotiating Committee. It reaffirmed the importance of these issues in these negotiations.“For some time, we have been telling the industry how important it is for all new media productions under our contract to be done union and how important residuals for made-for new media programming are when programs are re-run on new media,” said SAG National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Doug Allen.
“I am very pleased that our National Board today unanimously confirmed these essential principles in support of our National Negotiating Committee,” Allen added.
And the AMPTP responded:
“The continued refusal of SAG’s negotiators to accept AMPTP’s final offer means that actors will continue to work indefinitely under the expired contract – an old contract that contains none of the $250 million in additional compensation provided by AMPTP’s final offer, and an old contract that provides none of the new media rights and residuals that other Hollywood Guild members have now been enjoying for months. SAG has permitted non-union Internet production under its contract since 2001. AMPTP has offered to extend SAG jurisdiction to original new media production, including low-budget programs that employ a single “covered actor.” The AMPTP’s final offer also guarantees residuals when original new media productions are reused and terms to increase pay and residuals if the program is eventually exhibited in traditional media. None of these rights and residuals exists under the contract that expired on June 30th.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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SAG needs to call a SELECTIVE strike and shut down production of, not the whole industry (let as many people keep working as possible), but any and all potentially bnig money-making FILMS scheduled to open next Christmas and summer.
The AMPTP is being utterly unreasonable.
It’s beginning to look a lot like (last) Christmas.
Thanks so much for your foresight and planning in your contract negotiations SAG.
“The continued refusal of SAG’s negotiators to accept AMPTP’s final offer means that actors will continue to work indefinitely under the expired contract”
Ahhh, how about: “The continued refusal of AMPTP’s negotiators to respond to SAG’s counter proposal to the latest offer means that the defacto lock will continue indefinitely and that actors will continue to work indefinitely under the expired contract”?
TO STRIKE:
AGREED!
I cannot believe that the AMPTP, just as they say out one side of their mouthes that they are having a record breaking summer, making billions upon billions, that they expect SAG to agree to giving up residuals and jurisdiction over New media, (which for those of you (BILL)who still don’t get it – will be the ONLY form of media in the future – and that time is nearly here), when those are how we get paid! Unbelievable. Excuse the french – but this formerly anti-strike actor is now angererd by the actions of the AMPTP, and I would not formerly have voted in favor of striking out of concern for the rest of the industry – but this does it – FUCK the AMPTP. And I have a strong feeling that I am not the only formerly agreeable SAG member who is now angered – I hear all around me that the anger towards the AMPTP is growing rapidly, because of their refusal to bargain, and insistence that we give up future residuals and new media jurisdiction.
PEOPLE: IT IS NOT SAG that is causing the stoppage – it takes TWO to tango, so you people out there – LIKE BILL – quit aiming your vitriol at SAG, it is the AMPTP, aim it where it is due – they are the ones who expect us to settle for terms that would amount to a step backwards in compensation for the future, while they are raking in billions. We won’t roll over and play dead for the AMPTP like the rest. PERIOD. You people act like “gosh, SAG is so unreasonable, they are such crappy people, and the AMPTP is such a reasonable body of people – why won’t SAG just listen to the AMPTP?” WHERE IS YOUR SOLIDARITY? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED. YOU SHOULD PRAY THAT IF YOU EVER FIND YOURSELVES WITH A BACKBONE, STANDING UP TO THE AMPTP, YOU SHOULD PRAY THAT SAG WOULD FORGIVE AND FORGET YOUR LACK OF SOLIDARITY, AND STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH YOU.
STAY STRONG SAG, WE ARE NOT ASKING FOR ANYTHING NEAR UNREASONABLE. THE AMPTP IS BEING THE STUBBORN BRAT CHILD THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN, “MORE FOR ME, MORE FOR ME”. Pathetic.
UUGH….
this is such a simple issue: in the very near future, all media will be “new media.” if the amptp gets its way, new media will be non-union. acceptance of the amptp’s offer will turn this town from union to non-union overnight. that’s really all there is to it.
if qualified voting within sag is instituted, the members of the union who are not allowed to vote on crucial contracts will go financial core. these members constitute about 94% of the union, maybe more. so, if qualified voting is passed, this town will essentially be non-union.
do you remember why the union was formed? many of you might not be old enough to remember what life as an actor was like before residuals. does amy brenneman understand that she’s endorsing union members walking into a future that doesn’t include residuals for what will very quickly and exclusively be “new media”? i’m not marching in any union line behind someone that ignorant.
maybe the definition of “qualified voting” should be changed to “only members who understand how the union works and what the contracts really mean will be allowed to vote.”
What you give away today, you will not get back tomorrow as history has shown. SAG, please stay the course. It sucks that there’s a de facto lock-out, but let’s make the most of it. Our union depends on it.
Kristy,
That is awesome! ……. Only the people you deem “smart” enough to vote can vote. …………… Why don’t you play that back in your head for a while and get back to me.
hey #44
read kristy kreem’s post again.
kristy is saying the measures being proposed by unite for strength
will turn this town non-union so fast you’ll be nauseated.
if they pass, that is.
what is unite for strength’s position on new media?
there isn’t one mention of it in their pledges, let alone the full plank in the platform it deserves. what about that?
how about they address the major problem at hand?
The AMPTP pisses and moans: “SAG has permitted non-union Internet production under its contract since 2001.”
Well, guess what, AMPTP? The party is OVER. You should be happy that you had 7 years of non-union Internet production. That was 7 years too long, as far as SAG members are concerned, but you should be happy that you had it.
Now, it’s ALL union, ALL the time for the studios.
It’s just a JOKE that Warner Brothers or Disney or Universal or any other major studio to think that they should be able to produce NON-UNION work under SAG jurisdiction.
This is a NON-STARTER for SAG members. Most SAG members I know are willing to go to the mat on that one.
I say, let the studios start rolling out production on their BIG feature films without a settled contract, then SAG should STRIKE with a one-day notice.
Let the movie theaters be filled with “Big Brother: The Movie” and “Project Runway: Two Hours of Sewing”.
SAG is the ONLY UNION LEFT in this town. Go, SAG!
But can we ignore the fact that a strike won’t necessarily help SAG’s cause? The result of the last SAG strike is still hurting the union. I think you can add a prediction that a strike will simply be another way to turn this town non-union — God knows there are plenty of non-union actors chomping at the bit to get work, any work, at any rate. The last strike proved that the producers will use them or go elsewhere to get the job done. Will the work be of the same quality? Probably not. But that’s never been the producers’ biggest concern anyway.
As for qualified voting, if SAG enables qualified voting that excludes 94% of the union, they will have collapsed under their own stupid weight and deserve to become a Wikipedia footnote. But I don’t think SAG will go that route.
I am pleased to see the National Board stand firm on new (now) media.
Just about every day we see more evidence of the convergence. The NFL has announced they’re streaming Sunday Night Football over the Net.
The moguls’ goal is to eliminate television & cable TV distribution in favor of the Internet. Anything short of parity between old and new media residuals is a huge giveaway.
The AMPTP is playing for keeps in now media, and we have to fight just to keep even.
AMPTP wrote: “actors will continue to work indefinitely under the expired contract – an old contract that contains NONE of the $250 million in additional compensation provided by AMPTP’s final offer”.
I feel as though I’ve lost my mind…but after this summers boxoffice money making blow-out…well, $250 million, just doesn’t sound like a whole lot of money.
nobody wants a strike. membership first doesn’t want a strike and no one underestimates how devastating it would be.
sag is in such a unique situation now. it’s a union with a very small (smaller than ever) percentage of its members making a living as actors, and the producers are feeling the heat of technology being at the point where even kids can shoot, edit and broadcast movies from home.
actors are at a monumental crossroads. the business is changing, rapidly and forever. sometimes artists don’t want to think about technology. it’s not their thing. but the truth is, we all have to think about technology now, because it’s what’s steering our lives and our careers.
there are a lot of actors out there who are also talented writers and directors. the production end is almost in our backyard. it truly will be when the stranglehold on distribution is broken, and that will eventually happen as technologies merge.
united artists might have ultimately failed, but i would argue that united artists was before its time. that paradigm now, with affordable technology and talent literally in our hands, could — and should — make for quite a revolution in this business.
As I understood it, qualified voting was just a proposal that only affected members voting on specific contracts that didn’t affect them, but they weren’t suggesting that the members wouldn’t be voting on elections and every other vote.
They wouldn’t even listen to the proposal, it went straight to die in a committee, so I wouldn’t be giving it another thought.
kristy kreem:
what you’re saying is true, but history tells us many stories of big business sizing up new markets, and then going in for the kill. the internet is fun, for all kinds of stuff: will ferrell with the kid landlord, the list is huge. but, right now, banner media (stationary ads on web sites), is dropping in price per hits by 45%, and everything is headed toward an actually rather traditional ad format: streaming ads before during and after streaming content. I wouldn’t for one second underestimate the probability of the big media companies consolidating their control over the real money making content on the internet. SAG’s job – its line in the sand – is, whatever use is made of actors in new media? you have to pay us a fair wage and pay us residuals. artists taking matters into their own hands, sounds cool? but the precedents, most recently 70′s american movies, are fraught with evidence of artists being colossal fuck-ups when it comes to business. hence the director/actor driven 70′s cinema lasted about ten minutes. and I say that as an actor/ writer/director who thinks movies were, generally speaking, a lot better in the 70′s. our task as actors (directors and writers) is to make sure that our internet made and/or aired work is compensated from first airing and first dollar, in proportion to revenue generated (a percentage is the way to go. we gotta get a percentage), and we are paid fairly for reuse (residuals). we have to have jurisdiction to prevent non-union work from dollar one, we HAVE to nail that down with this contract, whatever it takes, and then, the artists who can figure out how to make content and sell it using good business heads will have a shot at some control, and most artists, as usual, will fuck up the business side, but, will be protected in wages, residuals, pension and health, and workplace protections. THAT’s where the rubber meets the road in this contract in front of us. I think that message is starting to get through to sag actors, and I’m hopeful we can give our reps the support they need as well as a strike authorization, which is the only leverage that matters. the suits will probably think long and hard, knowing that sag can then strike at any given moment, about allowing the industry to be shut down overnight, and losing billions of dollars. giving sag what they need on new media may start to seem like a very reasonable trade-off in the face of a devastating strike. and we need to be strong with below the line folks who will scream bloody murder, and the other unions that didn’t hang tough (dga, wga, aftra) and protect themselves on new media – they’ll all be screaming at us, but we have to remember – this is OUR livelihood that’s being threatened, OUR careers, OUR families. we need to take care of business, even if we don’t have many friends for a while.
Salamander.
I understand what you are saying. This brings me back to the idea that SAG members who care about their union and are able too serve run for office. We do not need a “party system” in a union that is supposed to serve all members not just those who support a certain platform.
The needs of the union change from year to year, (if not minute to minute). These “slates” that are being thrown around are fracturing the guild even before there is an issue.
I think all the “groups” have “some” solid ideas. But I am not drinking anyones kool-aid and for them to assume that they have all the answers is very arrogant.
Actors don’t negotiate their own deals for work…………. Why on earth would they try to negotiate an entire Three year contract.
Hire a bunch of really good agents to hand Nick Counter his own ass.
Or you can just follow Kristy’s logic and some day we can have a SAG “King” or “Queen” since we can no longer be trusted with our own vote.
#44
i really think kristy was just being sarcastic with that last line in her first post.
what is great about these posts today is that the message is getting out to folks that this contract negotiation is pivotal. it’s historic.
sag members have to understand how dangerous this amptp offer is for all actors. the political nature of any union is something we can’t really change. there will always be people with different ideas and/or people who crave power. the fact that these elections are happening in the middle of a contract stalemate is unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.
having an opposing faction say that current administration is inept
is to be expected at election time but unite for strength doesn’t seem to have a message with regards to how THEY will handle the issue
of new media and all that entails. if they have a plan, i’m all ears.
what’s great, #44, is that we all keep talking about what’s going on with this contract.
we need to secure union jurisdiction over all new media;
proper compensation and residuals for made for internet and/or
re-uses;
we’ve got to make sure that all our members know that this contract
IS the ballgame.
let’s keep talking.
“we have to have jurisdiction to prevent non-union work from dollar one”
t. rex speaks the truth. in my grandiose plans for artist emancipation through new technology, i didn’t for one second mean to diminish the necessity of this first and crucial line of defense (and those that follow).
the amptp does know that artists can be colossal fuck-ups when it comes to business, and this is part of what’s keeping the amptp’s hope alive in offering this outrageous deal of grizzled left-overs. a group of actors has actually just demonstrated shitty artist business decision-making by expressing their wish to unseat the negotiators who are fighting to ensure fair protection and compensation for all actors.
but i still want actors to start making movies again, because movies really were better in the 70′s
If SAG does not strike, then there will not be enough heat put on the AMPTP. This is because studios make the majority of their bread and butter from TV (and TV is also becoming Internet … a second distribution cycle). TV production is going strong. Within a couple of months, all episodes for the fall season and some of Jan.-Feb. will already be in the can; this is way ahead of schedule to guarantee that TV will not be messed with (again, bread and butter).
Want to get the AMPTP moving? Strike now — immediately. The strike will be swift, probably not more than a couple of weeks, before the AMPTP gets too nervous.
July 1 we should have struck, forcing a deal to happen by now. But sooner is better than later at this point.
Because if SAG waits to strike for another month or two, then TV production will be too far ahead to matter for quite some time. They won’t be hurting with film for a while still (…bread and butter…) because they will just space out releases to stretch what they’ve got to offer the public.
SAG passed this resolution 68-0! That happened only because there is full and unwavering agreement on the vital importance of the issues SAG’s fighting for, especially jurisdiction in new (now) media and attendant residuals. As actors, we understand how important these issues are for the survival of our union.
We need to hang tough, ignore the naysayers, and continue to fight for a contract that protects actors in new media.
The movement is happening – over 5100 SAG members have signed the Solidarity Statement supporting their elected leaders and negotiating team.
If you haven’t signed the Solidarity Statement yet – go to SAG.org and sign today!
In Solidarity!
Peace!
5100 in how many weeks. It took almost four weeks to arm twist your board for 68-0 vote. Have any you talked to extras, I don’t think you have their support. Everyone of them say in essence that they have no dog in this fight. Correct me if I’m wrong don’t they pay as a group the most to your health and welfare and pension plan. So 5100 you sound like spartans.
Hey scott
only 114,900 to go …….. Almost there!
hey just a thought
how many extras have you talked to?
are you a backround person? what would it take for you to ‘have a dog in this fight’? what is it that extras want that they are not getting?
i’m not trying to be flip. i want to know what it would take to get their support.
Arm-twisting is certainly one possibility. Another is that the reality of the moguls’ increasingly rapid transition of content delivery to new (now) media, and the implications for actors and other creative professionals, is much clearer now than it was even six months ago.