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The federal mediator had arranged the first formal face-to-face in months between the two parties. But, given the acrimonious history of their stalled negotiations, it's not surprising that there was no progress. The question, just as it was before the economic climate collapsed, is what happens next? SAG seemed to answer that by issuing this statement about the breakdown of talks:
"Our leadership was optimistic that federal mediation would help to move our negotiations forward, but despite the Guild’s extraordinary efforts to reach agreement, the mediation was adjourned shortly before 1:00 AM today.
"Management continues to insist on terms we cannot responsibly accept on behalf of our members. As previously authorized by the National Board of Directors, we will now launch a full-scale education campaign in support of a strike authorization referendum. We will further inform our members about the core, critical issues unique to actors that remain in dispute.
"We have already made difficult decisions and sacrifices in an attempt to reach agreement. Now it’s time for SAG members to stand united and empower the national negotiating committee to bargain with the strength of a possible work stoppage behind them.
"We remain committed to avoiding a strike but now more than ever we cannot allow our employers to experiment with our careers. The WGA has already learned that the new media terms they agreed to with the AMPTP are not being honored. We cannot allow our employers to undermine the futures of our members and their families.
"No timeline has been set for the mailing or return of the strike authorization ballots."
SAG's National Board left it up to the guild's national negotiating committee to determine if and when mediation became fruitless. Once that point was reached, then the referendum seeking a strike authorization goes out to members. 
I'm told this process takes anywhere from 30 to 45 days, including three weeks for the ballots to come back to SAG. If the vote is yes to empower a strike by at least 75% of eligible SAG members who return ballots, this still does not mean a strike will be called. Because then it's up to the National Board to decide if and when to call for the work stoppage. So Hollywood is a step closer to another strike -- but it still may not happen. Now everything is up to SAG members. Nevertheless, the timing could threaten the Golden Globes and Academy Awards again.
The AMPTP got out first word of the talks breakdown with this statement:
"The AMPTP accepted the federal mediator's invitation to meet with SAG in hopes of concluding our seventh major agreement of 2008. The Producers met for two days with SAG at the request of federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez. The parties were unable to reach an agreement and the mediator has adjourned the mediation process."
Long Stalled SAG-AMPTP Talks Resume
SAG National Board Requests Mediator Before Strike Authorization Vote
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Along with most other people in the country, especially those of us who are losing our jobs and our benefits, as a DIRECT result of SAG’s stubbornness, I am fed up reading about SAG striking. Considering Citibank’s stock is now worth approximately 1/10th of what it was a month ago, how about taking 1/5 of what you were offered months ago and walking away happy ??
My post-production company has already laid off a large percentage of my co-workers, and my job is none too safe. It is time to go hat in hand to the SMPTP and state the obvious: “This is not the time for a strike, for many reasons…can we please all just try to get back to work, and when the economy is healthier, we will revisit the issues which have held us up for so long…”
PLEASE – use some common sense, and make a deal, to make a deal later on, and let us all try to get back to a semblance of normality. Along with so many others, I’m just a month or two from having to leave my house of many years, and find another place to live…
THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO STAND FIRM, it’s the time to take a firm stand that the industry needs to be back to normal, and we all would like to work – right now !!
There is no way on God’s green earth that they’re gonna get a strike authorization in this economy. Even the waiters pretending to be actors are finding jobs scarce and tips even scarcer. I believe in SAG’s cause– I really do. But another work shutdown in this town — which is largely working despite everything happening around us — is going to create an us-versus-them atmosphere which is going to make the WGA strike look like a walk in the park. The actors will have NO support. None.
Editor J,
But I thought new media wasn’t making any money? SAG just wants the free-air window for online media to close so that while the studios and networks make money, the talent makes money. But management kept saying that they aren’t making any money off this stuff so how can it possibly cost them anything to concede the issue?
Just shows how full of it the studios are on this. They *are* making money on new media and they still don’t want to share, not unless they have a gun to their head.
Well too bad for them, since this is all based on percentages then they can afford to pay the talent.
I am disgusted by the blind that continue to say SAG is stubborn. Open your eyes to reality. Take a look around. See the AMPTP for what they really are. Stubborn, greedy, arrogant children! SAG has dropped many important demands from the table, yet the AMPTP hasn’t dropped a thing. Instead, what do they do? They walk away from the table like spoiled little children not willing to play fair. It’s the AMPTP who wont play ball. Now the WGA has begun to see just what kind of deal they ended up with. SAG won’t let its members be fed the same rubbish that’s being offered up around town by the AMPTP. SAG is not a low-ball Union like AFTRA. SAG will play ball… but knows better than to take what is clearly another raw deal from the AMPTP.
Well, here’s one actor who’s ready, willing and able to go on strike. It’s high time we stand up and fight for what’s fair. Nothing more … but nothing less! The sooner we refuse our services, the sooner we turn this ship around. I am disgusted by the blind who continue to say SAG is stubborn. Open your eyes to reality. Take a look around. See the AMPTP for what they really are. Stubborn, greedy, arrogant children! SAG has dropped many important demands from the table, yet the AMPTP hasn’t dropped a thing. Instead, what do they do? They walk away from the table like spoiled little children not willing to play fair. It’s the AMPTP who wont play ball. Now the WGA has begun to see just what kind of deal they ended up with. SAG won’t let its members be fed the same rubbish that’s being offered up around town by the AMPTP. SAG is not a low-ball Union like AFTRA. SAG will play ball… but knows better than to take what is clearly another raw deal from the AMPTP.
Hollywood’s spin only works when goods are being produced. And very few goods are being produced right now. “Largely working”? Where? I can’t count on two hands the number of professional above-the-line people I know who currently have a contract that’s going nowhere fast. How can you work in this town and not recognize hype? All the “little” people have been out of the loop for months, and now that the noose is getting tighter, the “bigger” people are starting to say “Hey! Wait a min-” before their words are choked off. I believe in America – so I voted. I believe in Hollywood too, so I will strike with SAG.
Please, by all means send out that Strike Authorization Ballot. I’ll mark it no and mail it back before before the first post mailing piece of misleading propaganda hits my mail box. While you’re at it send a real ballot for the “last, best final offer” out (not some non-secret opinion poll) and lets see which one passes kiddies…For us to be holding the line for more than the other guilds got when other workers in other industries are taking concessions to keep their jobs and losing them en masse is arrogant and contemptable.
And so now SAG will pull us all down with them. F**k SAG and F**K those who will vote to strike – you will lose more than you ever would have gained times 10 and take us all down. No solidarity and NO SUPPORT from this Teamster!
Dear Editor J,
While I feel for you, I have to say, why on earth should SAG actors accept a shittier contract just to keep you working.
Actors live off feast-or-famine, take HUGE financial risks to succeed at their craft, but now, they’re to earn less money so you have a little more job security? Please, get real.
THIS IS WHY THERE ARE NO PAYMENTS TO WGA. THEH GREEDY BASTARDS DON’T WANT ANYONE TO SEE WHAT THEY ARE MAKING.
NOW IS THE TIME TO REALIZE THAT UNLESS ALL THE UNIONS STICK TOGETHER WE ARE ALL SCREWED.
THE COMPANIES ARE TRYING TO BUST ALL THE UNIONS BEFORE LIBERALISM COMES BACK.
SAG strike =
1 – More AFTRA contracts (you don’t like your terms now SAG actors, wait until you see what AFTRA contracts have to offer….)
2 – More productions moving out of California
3 – More talented below the line crew members with years of experience devoted to their craft, losing their houses, health insurance, etc.
4- A ton of struggling actors and background actors who vote yes to a strike having a coronary when they realize that if their union strikes they cannot collect unemployment! Wow, you lost your apartment through all of this, but hey Bruce Willis and Julia Roberts are getting better residuals! And the stars of Lost (shooting in Hawaii) are getting a few extra pennies when their show streams on ABC.com! So hey it was worth it huh!
Since Nov. of last year, this town has never been the same and if SAG strikes, it’s all over. Bye, Bye Hollywood as everyone knew it not so long ago…
By the way, what bothers me most is when people talk about strikes interfering with awards shows…Geez. A failing national economy, Hollywood and it’s crews and talent going to pieces and people give a crap about giving each other awards! Remember everyone, make sure a strike does not interfere with the dress up night that give statuettes to those movies and stars that the studios paid the most to advertise in the trades!
And on a final note, start paying attention to the new passport laws, you’ll need one to work in Canada when all the productions go back there again like in the early and mid-90’s!
Signed,
A longtime member of SAG & AFTRA, married to a below-the-line crew member
Time for a bunch of out of work actors to put the working actors out of work. It’ll be just like the WGA strike – losers who haven’t worked in years feeling like real writers because they march around with picket signs.
No one can legitimately accuse SAG of not being reasonable in their negotiations. If anything, a close look at the AMPTP reveals that they [the AMPTP] are clearly attempting to drive a wedge between not only AFTRA and SAG, but also with the other Guilds as well. Even when the AMPTP signs a lousy contract they don’t honor it (witness the non-payments from “new Media” etc.), so why shouldn’t SAG ask for what’s right and fair?
Having spent one wet and cold winter on the line, I’m prepared to do it again, if for no other reason than to support every actor who stood shoulder with me as I walked the line.
Hi Paul,
I think what Editor J is trying to say is that actors quibbling with the studios over Internet residuals is like the waiter arguing with the restaurant manager over a bigger slice of the tips…on the good ship Titanic.
SAG is shooting for dumbest organization of the new millennium!
Seriously, how stupid can they be?
If SAG doesn’t take a stand now, chances are they’ll never be able to revisit the issue. When the time comes to renew the next contract, everyone saying a strike shouldn’t be called now will be saying the same thing then. The point is management will never give in EVER unless forced to do so, leaving SAG with no choice but to make the difficult call. And don’t say no one will support them. Since the present contract already isn’t being honored, I’m sure the Writer’s Guild has more than enough motivation to march lockstep alongside SAG. As for the non-Hollywood types out there, they’re already pissed as hell at what the management types have already done to screw the economy, so it’s not like they’re going to be supporting the AMPTP on this one either. 2009 and 2010 are going to be very rough whether SAG strikes or not in any event. Better they should protect their own interests and everyone else figure out how to deal with theirs.
GIven the imploding economic environment, why should we sign up to a deal that screws us royally and will never be revisited? I’m truly sorry for everyone and anyone who is suffering currently, but things are likely to get a whole lot worse and if collective bargaining means anything at all, it means looking out for the members’ interests in LEAN times particularly.
How dare the AMPTP, a collection of obscenely remunerated studio chieftains, try to throw responsibility for any hardship caused back onto the union representing the vastly lower paid workers they exploit? It’s positively Orwellian. The fact that they bullied and starved the other, less powerful guilds into submission is no reason for us to roll over. This fight will set the parameters for decades, not three years as they would have us believe – and lied about before – so let’s take it to them and force them to react as their share-prices nosedive.
I’m not cavalier, just resolute and optimistic that, ultimately, the studios are both pragmatic and responsible to their shareholders. We CAN force a compromise from them, if we stay clear and united.
Let’s give SAG the ammunition to have a fair fight and, very probably, all will be well without a stoppage. If we don’t, the committee are toothless and the rights we lose will never be clawed back. Ever. Lean times or fat.
People like “Editor J” (above) still don’t get it. SAG isn’t asking for more anything, and the studios are profiting greatly from online media.
Get it? We (SAG) only want the same deal we already have – to get a share of the profits only from online media as we do/have from our traditional media contracts. It’s how we make our living.
The AMPTP is using the current economy situation to “cry poor”, but the truth is that they’re richer than ever and they can absolutely afford this. Again, we would only share in the profits of any new media, not take anything (except our paychecks) from production costs.
Along with the AMPTPs ridiculous demands to use non-union actors in their profit-making new media endeavors, they also want SAG to write off some $60 MILLION dollars in monies already owed to SAG members, plus remove the force majeure clause from the current contract. Yeah, right.
There are a couple of other things the AMPTP is trying to take away from us, which won’t happen either. And even if SAG were to let these things go for now and come back to them at a later contract negotiation date, everybody should be clear by now that the AMPTP will not honor their promises and bargain in good faith in the future, any more than they are now.
Put yourselves in SAG’s shoes: would you agree to earn about half of your income for the rest of your career?
None of this, none of this has anything whatsoever to do with the economy. I feel bad that anyone is having a rough go if it, but you all have to understand that none of this is SAG’s fault.
“Now it’s time for SAG members to stand united and empower the national negotiating committee to bargain with the strength of a possible work stoppage behind them.” I don’t want a strike either, but I tire of this unfair bullshit.
Where’s my authorization form, and where do I sign?
A poster ironically calling him- or herself “common sense” wrote that should they strike, “SAG will have no support and outright antagonism from all quarters.”
Not from ALL quarters, buddy. Not even close.
And a name-calling mudslinger posting under the name “Stricter Membership Laws” suggested that the WGA strike was the result of “losers who haven’t worked in years feeling like real writers because they march around with picket signs.” If that’s so, why would they ratify the contract in such large numbers — especially such a CRAPPY one?
In fact, WGA voting privileges are rescinded after 48 months of failing to meet the earnings thrshold.
Seems the shills are marshalling already.
Here is another SAG actor that will vote no on strike authorization.
How many lives must be destroyed right now? This has been so mismanaged I can hardly believe anyone even follows these idiots. I will not stand by and watch this town be destroyed by Rosenberg.
I dont know where they think the support will come from. All SAG actors I know arent even getting auditions right now, and certainly wont vote for a strike.
GOOD LUCK…..You are gonnna need it
The studios are already not paying the new media payments they agreed to in writing with the WGA. They are not paying the force majeure payments they agreed to in writing with SAG. Why on earth should SAG agree to a written contract now, on the verbal promise of things being better in the next contract? Because the studios have shown their word can be trusted?
Yeah, the economy sucks. But, the studios are taking advantage of that by laying people off even before the strike. They treat the people that help them make millions of dollars a month like crap, and some of those same people just say “thank you sir, may I be treated like crap some more.” Guess what? Strike or no, you are going to get laid off if the studios feel like doing so. At least lose your job for a hope for things getting better. Not just because a mogul needs to make his club membership fee by saving your salary.
Protest SAG – Monday morning at:
5757 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036
360 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10017
Non-violent legal protest march for all indusrty workers including SAG members who oppose a strike. Please be there!
Reading the possibility that SAG will call and get a strike vote is so frightening I almost can’t sleep at night. I worry about the economy of my country and my business. It’s unnerving to consider that the plight of my career and home and retirement is in dire straights, and that I can’t do anything about it. I hear and understand everyone’s position surrounding their jobs, but I beg that we choose to work, even with the idea of not having the best contract in place now. If SAG can find a way to agree to this contract, albeit not the contract they want, and agree that this is not the time to take our industry into further recession, they would be honored as heroes, now this is a cause I would stand behind and support.
Editor J,
I hope you’re a better editor than you are a writer, though somehow I doubt that. What’s the point of starting off your fifth paragraph by asking SAG to “please” accept a deal, when in your first paragraph you told them to take “one-fifth” of what they’ve been offered?
Something makes me think that I’m one-fifth the gutless pussy that you are.
The studios will start to claim that a severe recession is not the time for SAG to be striking, but the truth is that it’s the PERFECT TIME for SAG to walk out. CBS stock is at four bucks and change, down from $31 a year ago. They are staring into the abyss. Edging up to that abyss are News Corp and Viacom, with Sony, TimeWarner and GE not all that far behind. In fact, NBC/Universal is one of the biggest generators of free cash flow for GE right now while their other businesses, especially GE Capital, are hemorrhaging. The studios are all in a MUCH worse position than they were when they let the WGA walk out. If SAG were asking for something that would change the business model, then the studios would have no choice but to let them strike and hope for an advantage. But if you look at what SAG is asking for, it’s a minimal improvement over the WGA and DGA deals, and it’s in an area that will not cost the studios real money for a decade.
This is now a big game of chicken, but the studios know they have to cave. Last year’s writers strike killed their fall schedule and revs, and they can’t let that happen again.
My proposal — get one of the kingpins of your town to split the spread down the middle. Offer SAG and the studios the WGA/DGA deal plus half what their asking for. SAG is scared and will take it. Studios will avoid a strike that get them nothing but another chance to look macho. And after they got their asses handed to them by the writers, I doubt these studio chiefs want to take the chance of being embarrassed again.
Of course nothing happens without, and until, SAG membership authorizing a strike vote. Once that happens I predict people come to their minds quickly and a deal gets done stat.
Fed Up wrote, “The studios ARE NOT making any money. All the income from the new media advertising is just covering the money LOST in the broadcasting media.”
Thanks for the education. And thank goodness there are sympathetic people like you thrilled about handing over $700 billion helping the kind of CEOs and corporations that are victims of tough times due to the way the middle class have undermined their ability to make money. I heard one corporation has given up 2 of their fleet of private jets and now some corporate big wigs will need to fly on commercial flights. And all this time I had been thinking it was corporate greed.
Tough times indeed. Shame on the working actor who wants a fair wage–nothing more.
How many of these comments are sponsored by the AMPTP? Don’t know? Read them again, it ain’t that hard.
SAG leadership is:
Sharp as a tack!
Dumb as a bag of hammers!
Just like the nation at large. The funny thing is, Hollywood has a blanket “left of Karl Marx” rep, and yet, in this divide, you can see it’s no different from the good ‘ol USA itself.
I take heart in the thought that, like the country, I believe enough of SAG has had enough of the AMPTP’s bullshit. It’s time for a change.
Unionism is under siege. It’s being blamed by the right for the problems of the auto industry, the flight of the manufacturing base, a whole host of complaints.
Will unions need to see what’s reasonable? Of course. Is unionism the problem? Of course not.
Those opposing SAG’s stance are union-haters, pure and simple. They may be members of the union, they may be officers of the union, but they are union-haters just the same.
They refuse to recognize reality: the middle class actor’s back is against the wall. We only want what’s right. What’s fair. Not a penny more.
And yet? The AMPTP has made a decision to crush us. They want to cut our residuals by 50%. They want to allow our images to be tossed around for free, pushing us out of contention for work via overexposure, they want to put nonunion actors into our own contract!
Right now they’re running our work 24/7/365 on Hulu and Veoh and MySpace and paying us zip. The fucking balls!
They want to get OUR costs (rank and file) WAY down. Stars? They get what they want. They’re union members in name only.
Where’s Tom Hanks? With the producers. Why? He’s a producer!
Where’s Mr. “pick moral crusader roles” George Clooney?
He’s taking fistfuls of Advil because his ass hurts so much from fence sitting.
Where’s Cameron Diaz? Getting her fucking hair done. Or advocating for some fucking charity, as long as good p.r. comes with it. She’s not paying that publicist for nothing baby. Smart moves only for Cameron. Publicly advocating, putting your career on the line to fight the good fight on behalf of your rank and file brethren?
“My publicist, agent and lawyers say it’s a bad move.” Hurts the career and all that.
This whole thing disgusts me. What a lack of spine. The UFS people, the NY and regional boards, the merge with AFTRA people, the anti-Membership First-ers? What do they want? They want to cave. “Make the deal. Take what we can get. What idiot will strike in this economy?”
The suits are thieves and liars. Hello? They are not our friends. Hang with them? Be civil? Sure. But understand, when they decide to rip serious cash out of our asses? We have a choice. Allow it. Or fight.
It has zero to do with the economy being good or bad. These guys are hemorrhaging money as we speak. Firing people left and right. Agencies? Who, by the way, support the producers, not the actors they represent? Same thing. “You’re fired.”
Look folks – it’s U.G.L.Y.
It’s officially ugly. Every single person blogging who is NOT a SAG member with skin in this fight? Fuck off. Seriously. Fuck the fuck off. Worry about your own union.
And all the abject rank and file SAG cowards kvelling like hamsters on meth about having to actually stand up for what’s right?
Go find some guts. Or get the fuck out.
There are a lot of good points here, and it’s scary to think everything could shut down again. But Ben, give me a break with the “millionaires want to strike” talk. One could argue that it’s unfair that out of work actors who don’t have as much to lose get to vote on this, but the majority of working actors are not millionaires.
I don’t want a strike anymore than anyone else does, but why is everyone so quick to blame the union here rather than the AMPTP who is unwilling to give on anything? The contract has been up for some time. I don’t think SAG is rushing into this, and I hope it doesn’t come to that, but the point of collective bargaining power is to have some leverage, and it seems the AMPTP once again has no intention of resolving this in a fair way.
I’m a SAG member. I’ll vote “no” on a strike. All my reasons can be found in Cassie’s post.
Trolls on this site, be damned!
SAG should have authorized a strike vote back in May to strike at midnight July 1 — if they had done that, this would all have been over by August.
No actor I know likes what AFTRA did — walking away from the table and doing their own deal. EVERY actor I know will hold that against AFTRA for the foreseeable future and wish there was a way to punish AFTRA. It is a hopeless feeling.
So, note to SAG Negotiating Committee, you won’t get anywhere without at least trying to get a strike authorization from your members. If the membership shoots down the strike, then they will simply be victims of their own choices but you can’t be held responsible for not trying to help them get a better deal.
Do what’s right, wage a campaign as to why would should strike with some foresight arguments as to why it matters and what will happen if a strike is not authorized by 75%. You will have to be overt in explaining to your members why they have to think like businesspeople and not be so short-term in their m.o. Long-terming business strategizing would tell us that we should strike and that this is the best time to do it. But actors have to be given all the logical FORESIGHT reasons why, otherwise you might not get 75%.
I agree with one of the other posts that we (actors) should be watching out for ourselves at this point and everyone else needs to figure out how to work around it — and hopefully support us, because then a strike would be over sooner. There comes a time when you do have to stop trying to please and do what’s right for yourself in order to maintain integrity, health, and sanity. Actors are often to eager to please, and I believe this mentality can roll into the subtext of our negotiating strategies and voting patterns.
The working actor is disappearing. With the working actor going away, you will end up with lots of actors who have fewer opportunities to act regularly (outside of a class or 99-seat theatre project). This reduces the quality of your TV/film actor pool, which reduces the quality of your projects, which reduces the interest in your projects by audiences, which reduces everyone’s income. It is a domino effect that has no upside.
If producers want to make more money, it only stands to reason that they will support a healthy industry. Right now they are not supporting a healthy industry, one that pays for all their perks, and only demonstrating greed.
Hey, Stricter Membership Laws: I hope you were a working actor the day you came out of the womb, because to call all the people that are trying to get their careers going “losers” is a big slap in the face. Go ahead, take the deal the companies have no intention of honoring so you can continue to work 4 days a year as “husband of the victim” on CSI.
Michelle wrote, “My husband works in the entertainment industry, and every Friday we wait anxiously to find out if he will be the next one laid off. Many of his colleagues have been out of work for months or working very minimally.”
You’re unfortunate situation describes the life of a working actor every week. The difference is often we KNOW on Friday we won’t have the job next week.
But please don’t confuse that with being lazy or cavalier. While there are Millionaire Actors, the majority of the working actors are not the STARS on TV or FILM. The majority of us–We are just folks, many like you with families, working every day but only paid on some.
Like many businesses, we take meetings, we go out on sales pitches which we call auditions. We prepare for them, we fight as hard as we can for the job, but in the end only one of us gets that pay day. We send out mailings, we do theater for free with a waiver to remind buyers who we are. But please don’t think the days we don’t get paid that we are not working.
Like a car salesman who gets a commission only on the cars he sells, we only make money when we book a job. If a car salesman makes $500 on a car sale, it’s really not fair to say he is being overly compensated because between 1 and 2pm on Wednesday he made $500-therefore $500 an hour–some would say, “Stop complaining!” right? But they need to see the big picture.
While some sad soles like to make fun of actors and jest that they are lazy or silly or waiters. Well, first I would say there is no shame in being a waiter, and shame on those who mock a person working for a living. Second I would say they really don’t and are not trying to understand the situation.
I think you understand the situation Michelle. We are all in the same boat. And if SAG falls your financial situation will continue to degenerate. These corporations care only about their own money. And while they may be taking it from me today, tomorrow they will urge you to “follow suit with all their other contracts” and you will be forced to take what amounts to a non-living wage.
Capitalism is fine, but only if we as a people–as the majority–don’t let greed overshadow a workers right to a living wage. And that is all SAG is asking.
We’ve seen what the last eight years of, if I may quote Daffy Duck, “Mine, mine, all mine,” has done to our country. That philosophy is the real enemy. That philosophy sends American jobs overseas and then demands Americans except the same reduced wages these corporations are paying in third world countries, crying, “We need to stay competitive” and “why should we pay that here when they will work for a fraction of that there.” And finally they say “accept the contract all of our other workers have accepted.” And they try to trick us into thinking that is a reasonable offer. They make the worker the bad guy–the greedy one–the problem. But we know the truth.
The film industry is uniquely a business that cannot–at least not entirely– be farmed out to foreign countries. The struggles in our industry are the fight for what is left of American jobs. It is important we fight hard because we have to make up for the nothing we have done as we watched many jobs in many other industries shipped overseas. We thought we were helpless.
But recently we looked around and as a people decided “hope” was a word we believed in and the attitude “Yes, we can,” might replace what we have known. I believe it will.
On it’s simplest level SAG’s battle is the battle of what is right and what is wrong. If we ignore that we really are left with nothing and nothing is what we will pass on to out children. And that is the real tragedy.
I’ve worked in post production for the past 12 years. This year, my modest salary was reduced by $10,000 as a result of the WGA strike. They got about the equivalent of $160 extra a month for the next four years. I am left working paycheck to paycheck to support my family. Now SAG is asking for more than the WGA, DGA, IATSE, and AFTRA have already agreed to? This is the most asinine negotiating stance I’ve ever seen. It would be like the UAW going on strike right now as the big 3 are going bankrupt. Everyone is hurting right now. I’ve seen many job cuts to support staff jobs in post production, distribution, hell even studio janitors – they have yet to return since the end of the WGA strike. Taking the same deal the other four major entertainment industry unions already accepted is not weakness, it is the only prudent thing to do. It’s not worth thousands of below the line employees losing their homes and health care for George Clooney to get an extra $300 a month. I hope the SAG rank and file have the courage to recognize this.
Everyone keeps saying “the economy is so bad, SAG would be crazy and stupid to strike”. Ok. Don’t the producers live in the same economy that we do? Wouldn’t a strike hurt them as much as it would hurt actors? Wouldn’t they want to make a deal ASAP if we went on strike? I mean, with the economy so bad and all. Because if that’s not true, then “GASP”- the producers must have more money than they let on. They must be doing better than everyone else. They must be sitting on millions owed to the unions, and already refusing to pay WGA money that’s owed. Besides the 60 million they owe actors. Wake up.
As a working IATSE crew member, I am frankly appalled that SAG is contemplating a strike at this time. This climate of uncertainty has gripped our town for over one year. Few films have been produced, television is in shambles, and our economy is in the tank. For those of us who have to work at least 10 months of the year to support our families, I am sick and tired of being held hostage by Guilds who vast majority of members do not earn their living by working in their chose profession. My husband & I are both members of Property Local 44 and we have been working solidly through these tough times. Sadly, many of our fellow craft workers have not and are losing their homes. So many other states that have tax breaks are draining our jobs out of town. What exactly did the Writer’s win in their 5 month long strike? What do the Actor’s believe they will gain that the Director’s and Writer’s did not? Let’s work together to bring the film & television industry back to Hollywood. It’s time to get back to work!
Really? They want to fight about the pennies they will earn from Hulu.com or other free streaming sites?
If I was a working actor whether it’s in TV or film and have regular paychecks coming in, I could give a rats ass about the “New Media” residuals. What is that going to get me? 1 full tank of gas in my car?
Ok, I just deleted a long, cynical, whiney, tirade about our selfish, shortsighted nature and the damage done to those both deserved
and not.
Then I thought, this is Thanksgiving week and the holidays are upon us. We are not stupid, we know what’s going on in the economy, there is surely some goodwill and sense of fair play remaining and reason will prevail.
Right?
For every negative, potentially hurtful and damaging economic consideration; for each one of you who decries that SAG “bend over, don’t strike and take the deal”; for every one of the ancillary businesses a strike would hurt… The AMPTP also knows these things would happen – and are doing nothing about it. Is it just the Screen Actor’s Guild that’s supposed to shoulder that responsibility (to keep everyone working)?
Still think the AMPTP are the good guys in this?
Sounds like some of you think that it’s okay for management to screw over labor (no matter that their reasons are a complete sham) and that labor should just take what we’re fed and be happy with that. Do you people have any idea why labor unions were created in the first place?
Why aren’t you outraged that our – that YOUR – fat and rich employers are screwing people just like you while they get fatter and richer. Oh, I get it – it’s because “…it’s not my facet of the entertainment puzzle – it’s someone else’s problem. As long as it’s not me getting screwed, then it’s okay with me. Those people over there who are getting screwed ought to keep their mouths shut and be thankful they have jobs at all!” But god forbid it’s you getting your income cut in half. You’d all be screaming “unfair!!!” from every tower in the city! It may not be your problem right now, but are you so blind that you can’t see the writing on the wall? They’re already screwing the WGA (that’s the WGA talking, not SAG.) YOUR UNION IS NEXT!
Have you no spine at all? You’re just sheeple who follow the other weak-minded souls and feel that you have no voice so you must keep your head low, keep your eyes averted, and take and swallow what’s handed down by those who keep you under their thumbs.
The AMPTP spin-meisters have done their job on you. They’re even telling you who to blame. Who’s drinking the Kool-Aid now?
As a final note, everyone please remember that this vote is only for authorization to strike, not for a strike per se. Sure, a strike is much more possible once the negotiating committee has that piece of paper in their hand (and trust me, the AMPTP knows that as well). But it is still a bargaining tool at this point, not a strike, and is intended to get management to take SAG seriously. Which they will, very soon.
A strike is our only weapon against unfair, greedy liars like this. The authorization is the bullets.
We’re loading the weapon…
Don J says: “I could give a rats ass about the “New Media” residuals. What is that going to get me? 1 full tank of gas in my car?”
What is your car an AMC Hornet? The playing field has changed a bit since 1974. It used to be ball bearings, but it’s all New Media these days, Don. But I do dig your retro stance.
It’s really unfortunate how little the work of creative people is valued in America. Regardless to what specific medium one operates in, people don’t want to pay. AMPTP wants to establish a system where SAG members get paid LESS while AMPTP members get paid MORE. The subliminal message: your creative work does not deserve to be compensated. This message is reinforced when AMPTP doesn’t honor WGA New Media payments.
EditorJ, SAG has your interests at heart. Because if the writers aren’t getting paid residuals and if SAG is getting screwed, guess who could be next? Post -Production. It’s consistency of behavior that is the problem here and few people seem to be aware of this. AMPTP is consistently acting in a fashion that isn’t in the interests of everyone involved. The wealth isn’t shared, it’s hoarded. It’s time that creative people stop acting as enablers and take a stand for what is RIGHT.
Rarely should you enter a deal that doesn’t have you long term interests at heart. This is why SAG should not take the deal. The lack of long term planning that is going on in this country is so unfortunate. That’s why the automakers are in trouble and why the economy is in the current situation. Lack of foresight. And then people want to blame somebody or something. Long term planning requires thinking, making discussions, and then accepting responsibility for those actions. Has anyone recently asked themselves how they can proactively position themselves long term considering the current economic situation? I’ll tell you this much, SAG signing a shitty deal that fucks most creative people long term isn’t one of the answers.
“Studios will avoid a strike that get them nothing but another chance to look macho. And after they got their asses handed to them by the writers, I doubt these studio chiefs want to take the chance of being embarrassed again.”
WTH? My sympathy lies with the guilds, but that’s a ridiculous set of statements.
AMPTP was able to get the WGA to drop a key (not to mention a well-publicized) demand (i.e., an increase in home video residuals) in exchange for absolutely nothing. AMPTP was able to get the WGA to drop other publicized demands (i.e., reality and animation) in exchange for absolutely nothing.
“Put yourselves in SAG’s shoes: would you agree to earn about half of your income for the rest of your career?”
Please stop pretending like you’re not going to be negotiating another contract in three years. The hyperbolic representations of AMPTP and the guilds is equally nauseating.
I could respect a SAG strike – if it had a chance in Hell of succeeding. Isn’t the Negotiating Committee just composed of the same members on the Wages and Working Conditions Committee? That doesn’t indicate any great competence in getting a deal – which was a fatal flaw in the WGA’s strike. The WGA strike did result in improvements, except those improvements were clearly not proportional to what was lost as a result of the strike.
SAG leadership needs to clearly articulate the gap between what it wants and what it has been offered. B.S. hyperbole (I suppose that’s an oxymoron) like “We’re fighting for our future” isn’t clear articulation. Continuing hyperbole would be a strong indication that the real value isn’t worth striking over. If the gap (and I mean dollars) is truly that big, spell it out. Don’t do some vague “our future is at stake” dance around it.
Then, if SAG members authorize a strike, SAG needs to hurry up and strike, because a more intense de facto strike just makes existing misery last longer. Don’t wuss around and prolong lingering misery. Strike or don’t strike. Preferably don’t, but just get on with what SAG wants to do so people can get on with their lives instead living in a SAG cloud of indecision.
If SAG strikes, it should stay on strike until it gets what it claims it was striking for. If it winds up taking some half-ass deal (that it will, of course, claim to be historically groundbreaking), that isn’t embarrassing. That’s riot-inducing.
And if SAG intends on handing out strike waivers, save everyone time and just sign the existing offer and drop the strike talk. Waivers achieve nothing. If SAG does it anyway, hold those that sign that waiver deals to them regardless of the (undoubtedly) lesser deal that will be accepted. Actually make those B.S. waivers mean something, instead of the waste of time that they currently are.
Force majeure will certainly be taken advantage of if a SAG strike occurs. Studios and networks will be able to end all of those deals (at least those that haven’t otherwise already ended) that the agents were able to dissuade them from dropping in the WGA strike. It’s never a good idea to give them a second chance to do what they wanted to do the first time.
And that’s not studio or network flack-talk. That’s reality. You know they kept some deals they wanted to toss, but agent intervention saved them. I think Nikki even reported on that. The list of tossable deals has grown since then.
In any case, except for all of the BTL work and the ancillary business and resulting employment that results from it, I wouldn’t mind seeing the HFPA taking another hit on the Globes.
Everyone has valid points in this argument, but as an editor, I must agree somewhat with Editor J. I too have been virtually out of work for 5-6 months (thus far) from all the turmoil of this year’s strikes. I don’t own a house, a BMW, or many other luxuries. And if it weren’t for the generosity of family and friends, I’d still probably be declaring bankruptcy by the time a strike started. It’s going to take me years to financially dig out of the hole created by this years’ upheaval. And yes, those studio cats are greedy bastards. Too bad they’re the ones offering work, and we don’t live in a perfect world where everyone treats one another well. But work is work.
Folks, a strike now would destroy an industry currently in a painful amount of flux and transition. The time to negotiate is in a few years, when everything has hopefully been figured out. Crew, editors, technicians, and professionals of every kind will end up in a mass exodus, spreading across the world in attempts to find work, if not completely changing their careers (in a currently jobless climate).
I realize it’s an emotional issue, and that actors need residuals on this stuff in the long run… I’m not going to call anyone greedy, or make the ignorant statements as some have here that this is going to put money in the BIG talent’s pockets… but work *is* work, and a strike at this point would cripple Hollywood as an industry forever, in ways from which it could probably never recover, and which would also destroy your workbase, as actors. For all our sakes, including yours, I believe actors should wait a few years on a strike. And I really wish you well, and hope there’s a sudden swell in work to tide you over until residuals can be negotiated more properly.
Please don’t strike. I’m encouraged by how many actors on here are saying they’ll vote no. I think that would be best.
“Studios will avoid a strike that get them nothing but another chance to look macho. And after they got their asses handed to them by the writers, I doubt these studio chiefs want to take the chance of being embarrassed again.”
WTH? My sympathy lies with the guilds, but that’s a ridiculous set of statements.
AMPTP said they were ending residuals. Didn’t happen. AMPTP refused to include Internet in this deal. They wound up including it. AMPTP said they’d made a last and final offer. It wasn’t.
Don’t trust me, dude, I’m biased — so go back and look at even the pro-studio publications like Variety, which had no choice in the end but to admit that the WGA won that strike.
Does anyone, on any side of this argument, seriously think that if SAG were to get a strike authorisation the AMPTP lying, cheating slave-traders (oops, showed my colors) wouldn’t be more inclined to actually negotiate? They would have no choice.
That’s what we’re talking about here. Not a strike. A tool for negotiation. A hand of cards. We’ve sent our representatives in there with nothing except a bunch of public back-biting and undermining. Let’s give the enemy a reason to do anything other than laugh at us and dismiss our perfectly reasonable requests.
All those who so recklessly and viciously attack Alan Rosenberg should remember his mandate from the membership – to negotiate a fairer deal for US. That’s right…for us.
We can get ourselves a share, a percentage, of the work that’s both made for and delivered via what will be the sole method of content delivery before long. Or we can lose that forever. Now – only now – will that be established. Not just for us by the way; for the writers, directors and, yes, even for the virtual scabs of AFTRA. Everyone will benefit if we do this right.
I’ll be voting yes in the strongest hope that all of my suffering friends both in and out of the creative guilds will get a fair deal for the work that they do and that the business can put this sordid period behind them.
I wish everyone here railing against SAG (or any of the other unions) for being “greedy” and trying to get “more money” had one shared face so I could slap the shit out of it.
With SAG now and the WGA before, the key issue was never about securing MORE money. It was about stopping the AMPTP from TAKING AWAY money.
Everyone contributes to the product and takes a slice of the profit pie. That’s the deal. The unions didn’t step up and strike or threaten to strike because they wanted a bigger slice of the pie — they acted because the AMPTP came out and said “You know what? Fuck you. You’ll get NO pie and like it.”
If new media truly makes no money and the AMPTP honors the existing paradigm of sharing profits (a tiny, tiny percentage of the profits) with the CREATORS of that media, then it costs the studios NOTHING. Nada. Zip. X% of no profit is fucking ZERO! So what is the sticking point?
The problem is that they ARE making money. Hand over fucking fist. And they’re crowing about it to their shareholders. But they don’t want to SHARE any of it with ANYBODY — like the people who created it.
The unions aren’t striking because everyone wants a new solid gold Hummer in their garage. They’re striking because the AMPTP isn’t content to leave compensation at the current levels. They’re trying to get the same material and make more profit from it while paying less.
So the next time you feel the urge to spout off about the greedy unions trying to pump up their fat cat wages and callously impinging on your hard knock life by striking, do us all a favor — step away from the keyboard and punch yourself square in the nuts, you ignorant douchebag.
STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE!!! It’s about time these greedy studio execs and ceos give up their $ gouging. That’s excatly why this country is in the mess it’s in – because these over-fed pigs get away with pushing their weight around – well if it’s the actors that have to put a stop to it then – SO BE IT!
Anonymous said: How many of these comments are sponsored by the AMPTP? Don’t know? Read them again, it ain’t that hard.
You used that same smear tactic during the WGA strike you brainless lefty. I know it’s hard for you to believe *anyone* could disagree with your sorry arse, but there are professionals in this business who think SAG is behaving worse than spoiled brats and that a strike would be suicide.
STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!!!!
Please strike… we could use the work here in Canada!
Open letter to SAG leadership:
I strongly supported the pre-election leadership, and after hearing over the past couple days that even the so-called “moderates” are capable of becoming incensed at despicable behavior, I’m inclined to support the new leadership as well. This support comes despite what I perceive as huge jaw-dropping gaffes that still irk me every day (e.g., negotiating against ourselves and to my knowledge taking DVD residual increases off the negotiation platform in return for nothing).
But something has just dawned on me (doh!) that I’m concerned could gravely affect the strike authorization vote success. In short, I’m concerned that you ignored SAG’s biggest working voting block in your talk points (and strategy) and that might well come back to fuck us on the things I, you, and others really care about (i.e., residuals).
Guess what, crew? By far the biggest working voting block, so big that they could virtually decide the fate of a strike authorization vote all by themselves, is extras. Yup. Those same guys and gals you despise openly on set (as opposed to principals, the ones you childishly deride and call names here only anonymously, because god knows you don’t have the balls or the integrity to do anything to their faces instead of kissing their ass when you’re dealing with them directly).
I’m not happy that those who do solely background get to vote on issues that don’t effect background. However, the reality is that not only do extras get a vote, they have a -controlling- vote. Therefore, if their concerns are not addressed — we’re all going to be fucked on the strike authorization vote.
Anybody who thinks voting “no,” and *guaranteeing* producers we won’t strike will result in anything but the offer on the table being pulled for something even -you’ll- find acceptable is not bothering to think this through as if you were a producer. If you stop and think like the other side of the negotiating table for a second, WHY ON EARTH would you not offer LESS to somebody who FORMALLY tells you that they WON’T do the one thing that scares you? You think the current offer is not the best? Assure producers you WON’T strike and vote no, then see what you’re looking at.
And if the negotiating team keeps ignoring extras’ concerns, we’re almost assured a “no” vote.
Negotiating talk points.
1) Force majure. Why the fuck would somebody who only does SAG background work give a flying fuck whether series regs get the back pay they’re owed from the writer’s strike, let alone future force majure pay? They don’t.
2) Why the fuck would somebody who’s resigned to only doing SAG background work give a fuck about residuals they don’t get anyway? They don’t.
3) It must be hard enough to scrape by on the chump change SAG background is given for union television and film work with major budgets. Why on earth would SAG background-only peops vote “yes” to authorize a strike to protect jurisdiction on streaming microbudgets that could never pay their bills if they worked 7 days a week? They wouldn’t, and won’t.
—————–
If current negotiation strategy, talk points, and education completely ignore SAG’s biggest voting blocks issues and concerns, which are wholly separate issues from principals’ concerns, we’re fucked.
Hell. Maybe it’s too late. For the life of me, I cannot see where the personal interest lies for a person who does solely SAG extra work to give a “yes” strike authorization vote so that SAG members who can make in a day what they make in a -year- will not be subject to rollbacks.
That we’re going to promise producers we WON’T strike — with a “no” vote — so they can bend us over further, because we couldn’t be bothered to address the concerns of our -biggest voting block- scares the fuck out of me.
Though I have no resentment, I rue the day that SEG merged with SAG.
But from negotiation strategy to talking points, it appears the negotiating team is completely ignore the fact that the votes working SAG members who make the least will be the KEY to getting a “yes” on the strike authorization vote.
Fatal mistake. If somebody knows how to make a “yes” vote appear attractive to SAG background, you sure as hell better do it. And quickly.
No way in hell will SAG background give up the crumbs they make now so that principals will not have to suffer a rollback.
But for a huge portion of AFTRA membership who doesn’t give a fuck about things like residuals, that contract proposal would have been voted down, instead of accepted.
If we’re going to ignore our own 800 pound gorilla voting block who’s concerns are *different* than principals’ concerns, and couldn’t care less about things like residuals they’ll never see, then we have only ourselves to blame if the only holiday gift we will need is soap on a rope.
Ah, Ace..back to his usual name calling and brow beating:
“You’re just sheeple who follow the other weak-minded souls and feel that you have no voice so you must keep your head low, keep your eyes averted, and take and swallow what’s handed down by those who keep you under their thumbs.”
Some things never change about you, Ace. You even drag out the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing:
“As a final note, everyone please remember that this vote is only for authorization to strike, not for a strike per se. ”
Do you honestly think anyone believes that at this point? You and the Alans and Ann Marie Johnson and the rest of those clowns want this strike so much you can taste it but the rest of us (who have been trying to reason with you unsuccessfully) only see the makings of a “perfect storm” if you get away with it. As a result, we are becoming more committed than ever to doing something about it. Anyone with common sense is not going to let you go ahead with this suicide mission. We aren’t going to let you shut this town down just to satisfy the wounded egos of some on the negotiating committe. Far too many people stand to be hurt for not a good enough reason. We intend to vote this thing down, Ace, because it is the right thing to do at this time and place. Then we need to do some house cleaning. We are not AMPTP shills. We just know bad leadership when we see it. You want a showdown? You got it. In the meantime, we’re going to start doing a little “hunting” of our own…and the fox will be the likes of you. It’s time to put a stop to this nonsense. Now puff up big there, Ace…let’s hear your oh so predictable bluster in retort. After all, we know you LIVE to fan the flames of conflict.
Yeah, the argument that anyone who disagrees with any guild is a shill is a dead one. I’m currently an iA member myself. There is a time and a place to pick one’s battles. A strike in an economic environment such as this — and when SAG and AFTRA have split acrimoniously — is foolhardy at best. If you truly believe a strike is going to have some merit and gain real results, then by all means do so. But there’s nothing that indicates that SAG will get anything out of this, certainly not more than what’s already on the table. Those chanting “Strike Strike Strike!!” are acting with the kind of mob mentality that only pushes public sympathy away from their cause.
I am an embarrassed member of SAG. It is ego, not economics that is controlling the leadership of my union in it’s pseudo attempts to better our working contract. The facts are, only a small portion of our paid membership actually work. The union continues to destroy these opportunities by forcing production companies to work with non union or AFTRA actors (Roughly 60% of AFTRA members are also SAG members). SAG management has failed to hear to vote of it’s joint SAG/AFTRA members when AFTRA’s contract was ratified. Our union continues to claim “member solidarity” when less than 5% of it’s members have signed a solidarity statement pushed for by Allen, and Rosenberg and the leadership. Is the SAG leadership kidding in thinking that the membership will vote to strike? We should start a “leadership rehab” reality show to publicly demonstrate this insanity.
I have bills to pay, I need to work as do the hundreds affected by each SAG job on a production. We roughed out a Writers strike.
Please: Write SAG’s leadership and ask them to check the egos at the door, get the egg off there faces and take the more than fair contract offered in August.
Thanks for your industry wide support in forcing my union into rehab!
UNITED WE STAND…DIVIDED WE FALL.
Who do you think Alan and SAG are fighting for? For us…SAG members. As far as I am concerned, a working actor who has a right to vote, we should have gone on strike in May, but unfortuneately the time is now.
We have to fight for our future, no one else is looking out for us…calling us lazy, waiters and all kinds of other names … probably a bunch of wanna be’s who didn’t have the guts to stuggle to be an actor in the first place…try it for one day.
Yes, I too am hurting and have had to borrow money but I WILL VOTE “YES’…to give my union a negotiating tool. And God willing, we won’t have to go on strike.
The AMPTP are blackmailing us. It is a Game of Chicken. I will vote YES to support my union. Period.
If SAG strikes, it will kill this town. Some of us feel threatened every day after the WGA strike. Another one will put the nail in the coffin. Please don’t strike.
Why is everyone so angry?
Strike or no strike it really doesn’t matter, for after this is all said and done, those of us that work will continue to work as actors as we always have. And we will continue to have long, happy, wonderful lives as we live the dream doing what we love to do.
The rest of you losers will just go back to doing whatever it is that you losers do.
“…if you can’t make money as an actor, you`re either incredibly stupid or tragically unlucky.”
John Malkovich
The producers have 4 EMPTY walls without the creativity of the writers and actors! Time to pay them FAIRLY…or keep your empty stages.
If Mayor Villaraigosa really wanted to jump start LA’s economy, he would immediately throw Alan Rosenberg and Doug Allen in jail and force SAG to sign the AMPTP’s generous offer – one that now DOES seem generous considering their companies market values have plummeted.
Not only will the actors get no empathy from the public or other unions, I now fear that if they call a strike things may get violent.
Actually if Mayor Villaraigosa wanted to save LA’s economy he would do everything in his power to make sure that the AMPTP and SAG come to a fair deal. That might even include bringing Nick Counter into a certain room, setting him on his stomach lying on the Mayor’s knee with his pants and undershorts down, and the Mayor would give Nick Counter a good lickin with a hard leather belt. He would then repeat the same actions with the rest of the moguls and they would be forced to give the guilds a good deal.
Using an analogy, Nick Counter is just like the small, rich brat in the Mickey Mouse Cartoon “Mickey’s Good Deed.” There, Mickey sells Pluto to the father of that small rich brat who then proceeds to tear down the house and put Pluto’s life in danger. Did I forget to mention that we are in a Depression, in the cartoon, where the only thing Mickey has is Pluto, sells him to that small rich brat who has every toy in the world and still isn’t satisfied, and he uses the money to give the children of a poor mother a nice Christmas. In any case, the cartoon ends with the rich father ordering Pluto to be thrown out, but not before he gets the Christmas turkey tied to his tail, so that the rich and spoiled brat can have a well deserved spanking, and allowing Mickey and Pluto to be reunited.
The moral of the above story is that the brat represents Nick Counter today who wants everything in the world and wouldn’t care one bit about anybody else while the family Mickey helps represent every single union/guild wanting their fair share. That is all SAG is asking for in this round of negotiations.
As for those of you who think a Strike Authorization, or a strike deadline will get the AMPTP to make a deal, dream on. The WGA voted for a strike last year, ordered it to begin on November 5th, yet there was a last minute round of talks where the WGA made a huge concession on DVD residues, yet the AMPTP made no concessions and left the bargaining table at the stroke of midnight east coast time. Meanwhile almost all other unions and their bosses continued negotiating past the strike deadline in order to bargain in good faith and reach a deal. The AMPTP doesn’t want this, so look out.
For those of you that are out of work, or close to being laid-off simply because your job may be indirectly tied to this industry, the AMPTP put you out of a job with their lockout of all movie production.
The next time any entertainment union feels that they have no option but to strike, whether it be writers, directors, IATSE, Teamsters, or whothefuckeverelse, I will support them in word and dead. Just like I always have. Maybe it will be silent support. Maybe vocal support. Maybe bringing coffee and donuts to their lines or walking with them. Who knows? I refuse to get pulled into this “divide and conquer” bullshit by multi-billion dollar international corporations so they can pick us off one union at a time, or one person at a time. I challenge all SAG members to do the same, rather than get played by studios and/or producers into attacking the people we are lucky enough to work with as a team to make films or TV shows, or disparage them for standing together strongly.
But the day I attack some other entertainment union for taking a united front against united studios and producers; the day I blame some other union for standing united for the inability to pay MY mortgage is the day I need to leave the business and never come back.
The day I post anonymously like a total pussy and call other union members a bunch of nasty names because I cannot pay MY mortgage is the day I need to break every damned mirror in my house so I won’t have catch a glimpse of the disgusting cretin I’m looking at.
I am fortunate enough to make a living in a business that’s unbeatable fun on the best days, and on the even on the crappiest days more fun than sitting at a desk pushing paper.
NOBODY owes me a job in this business. Period. I’ll be damned if I think crew, writers, or anybody else needs to take it in the ass so I can pay MY mortgage. Fuck that noise. I signed onto a business prone to labor strife, as it has been since the 30s when actors got together and decided “enough is enough.” And if and when I cannot work as an actor because somebody else felt they had to “shut down the town” as a last-resort negotiation tactic, I will go do something else for a while and not be some sniveling, whining bitch toward them … let alone anonymously. I will not say anything privately that I wouldn’t say to somebody’s face. I cannot live with myself to do otherwise.
I, as many, rely on my deferred compensation (aka, residuals) to survive this wacky business. I could work not a single fucking day next year because I was fortunate with my last two studio films, and am grateful as hell to have been chosen to be a part of them. Lucky? Hell yes. Grateful? Hell yes. But if the time comes, like many actors, the best I can do for myself is to live in some shitty ass apartment in the valley, unable to pay my utility bills, in a business where the average SAG income of a SAG actor is $5 grand a change per year, I’ll be damned if I’m going to be guilted into thinking it’s my responsibility to accept a shit contract that jeopordizes my literal survival so a member of some sister union can pay for a *house* or a family they chose to have.
You pay your own mortgage, and I will pay mine without whining about it or blaming my “team-mates” for my failure to be able to do so. If I, in this tumultuous business, buy more than I can afford over time, that’s MY problem. Not yours. Period. But that street goes both ways, and no amount of nasty anonymous name calling is going to convince me that your career or life choices are my problem, any more than mine are yours.
You vote “yes” on whatever contract you feel is the best you can negotiate for your union, and I will do the same with mine.
I will NEVER vote yes or any contract which will take away that profit-sharing IF there is any profit to share. No amount of nasty name calling or threats, or “need to be liked” will ever change that.
I will NEVER vote yes on any contract with provisions for allowing the hiring of non-union actors instead of tafting them and allowing them to decide if they wish to join the union or not.
And lastly, I will NEVER knowingly cast a vote that will promise producers we won’t use every honest tool at our disposal to negotiate the best deal we can.
We are worth what each of us negotiates, independently, or together, united. Period.
In solidarity, period.
(P.S. whoever quoted malcovich, thank you. LOL! You made my weekend).
I believe the
SAG weekly rate for TV top of show is around $6500+
The AFTRA rate is around $6000+
BUT here lies the rub…
SAG contracts are for a 4 day week
and AFTRA a 7 day week….
so essentially we are working for half the money if we work under an AFTRA Contract.
We were totally fucked by AFTRA.
For the record anyone can join AFTRA and you have to be book a real job before you can join SAG. So what are SAG members doing when they book a real acting job under the AFTRA contract?
As most of the new shows are now AFTRA we are being totally fucked.
Now a lot of members (around 60%) are in both unions….. you should now have to make a choice between the two unions after AFTRA just totally weakened every actors position.
How dare the AMPTP compare us to AFTRA? They haven’t even kept their word to the Writer’s… reneging on the deal after a 100 days?
If you are a member of SAG you should be pissed to have to work a 7 day week for less money. It’s not easy beeing a working actor by that I mean making your living as one.
We have to count on Residuals…it’s what keeps us going. If we didn’t audition for free…where would the system be….it’s because we do so and because we love what we do that keeps the system going.
Shame on you AFTRA for selling us actors out…. like the plain girlfriend that will take anything to get her man to love her!
If you are an actor you can NOT allow this. And SAG members should not agree to work under an AFTRA contract.
The AMPTP are making big money on new media…don’t be fooled by your cheating man!
Say YES to the authorization…it does not mean a strike….just a negotiating tool.
WAKE UP ACTORS….when the going get’s tough….the tough get going.
German TV Star Andreas Stenschke showed his support for American writers and actors in this short video he produced in Cologne. It’s likewise compelling and funny and shows how the plight of Europeans and other nationals might happen to American artists in the USA as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PPZV3dTzbg
Something to think about as the Screen Actors Guild has not been able to get the producers to increase their contract offer since June, and the AMPTP has already reneged on the Internet royalty deal agreed to by the Writers Guild in February.
STRIKE NOW!! The union was created in the depression. This is a test of will.
Anyone who votes no is assuring the end of the union. If you think this deal is bad wait for the scraps you get after a no vote. The vote for not accepting the deal was like 89% so, I think our industry has good shot of surviving.
The studios refused to produce over 100 films and 75 TV shows in NYC and CT alone even though SAG offered to guarantee to finish these projects. So your all being punished even without a strike.
CBS is watching the company fold just to spite you.
Strike and then make every side deal there is. There is a lot of money in this world that would love a negotiating advantage over the Studios and none of them are in Romania. (Once the producers started losing their jobs to Canadians and Eastern Europeans the films started to come back to the USA) Tax incentives will keep jobs here more than applying for food stamps so that the studios can make a 50 million dollar film with your services for chump change)
Strike now and you will get a quick deal. The producers are in big trouble. They aren’t scared because they figure you actors have no spine.
STRIKE!! STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!STRIKE!!
In the tedious world of production accounting I have not worked since July.Go ahead and strike SAG,hopefully when you finally make a deal there will be some real drama on the set when the camera is not rolling. Nobody is going to have your back if you strike that is for damn sure.Its difficult to find work in LA unless you are friends with the right people.I spent a few months in Shreveport. I wouldn’t be surprised if the studios become like the Detroit Automakers. Iger already said in October in his 35 years in broadcasting he has never seen a revenue decline as bad. New Media bs, how about television and film. More money is being spent on videogames than tv and film.Strike SAG it will show what true artists you are. I could care less. Your profession are perfectly happy to go overseas even though none of the BTL people are given the same offer. SAG are the biggest sellouts in showbusiness.
Message to SAG…
Don’t knuckle under! Don’t bend! Don’t be intimidated! Now, we’ll see how important actors really are! Let the bums know that, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not gonna take it anymore!” Take to the mats!
PG pretty much hit the nail on the head. Right down to everyone making the same arguments as last time. So here goes…
First, anyone who denies that the AMPTP is the villain here truly doesn’t understand the basic principles of our economic world. They have the money and it would be only the tiniest sliver of a sacrifice. The fact is, they have the power to prevent this strike simply by saying yes to something that will barely have an effect on them at all. They are to blame for the current conditions, not the SAG. If you’re going to be mad at someone for making more than you, be mad at the AMPTP. The argument that all actors make as much as the tv and film stars we see on the red carpet is a lie. As an editorial cartoon, the AMPTP would be a greedy fat cat sitting atop piles of money and whining at anyone who wants to take a few coins from it. It’s not too far from the truth.
That said, a strike will cause more harm than good. Not only to crews and below the liners. Not only to everyone else in the world. But to the members of the SAG themselves. Look at Pushing Daisies, a great show that was doing reasonably well before the writers strike. I’m not blaming the WGA for its downfall, but the strike did have a big part in things. Many fans, having to wait so long for new episodes, lost interest. And they didn’t come back when the show was finally returned to our screens. The writers of that show created a wonderful program, but now they’re out of work and making no money as opposed to the less money they’d get with a bad deal. Many of today’s best shows don’t have huge audiences. Chances are, their viewers won’t come back after a delay, either. Many, many actors- both the big stars and the struggling extras- will be out of work in the aftermath of a strike. As a fan of good tv, I fear for many of my shows.
But you do have to take everyone else into account, too. A strike puts everyone in the industry out of work. The SAG might pass a strike vote- though even that I’m not sure of- but if everyone who would be affected by a strike were allowed to vote on it? No chance in hell. Yes, I realize they also wouldn’t have the same benefits on the line, so that’s not really a fair point. But neither is saying you won’t give something up so other workers, in whatever industry, “can have ‘job security’”. Job security in quotation marks? It didn’t work great when John McCain tried it with women’s health, and it doesn’t come off too well here, either. It’s easy for people who openly admit they are working and lucky to be where they are to be noble and say they will stand in solidarity. And it is in their right to say so. The SAG’s cause is a good one, not a greedy one, and anyone who says otherwise is, frankly, ignorant. But when it’s about having a roof over your head or feeding your families, sometimes the right thing to do does have a step back- and allow room for what needs to be done.
What do we need? As an angry liberal (who, of course, is totally okay with our government getting involved in absolutely everything, seeing as that’s all I’m about), I want a bill passed for the government to be allowed to force the hand of ther AMPTP. And I believe it’s actually possible. But likely? Probably not. So, a realistic solution. In the WGA strike, I was all about “locking the WGA and AMPTP in a room and not letting them out until they reach a deal”. I admit that was unfair, because the WGA was doing all it could, as the SAG is now. What then, is a realisitic solution? I don’t know. But there are people who do. Federal mediators were never going to work. If you want to hire someone, hire someone who knows how to stop talking and get things done. It’s likely somewhat naive, but I think we do need government action, if not the kind I’d like best. But like PG says, the AMPTP has the power to ignore the SAG, and they always will. It’s not fair and it’s not that we shouldn’t try to change it, but it’s a truth of how our economy works. So we need bigger guns. Guns the fat cats can’t ignore. With apologies to Republicans, our incoming government is more sympathetic to the needs of the unions and others who are just getting by than the outgoing one ever was. Right down to our President-elect. Last time, California politicians tried to help, but this issue goes beyond California. We need to start thinking federal.
It’s time to stop talking and take action. And yes, a strike is action. But the WGA strike dragged on and had little resolution at the end. Other guilds can say they were weak all they want, but who’s to say staying on strike forever would have gotten them anything better? And unless you can say, right now, how your strike will be different- not just how you won’t give in, but the active changes you will make for your strike to do what others couldn’t- a strike needs to be carefully looked at before it is ever considered the best option. Despite all this, I’m not saying a strike should be completely thrown out the window. But a strike alone will have you striking alone. There needs to be more. Again, look at Pushing Daisies, and at many good shows that have already died this year. A bad deal should never be blindly accepted. But having no job at all and making no money at all is worse. And that is an extremely real possibility for a large portion of the SAG. Consider every possibility before you take any action, because its hard to stand together when nobody can afford to do so. Solidarity is a very good thing, but the cause should be for the people as much as the people are for the cause.
Sterling Wolfe has a great post and whether this person was real or not, I was quite impressed with what it had to say.
I think we need to stick up for one another but untimately we are responsible for ourselves. Our union represents us as a unit and there is strength in numbers and at the same time a union can bully and have too much power. The point I’m trying to make here is that there are two sides to every coin. I keep reading about SAG and how if we strike, we cause so much pain and then there is another posting that says if we don’t strike, we accept what is less than fair. So what do we do? We blame one another and we fight about things and we make it a moral decision when it’s really a financial decision. Then we get to talking about greed and then it turns into something else. There is nothing in this world that is in a vacuum as far as I know. Do you really think about who made your shoes when you buy them? Or where the cotton was made on your Q-tip? How about the food you eat and who planted it? Your stimulus check? Why on earth are people who are not SAG members suddenly so involved in this? It’s not your fight is it? Actually every member in SAG should have a say so and that’s why we vote. Yes, a work stoppage would cause much dismay and cost millions. But millions to whose wallet? You don’t think SAG actors suffer if there is no work? Somewhere at every point in labor contracts there is a line marked out in the sand and this time it’s about what is right or wrong. I would submit that most opinions on this matter revolve around money. I earned the right to vote on this matter and if you’re not a SAG member you have not. There may be a thousand opinions on this post but the only ones that really matter are those from the SAG members. I supported the WGA strike even though it cost me money but I never asked anyone to fight my fights for me and I never told someone they were wrong for standing up for what they believed in. Don’t think that I don’t feel for the grip who is just making ends meet or the guy in transportation who might have his house taken by the bank if our union decides to go on strike. On the other hand, I wonder if the grip and the guy in transportation has given thought to me over this last year since I haven’t worked once and times have been tough. Life’s tough people, stop blaming others for your lot in life and go out there and do what you have to do to make a living and make ends meet. SAG members, do what you feel is in your best interests.
i will be crossing the picket lines with my own sign saying that i do not support your strike.
“i will be crossing the picket lines with my own sign saying that i do not support your strike.
Comment by local 44 — November 23, 2008″
And when the 44 goes on strike (and you’ll have to soon), will you be okay with SAG actors crossing your picket line?
Doubt it.
Thanks, Sterling Wolfe,
for saying what has to be said. The negotiating team and the Rosenberg administration seem to believe that if they just will it to happen, actors who work primarily background won’t vote, or maybe they’ll vote “yes” to unemployment without benefits, lost health insurance, and lost pension credits, all for the sake of other actors’ residuals.
The first step in any “education” campaign should be to phone-bank actors who work the background contract, get them into a room for a caucus, and just shut up and LISTEN. The second step should be to make a public commitment to solving the festering problems that affect the Guild’s largest body of working actors, like casting fees, voucher fraud, and the calling service monopoly.
Crafting their PR campaign around the “middle class” actor (10-15% of the union), while throwing background under the bus for another contract cycle may prove to be the most disastrous step taken in a series of blundering stumbles made by the Guild’s leadership. Their sheer self-centered myopia is staggering.
Both Sterling Wolfe and Elephant in the room make key points. As loathed as the background community may be — perhaps “dismissed” is a better word — background actors are the single largest voting bloc that could sway a strike auth with ease. Many reject the concept of participating in the voting process because their issues are continually marginalized (if not outright ignored) by SAG’s leadership, board and committee personnel. Education campaign? The only education campaign that might have helped is if the SAG ptb had stepped back, shut their mouths and actually listened to background concerns several months ago. Sadly, I doubt any education efforts will make a difference now. This Guild is tanking. And SAG has only itself to blame.
As a twenty year IATSE member here’s my beef. There is no doubt in my mind the producers would sell their own mother for a larger slice of the pie, but the opportunity for any real gains was passed up two years ago. SAG, DGA, & WGA all had contracts expiring. As above the line guilds collectively have similar interests in new media residual structures. Why couldn’t the leadership of the guilds demonstrate some solidarity and all go into negotiations together. The AMPTP would have caved. Instead the egos of the union bosses got in the way of any true progress, and the producers have what they want, members of all the different locals blaming each other instead of the real culprits.
While a strike diversion is blatantly apparent to all, Federal mediators were not able to bring the two sides together so, how will an unverified petition?
I believe it’s better to argue each side and find effective negotiators to go in and resolve this. AMPTP are adamant and reckless. If SAG gets the strike authorization, it will be reckless.
Leaving the cards falling as they may will produce a strike, I believe. For hope of a resolution, the best negotiators in the U.S. need to be hired by SAG or volunteer their services. SAG has to find what AMPTP’s button is to get them back.
SAG is asking for a New Media agreement which is frankly so mild yet protects SAG members in online production. One wonders what the big fuss is all about unless you completely disregard the existence of the Guild as a whole. SAG has requested that contracts in all Original Content production to be SAG contracts the way Indie/student production is. AMPTP doesn’t want to ensure production be under a SAG contract until “later” – and this is while Original Content (online) becomes more and more important to companies, studios and filmmakers and other individuals while its monetization is becoming more and more apparent.
SAG is determined to not let what happened to actors with participation in DVD sales to make history again. SAG members receive 1% aggregate DVD sales participation with no health/pension fund participation in a critical revenue stream for studios. Back in the day when this was first becoming an important issue, the AMPTP asked for this same “later” contract stipulation while home entertainment continued to develop and mature. Now DVD sales can be, and frequently are, greater than worldwide box office but SAG actors participate in a minimal way.
SAG represents the middle/low income actor; the ones who used to make $30,000 – $100,000. These actors cannot hope for any increase in their income but are facing a great reduction as more and more production and monetization will go online/mobile. These are the folks what would vote for the strike authorization. Anyone else with an established name can navigate far better participation based on their celebrity power.
A strike or a strike authorization, as we have learned from the WGA earlier this year, doesn’t work the way it does in principle. SAG needs to find another leverage point and the AMPTP needs to act responsibly as they both are accountable to all Los Angeles residents and others dependent on our Los Angeles economy.
Los Angeles cannot depend on government or politicians to save it from a crippling strike. New ways of thinking and negotiating need to emerge.
While a strike diversion is blatantly apparent to all, Federal mediators were not able to bring the two sides together so, how will an unverified petition?
I believe it’s better to argue each side and find effective negotiators to go in and resolve this. AMPTP are adamant and reckless. If SAG gets the strike authorization, it will be reckless.
Leaving the cards falling as they may will produce a strike, I believe. For hope of a resolution, the best negotiators in the U.S. need to be hired by SAG or volunteer their services. SAG has to find what AMPTP’s button is to get them back.
SAG is asking for a New Media agreement which is frankly so mild yet protects SAG members in online production. One wonders what the big fuss is all about unless you completely disregard the existence of the Guild as a whole. SAG has requested that contracts in all Original Content production to be SAG contracts the way Indie/student production is. AMPTP doesn’t want to ensure production be under a SAG contract until “later” – and this is while Original Content (online) becomes more and more important to companies, studios and filmmakers and other individuals while its monetization is becoming more and more apparent.
SAG is determined to not let what happened to actors with participation in DVD sales to make history again. SAG members receive 1% aggregate DVD sales participation with no health/pension fund participation in a critical revenue stream for studios. Back in the day when this was first becoming an important issue, the AMPTP asked for this same “later” contract stipulation while home entertainment continued to develop and mature. Now DVD sales can be, and frequently are, greater than worldwide box office but SAG actors participate in a minimal way.
SAG represents the middle/low income actor; the ones who used to make $30,000 – $100,000. These actors cannot hope for any increase in their income but are facing a great reduction as more and more production and monetization will go online/mobile. These are the folks what would vote for the strike authorization. Anyone else with an established name can navigate far better participation based on their celebrity power.
A strike or a strike authorization, as we have learned from the WGA earlier this year, doesn’t work the way it does in principle. SAG needs to find another leverage point and the AMPTP needs to act responsibly as they both are accountable to all Los Angeles residents and others dependent on our Los Angeles economy.
Los Angeles cannot depend on government or politicians to save it from a crippling strike. New ways of thinking and negotiating need to emerge.
Assumptions…are only assumptions…
Some assumptions are so accepted as true, that everyone keeps commenting on them, and so I’d like to challenge their validity…
1. “THE SAG STRIKE WILL DESTROY THE ECONOMY” Doesn’t that give actors a bit too much power? If they aren’t powerful enough to be paid even meagerly, then how is it that they can pull a global economy down?
Most importantly:
If the AMPTP decided to pay the talent for their talent, and start off the New Media with a just and humane payscale, for actors, then there won’t be an extended strike and there won’t be any damage at all.
None. To anyone’s economy.
Actually, it can turn out to be a win-win situation.
The actors, whom the world loves so much and fill nearly all their non-working hours watching and enjoying, will be paid some, for their labor. And their gifts…although certainly not paid as much as valued, in the culture. Nor in any culture in history. (Yet acting has been loved and adored thoughout all time. Even served as a form of measurement, as one way to see how advanced cultures have been…)
2. The SAG actors are greedy.
Next time you think that, go look in a window of a mid to high priced restaurant, in LA. See any actors there? I don’t mean the waiters, I mean at the dining table. I bet you don’t. Maybe you’ll see a highly paid celebrity. However, it is rare to see a mid to lower range (working, I do mean) professional actor, out with his/her family or such, at a fine restaurant. Unusual.
Truth is, actors have always been at the lower end, here in Hollywood, in the caste system.
Because they are artist-types, it is considered okay to get them to work for nothing, or to expect them to starve. That’s heinous.
3. SAG actors don’t know what they want, they are so mixed up, they fight each other.
This town is a factory town, and it produces one product.
The bosses have waged a war, against the little guy, the actor.
It’s scary.
Actors have a fear-filled existence anyhow, do you realize what it must be like to be a professional, yet to always be out of work and trying to find more, and knowing that it isn’t probable, no matter what level you are at? That’s a ton of anxiety.
Toss in a major battle with the bosses acting really tough about it, well…it isn’t hard to understand that it could cause a whole lot of scurrying and emotional stress.
Of course some wanted to do it one way, and others wanted to do it another.
And everyone panicked because, this is LA, and everyone makes nicey-nicey to everyone in LA. There is no standing up, honestly, for what you believe, if the higher ups, don’t. That’s just accepted cultural ettiquette here.
No wonder there was nervous problems with solidarity. Breaking the Hollywood code of bull? Of yessing? Why it’s just simply not “done” here.
It’s pretty hard to stick up for yourself in that kind of pressured climate. Still, they are. Some of them.
I think it would be good for the press to take some time to explore the SAG side, and support it. Or support it also. I don’t see much of that, in the accepted assumptions, that are so freely flying around.
I do wonder, why not?
I do not support SAG in any form of strike action and urge them to settle.
The impact of WGA strike last year had further reaching effects than just California – I live and work in the industry in London, England and our technicians, suppliers and all below the line individuals are in exactly the same boat as you guys.There is no moving of productions to other countries – SAG actors cannot work anywhere in the world, not just Hollywood.
We are suffering in UK just as you guys are – NO STRIKE, you do NOT HAVE THE SUPPORT OF CREW / TECHNICIANS ALL OVER THE WORLD. WE don’t get residuals, this is not our battle and we need to eat and pay the rent or mortgage. We weathered the WGA storm last winter, enough is enough!
I do not support a STRIKE.
It would be utter stupidity for SAG to strike.
I can not agree more with one of the comments above
if the Mayor wants to help right now he should just throw these idiots in jail and make everyone come to a reasonable settlement. Even Alan Rosenberg’s wife left him so why don’t we take her lead and get a clue.
NO ON A STRIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!