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The AMPTP alerted me to this ”Open Letter to the Entertainment Industry” in the form of an ad addressing the current situation with SAG and set to run in the Los Angeles Times tomorrow. I have a better idea: Why don’t the Hollywood CEOs get off their damn high horses and start negotiating directly with SAG (like they did with the WGA) and stop leaving everything up to their extremist labor lawyers and the AMPTP’s version of Dick Cheney, Carol Lombardini. This letter shows what a sham the AMPTP is and that it reps a Big Media cartel of these 8 companies. Also, it’s interesting how this letter conveniently forgets that Chernin made a favored nations deal on behalf of these CEOs with the WGA concerning New Media: if SAG gets a better New Media deal, so do the WGA and DGA:
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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I wouldn’t be surprised to see this ad in tomorrow’s USA Today either. All this says that the AMPTP offer to SAG is fair while the SAG demands are unfair. Oh, where are some of the terms of the AMPTP offer, and is it final? This raises more questions than answers, is clear that the AMPTP doesn’t want to negotiate, and the number one reason why SAG has to give the board the authority to call a strike. Nick Counter and his gang are cocky now, but wait until we are one week into the strike and see how the shareholders react.
A few basics:
SAG’s needs do differ in important ways from those of the other creative guilds.
The AMPTP is asking for huge rollbacks from SAG in allowing non-union new media production, setting a lower residual scale for new media, and changing force majeur.
New media is, as SAG pointed out, NOW media. The moguls have shown us this in their headlong efforts to migrate content distribution to new media.
The economy has little to do with the moguls’ position. The industry is still doing just fine, because people turn to inexpensive escapist Hollywood entertainment during rough times.
SAG took one last shot at getting the moguls to negotiate, bringing in the services of a mediator. The moguls wouldn’t negotiate.
No amount of bull-headed belligerent flackmeistering like the fetid piece above changes any of this.
The AMPTP has shoved and bullied SAG into a corner and dared the guild to go on strike. If SAG walks, everyone should understand this is the moguls’ doing, because they’re refusing to be reasonable and give up on the major rollbacks they’re so desperately trying to wrest out of the actors.
The moguls should understand it’s not just the negotiators or SAG’s leadership – both factions – who are refusing to accept their piss-poor offer. If SAG’s leadership presented that putrid waste of paper to the membership for a vote, we’d wipe ourselves with it, flush, and send it back.
It’s time the moguls make an appointment with their neurological proctologist to fix that lingering case of cranial rectumitis.
SAG doesn’t want a strike, but we will protect and defend the hard-won gains of the past seven decades by any means necessary.
What ‘trust’ have these guys established with anyone? That’s pretty funny. These guys know comedy.
Ask the writers if they trust them.
- What Trust
Really? Now? Is this really the right time? These guys want out of tv, out of anything other than 200 million dollar roller-coaster rides. You think a strike is going to help us? F.U.
Re: “The economy has little to do with the moguls’ position. The industry is still doing just fine, because people turn to inexpensive escapist Hollywood entertainment during rough times.”
I don’t know what industry you happen to be working in, but the entertainment industry is NOT doing fine. TV ratings are lower than they have ever been, attendance is continuing to fall (yes earnings have already exceeded last year’s but the attendance will most likely be down at the end of the year), and studios are far less likely to greenlight anything that isn’t a surefire success with A-list talent attached. If a strike happens, this will only get worse. It won’t matter for most SAG members what the terms of their contract with AMPTP are because more of them will find it harder to get work. A strike will most likely lead to further decreases in production and more focus on projects with the same few A-list actors.
Yes, the AMPTP is being difficult and refusing to negotiate, but unfortunately that have absolutely no incentive to. SAG’s needs might be different than everyone else’s but given what happened with the WGA strike, a strike is unlikely to get them much more than they are already being offered. The costs of a strike are far more than what SAG could ever hope to gain from it. If the WGA still ended up with a terrible deal despite having widespread support and being one of the first unions to have their contracts with the AMPTP expire, what makes SAG, who is starting from a far weaker position (I am not saying that their grievances with the AMPTP aren’t justified, rather that they won’t have the support the WGA had and they have to overcome the, unfair or not, precedents set by every other union) think that they are going to be able to get anything better?
these slimeballs will get what’s comin’ to ‘em when they see their stars walk out…
Geez. You’d think we worked for communists or something with this letter. That’s what the communists did, you know. They would create companies in which the president and the janitor all got the same pay, same deal, same everything. But that’s not how things are, and everyone knows it. That’s why actors do have 1) needs that other unions don’t have (use of name and likeness and product placement being just two MAJOR differences) and 2) will fight tooth and nail to get the best deal we can get (including what is actually fair for new media).
So far, all the unions are getting screwed on new media. If SAG gets a better deal on new media, then doesn’t that mean that everyone else gets those same terms?
I’m starting to think that the last people that should be put in charge of a labour negotiation, for either side, are labour “experts.” They seem to turn what should be simple business into war.
And for an industry that’s all about image, I can’t imagine the AMPTP managing theirs any worse. You got SAG heading for a strike, the WGA raging over their contract being unfulfilled, and an industry that’s sinking under the weight of its own crap. They can’t handle their own image any worse if they did a press conference dressed as Snidely Whiplash and announce that for every day SAG goes on strike, they’ll close a home for widows and orphans.
Of course, letting others do all the heavy lifting seems to be the AMPTP strategy. If they can do nothing, they’ll do nothing, no matter what it costs them, because it’s just other people’s money, and not worth their effort.
Three cheers for Nikki Finke for seeing through the AMPTP’s never ending smoke screen. It’s refreshing to have an honest reporter who understands Hollywood and reports it as it is.
Have any Big salary actors spoken out? I do not think so,thouigh I could have missed it when I sneezed. I do not see Bruce Willis saying give all actors a fair price of all showings of any work regardless of medium.
I do not see rousing support, forth right demands for all actors from Matt Damon , Ben Affleck, Leonardo, Gyneth Paltrow, Woody Allen, Brad Pitt,Robin WIlliams and so on.
Why?
Let’s face it: those moguls who signed this letter could give a rat’s ass about any of the true working actors that have names different from “Hanks”, “Pitt” or “Witherspoon.” Rank and file are exactly that to them. None of THOSE actors will ever meet them, much less spend time on their yachts, in their mansions or have lunch at the Grill. And if there were to be a strike, it’s still evident that the AMPTP companies would be just fine… until they start losing even more viewers on their networks, less people find themselves inclined to go to cinema and no commercials with humans are being made about their products. So how long a strike does it have to be to get them to feel that way?
Same old song and dance. You’d think they could at least learn a different one. I don’t think anyone actually believes this garbage, and the fact they keep printing it just proves they don’t live in the real world. And the problem is, they don’t have to. If SAG strikes, the industry could collapse underneath itself, but these moguls would continue to sit with piles of cash watching everyone suffer over the few scraps they refused to give. God, I’m bitter as anything tonight. Someone needs to come in and take every penny the moguls have. Leave them begging the underpaid everywhere on hands and knees. I won’t shed a tear.
The writer’s strike took steam when show-runners and big name feature scribes publicly backed the guild.
When will the same be said of big name actors backing SAG?
Why is it whenever there is a strike threat it’s always the union’s fault? The real reason these arrogant condescending white men are upset with SAG is because they may be forced to cancel their vacations to Aspen, Maui or St. Bart’s.
Oh, well if the studio bosses think it’s fair, then it must be fair. I mean, when have they ever lied to us before?
The fact is that this industry has yet to recover from the WGA strike. The Moguls and the creative community both are still trying to regain their footing.
The A-List Actors can withstand a strike. Those guild members whose main income does not come from acting can withstand a strike. It is the true middle class actor (not Sag Prez Rosenberg) who will be in a load of trouble.
The studios can outlast this group of actors. Shareholders may complain as someone worte above, but with stocks where they are these days will it really make that much of a difference?
My humble take on this…
I came across a little fact on the Net that over 40 motion pictures at major American studios will be started in Spring 2009. Apparently the moguls are freaked that they won’t have a pipeline of pictures for late 2009 to Spring 2010. Sound like bullshit? Maybe… but then I talked with a friend in post-production at one of the major studios who reluctantly confirmed that this was a fact…they are gearing up for a major spring production schedule. After all, those in post need to know what’s on the menu and prepare for it at the tail end of productions.
I think it’s a negotiation ploy by the Moguls to scare the shit out of people. As one of the posters has said (and frankly, there are more studio trolls on this site right now than a Tolkein novel), television viewing has dropped as well as changes in theatrical viewing. BUT…if you crunch the numbers carefully, the crucial 18 to 24 year old demo is still busy buying movie tickets. (As in Twilight)It’s still a tribal rite for kids to schlep together to a theater to see a movie, and the Moguls know this. So they are freaked…hence the bluster, the Rove-like twisting of facts to frantically try convincing people that a strike would destroy everybody involved…although of course their candy asses will come though just dandy.
As to the major stars being silent? I don’t know. Personally, I’d hate to be in their position. If you take a stand, you risk becoming a major hypocrite. Every major star has a sweetheart deal at any number of studios. Nobody believes you if you try to act like one of the regular guys when everyone knows you’re set for life. So forget them…this is a time and place for the rank-and-file actors to make a stand. Don’t count on icons to do the heavy lifting.
The only thing the AMPTP is saying is that they “fought hard” to screw everyone, and basically succeeded. How dare SAG question their screwing technique!
The only thing these guys understand is money. And the only time they’ll seriously negotiate is when they are LOSING money… lots of it.
3 words: UNION BUSTING TACTICS
Comment by Jessy S. — November 30, 2008 @ 4:09 pm: “Nick Counter and his gang are cocky now, but wait until we are one week into the strike and see how the shareholders react.”
This is another example of why SAG and strike whore supporters won’t get any satisfaction from a strike. If the grand strategy is SAG strikes and then AMPTP capitulates, that’s guaranteed to fail. Please drop the fantasy-like expectation that some external party is going to serve as a deus ex machina and save you. It didn’t work for WGA, and it won’t work for SAG. Shareholders didn’t save WGA, and they won’t save SAG. If SAG strikes, the resolution will have to come from within the industry.
SAG could help itself by doing some things that WGA did not. First of all, it can prioritize its contract proposals. Everyone return to reality and accept that you won’t receive everything that you want – strike or not. SAG can clearly publicize what it considers to be absolute necessities in its contract and then – heaven help us – strike until it gets those things.
Please don’t be like WGA and pretend that ALL of the contract proposals are necessities, and then show how weak your union is by giving up several of them in exchange for absolutely nothing. Select the ones that are truly important and then stick to those.
WGA pretended that home video residuals were a major strike issue. It was a well-publicized issue, and then surrendered in exchange for nothing. That was a significant setback, because AMPTP realized “Hey, they made a big deal about this issue and then gave it up for nothing. What else will they give up for nothing?” It placed WGA in an inferior position during the entire strike. Note that WGA was constantly complaining that AMPTP wouldn’t meet with it, and AMPTP’s counter was that it wouldn’t meet until X and Y issues were given up. In the end, WGA capitulated on issues solely to be able to meet with AMPTP. That isn’t negotiating from a strong position.
AMPTP is a group of jackasses, but they’re not stupid negotiators. If you pretend something is important and then give it up for nothing, AMPTP is going to force the issue on everything else.
If various reporting is correct, SAG made several concessions during the arbitration meetings. SAG members should be interested in what those concessions were, because AMPTP is not going to pretend that they have any value going forward even if SAG does. If SAG does, that will only lengthen a possible strike – and SAG still won’t be getting any of those things.
Before you vote for a strike authorization, all I ask is that SAG members please make sure that you know what your NegCom has already surrendered in arbitration and determine whether what remains is worth a strike. You will not be getting anything that has been surrendered up to this point. None of that can seriously be placed back on the table. Sure, your NegCom can try to toss it up there, but AMPTP is going to be very reluctant to even acknowledge those issues going forward.
I’m expecting the same mistakes of the WGA strike to occur. It’s a huge insult to strike and then not even make it worth anything. If you do strike, at least make it count for something.
To the anonymous person who signed his or her response to me as “re: mheister” -
If TV is hurting so badly, how is it then they found the money just in the past few months to make Hugh Laurie one of the best-compensated actors on TV, and Seth MacFarlane obscenely rich (God bless him)?
The cutbacks the moguls have ordered thus far have been window-dressing. They cancelled a few parties? Ha! ABC order a two percent across-the-board cut when they know all those shows have padding to begin with? Big ouch there. None of those relatively insignificant cuts happened because the industry is losing money.
I happen to be traveling at the moment – England, Germany so far. It’s one thing to talk about the numbers the moguls pull for foreign. It’s quite another to see with your own eyes the movie theaters in Piccadilly Circus screening almost nothing but American product. I am not for a moment fooled by the moguls’ whining about how tough things are for them, because they’re not. Those dudes want tough? Let them trade jobs with the CEOs in Detroit.
It is also more than fair to point out that without actors, they wouldn’t have product. Period.
I’m on a fast broadband in Munich as I type this, I understand their agenda – it’s not just Americans they’re planning to reach more directly through the Internet.
Actors needs to understand the implications of the rollbacks the AMPTP is sparing no effort to extract from us, and we need to hang tough.
“Trust”? What utter and complete crap! These individuals are individually and collectively the scum of the earth. When I read twaddle like this letter I just want to puke! And if I’m going to puke, I hope to have the good fortune to be facing one of these gentlemen when the urge arises!
How about this?:
When the executives take the same ‘great’ deal for themselves that the directors, the writers, AFTRA and presumably IATSE are going to have to take *and* forego all the stock options, the bonuses and the perks and have lived under it for say 30 days (and no they can’t use the company lawyers to get themselves out of this deal and get their options bonuses & perks back), then we’ll talk about how ‘great’ the deal that allegedly resulted from all of the exec’s ‘hard work’ is.
I’d love to do this as an episode of Morgan Spurlock’s 30 Days, tailing Chernin/Grey/Iger/Lynton/Meyer/Moonves/Sloan/Zucker as just one of them tries to cope for 30 days on the salary of a rank and file day player (or a background artist if the exec is feeling particularly cocky). At least Spurlock and his fiancee tried the same thing, giving up their more than middle class lifestyle for a month to both work at minimum wage jobs in a rustbelt town. If it’s good enough for the talent then is should be tolerable for an exec for a measly month.
Meanwhile I and others are doing homework into how to mount challenges to existing FCC TV licenses and a lot of other things that will let the moguls know that the public doesn’t have to sit back and watch the *executives* flush another 230,000 American jobs down the crapper or lie, steal and cheat the writers out of new media residuals despite the supposedly ‘great’ agreement they made with the WGA and have broken in just 8 short months.
The AMPTP are using the bad economy as a negotiating tactic. They are counting on peoples fear to rule them. We have nothing to fear but the AMPTP.
Nobody wants a strike, but nobody wants rollbacks. The AMPTP would like to do away with residuals. In the past, a television actor could count on residuals as a major portion of their income. Today, many shows do not repeat on network television. Shows such as Lost, Heroes and 24 only run once and all repeats run on the internet for which we get no residuals.
You can fool some of the unions all of the time, and all of the unions some of the time, but you can not fool all of the unions all of the time.
Maybe they should sign the above letter with their annual salaries listed right next to their names? Anyone know the figures?
Chernin annual salary = ?
Grey annual salary = ?
Iger annual salary = ?
Lynton annual salary = ?
Meyer annual salary = ?
Moonves annual salary = ?
Sloan annual salary = ?
Zucker annual salary = ?