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First reports reaching me after SAG’s NYC Town Hall meeting tonight are that it consisted of the NY Division led by Sam Freed blasting SAG president Alan Rosenberg and executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen. There were calls for both Rosenberg and Allen to resign. Alec Baldwin demanded that the current SAG negotiating committee voluntarily step down and allow new people to serve on the panel. And NY Division members sounded off against holding the Strike Authorization Vote and in favor of accepting the AMPTP’s June 30th “last” contract offer as is without further bargaining. ”The sense of the meeting was that ‘the deal doesn’t look so bad’. And ‘the economy is terrible right now’. And ‘this is all SAG’s fault because the leaders didn’t merge with AFTRA’,” one attendee told me. “Because ‘New Media isn’t that important right now” and “in three years when all the unions are united we’ll be able to make up what we’ve lost’ on an assumption that IATSE, AFTRA, the DGA, WGA, and SAG ’can all get together as one’. ”
Said the source about what the majority of the speakers said, “This is such a horrible deal, but everyone else has taken it so we need to take it. And we know the economy will be better in three years.”
The NYC Town Hall was held in an even smaller venue than last week’s LA Town Hall; an estimated 250 to 300 people packed into the Westin Hotel. Again and again, the anti-SAG leadership statements were followed by applause.
I understand that SAG leaders had expected the “vocal and brutal” tone of the meeting. But they couldn’t respond fully to the accusations made against them because they were only given 2-minutes apiece to speak when questioned. Instead, Freed and the other NY Division members had unlimited time to state their case and speak their mind. “Basically anyone could say anything in any manner,” one attendee told me afterwards. “It was honest to the point of disrespectful.” Rosenberg and Allen were called, among other things, “liars”, “deceptors”, “inepts”, “AFTRA bashers”, “Hollywood centrics”, and “insensitive to concerns of NY brethren”. Freed specifically criticized and questioned the integrity and authenticity of Rosenberg and Allen.
When it was over, some members came up to the SAG leaders and apologized for the tone of the meeting. But the result was that the meeting succeeded in delivering a verbal thrashing to Rosenberg and Allen — as expected. “There was a lot of hate in that room, so much hate not seen in a long, long time,” one attendee told me. “There are huge philsophical differences between members across the country and between the NY and Hollywood divisions. This is historic. This is nothing new.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Here’s my New York take on it.
1. If we were able to stand w/AFTRA we might have gotten a better deal.
HOWEVER, Doug Allen and Alan Rosenberg started on a course to alienate AFTRA about a year ago. First was that email/letter/article that Doug Allen wrote saying how horrible AFTRA was. I emailed him telling him, maybe it was only in New York, but my experience was that I made SAG wages/rules on AFTRA shows and AFTRA wages/rules on SAG shows, so I didn’t understand what he was saying. Yes, yes, Pension and Health. Well for the first time I’ve qualified for Pension and Health this year, it’s hard to do so in New York (we don’t have the productions, obviously, that LA has). I got no response from him.
That didn’t work, so a few months later was the block voting issue.
That didn’t work and we had the Bold and the Beautiful issue and rightly so AFTRA said “Enough!”
So AFTRA negotiated their contract on their own, which is better, by the way, than the one the APMPT is offering us. Why do you think?
2. If we were going to strike we should have done it this summer. In New York, anyway, we have in essense been in a strike environment. No films of any substance have been shot here since June. Which is why we are furious. I’m wondering if LA has been just peachy w/productions. Is that why no one cares if there’s a strike?
3. To keep saying a vote for strike authorization is not a strike vote sounds WAY to close to a vote for giving the president authorization to go to war is not a war vote. We all know what happened there.
4. When Alan Rosenberg stalked up to the poor man at the microphone and almost decked him, then stormed out, I understood why these negotiations went no where. This man is not anywhere near mature enough to negotiate a side walk in New York, let alone such an important contract. He made faces at what the actor/questioners said all night. What surprised me was I for some reason expected this kind of behavior from Doug Allen. He was quite level headed and I will give him that. Or even Alec Baldwin who was very eloquent and took only his two minutes.
5. Rosenberg made if very clear what he thought of New York actors vs. Hollywood actors at the end of the meeting. And it was just as I suspected. We are looked down upon, but we are just as much actors as those in Hollywood.
We are divided it is clear and I think the APMPT knew this and was playing those two to widen the divide. They must be howling with laughter. I don’t know who is going to bring us together, I pray one day someone will come along who is able to do it.
GLAD to hear that people are finally being realistic
and realize that a strike is just out of the question!
Stop the nonsense and let’s all move on and keep working.
First of all, thank you Justine Bateman for at least putting your name on your post and stating what you believe. Big props to you for not being yet another anonymous voice in the chorus.
My day job is working for a studio now, but i’ve been a working member of both SAG and WGA and have benefited from the work actions, negotiations and sacrifices of union members and leaders who came before me. I have nothing but respect for all my current SAG brothers and sisters.
That said, from where I sit, there is nothing left to do here but sign a shitty contract. Negotiations were not handled well. If SAG was going to strike, we should have done it with the WGA. There’s absolutely NO leverage now. If the authorization vote passes and SAG goes on strike, who in the community or in the world will support us? The studios will keep us out a minimum of 101 days before they even sit down. At the end of the day, they’ll offer us a worse deal than before because the economy will be in full-blown recession and the studios can point to the fact that they’ve laid off 10-20% of their own workforce as proof that they’ve got nothing left to give. Should authorization fail, look for the smug studio mofo’s to come back to us with a WORSE take-it-or-leave-it deal as they’ll know that we’ve lost whatever leverage we had and we are clearly a house divided.
The whispering in the hallways is that the studios believe that this is a time to break SAG. AFTRA is getting more and more shows. Stars are clashing with other working actors and working actors are clashing with those who have their SAG cards but who haven’t worked in years (or at all) and still have a say in a strike. We can’t win this one. It’s only a matter of how badly we lose and how long it takes us to do so.
It’s a crappy deal, but we have to live to fight another day. If we spend the next 2 years getting our shit together and teaming up with other unions, at least we’ll have some bite to back up our bark.
Again, many props to those of you rightfully outraged by the current offer who are speaking your mind and fighting the good fight. I wish it mattered more. But at this point, i honestly don’t see how it could.
I’d like to first thank Tom Ligon for actually accurately describing the extent of my contribution last night. After a young man, I did not get his name, was allowed to speak after waiting patiently for well over an hour on line (can we get some other system than people waiting on line for 1 to 2 hours to speak? Perhaps an audience divided roughly into four sections with raised hands, one section at a time, say half-hour each section?) Anyhooo, this young dude, after some of the most woeful bloviating and jaw-dropping disrespect for two human beings, let alone the elected president of our union, Alan Rosenberg, and the National Executive Director, Doug Allen, I’ve ever witnessed, this kid basically turned around and schooled a roomful of almost entirely middle-aged to quite elderly people, on, the news. I wish I had it verbatim, but it was a blast of information regarding already existing technologies and soon to be implemented ones that render almost everything said by the long gray line, including, of course, the oracle from Long Island, Alec Baldwin, totally beside the point. To me it was THE moment of the night, much more important than all the endless stating of the obvious “the economy is bad,” “striking will adversely impact working actors,” all of which fell into my category of “if we go to war, you know, someone could get shot” logic. Then there was the “stand at the mike and tell Alan Rosenberg and Doug Allen they were incompetent fools (one guy’s exact words) and should be replaced.” This was the thrust of Baldwin’s smoky-voiced insight. The guy behind Baldwin, whose name I also missed, but recognized his face, delivered a notes-aided diatribe about… something, which ended with the crescendo “and in three years we will merge with AFTRA and blah, blah BLAH!!” which produced a thunderous round of applause. Of course, the reality that we will not be merging with AFTRA by 2011 was secondary to the general “Friday Night Light’s” rah-rah of the moment, but nonetheless, it was an admirable crescendo. If I had been willing to stand on the line that went out the back wall and ended on the Jersey side of the Holland Tunnel, I would have said something along the lines of “give me one example of where you get the fucking balls to speak so disrespectfully to these two guys who have been working their asses off on YOUR behalf you fucking morons.” Not Alec Baldwin, of course, or even Meryl Streep, two people who could buy Connecticut, who were there for whatever reasons they were there for. It certainly wasn’t the stark reality facing the middle-class actor, which is – if this contract passes, we’re fucked. The two of them will be just fine. As to the screaming idiot who flung “your family situation” in Alan Rosenberg’s face, as to why Rosenberg doesn’t have to worry about a strike – he deserved what he got. Vilification – even from his own NY screamers, and one fucking-A pissed off Rosenberg, who asked him from the dais “what do you know about my family situation?” before leaving the dais to calm down outside the ballroom, then re-entering and approaching said idiot asking (NOT “screaming” as Ligon says – that is a lie) “what do you know about my family situation?” before the situation calmed enough for Alan to retake his seat on the dais. My understanding is, besides having to put up with that roomful of mostly (not entirely) classless zealots last night, questioning his integrity, his competence and his honesty, Mr. Rosenberg is suffering through a marital problem with his wife, Marg Helgenberger, who makes a lot of money on “CSI.” This is what the moron in the backwards kangol cap was referring to. I for one, was hoping Alan reached the guy. But, that’s just me. Another favorite of mine was Paul Christie. The main impression I had of this lifer union (not so much with the acting, if any at all) guy, was – he doesn’t appear to blink. And he was really, really worked up about something. I wasn’t sure what. It seemed to be that strikes were difficult, the economy was bad, the pension plan was down 24% (show me ANY pension plan that isn’t right now) and that we better all make sure we have health care because a strike could disrupt that. He spoke at length on what was, at the beginning of the meeting “a point of order” then, he waited on line and was on the verge of launching into his second, much longer speech, when a woman stood up and pointed out he and several others were trying to speak for the second time. A few people said “Yeah! Second time! No good second time!” including me. (I was so desperate to contribute) whereupon Mr. Christie wheeled on me and delivered a tongue lashing that the first time had been a point of order and since he was “the first vice president of the third committee on the proliferation of non-blinking order pointers” or something like that, it was his right to speak. I dutifully shrank back into my chair and listened to him state the obvious (a big theme of the night, as I said) for the next twenty minutes. Look folks, here are the facts: the AMPTP, long before they spoke to the DGA, decided they were going to phase out residuals for actors in new media, which basically means, they want to phase out residuals, period. They decided they were going to take away clip consent. They decided the definition of product placement was going to change from EATING in the McDonalds in the “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” to Keeanu Reeves looking into the camera while chewing on his Big Mac and saying “Mmmm – awesome,” they eventually decided they had no intention of paying SAG the 60 million dollars they owed in force majeure payments from the writers strike, and that they wanted that little protection we’ve had since 1937 ended. They decided, once again, we could go pound sand on getting an increase in DVD residuals which we got screwed on in 1986. The belief in that room in NY last night, represented by roughly… 300 out of 120,000 members, that, we should basically punt, wait three years, when after having somehow merged with AFTRA, and after the economy having improved, which having consulted Alan Greenspan, those three hundred feel is apparently a certainty, and after joining hands with “the other unions” we will “GET WHAT WE DESERVE!”
You know, in three years… when all these things that we say are gonna happen, will happen, and in spite of EVERY PRECEDENT, when the AMPTP gets us to sign a shitty deal on an emerging technolgy, and then NEVER renegotiates, they damn sure will because… we’ll be … MERGED WITH AFTRA! … and Rosenberg and Allen will be replaced by…. Masur and Christie! (God help us. Blink blink…) and IN THREE YEARS WE’LL BE FINE!!
Now, back in the day “the 300″ defeated the Athenians. This time? I think they should allow the process of the union to move forward ACCORDING TO THE VOTES OF THE NATIONAL BOARD AND THE NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE, INCLUDING MODERATES SUCH AS THEIR FAVORITE SON RICHARD MASUR and grow some balls, if the strike authorization passes, let the negotiators take a strike authorization into the AMPTP, demand our rights NOW, and then stand the fuck up and, depending on what happens then, take it from there.
SAG NY is following the same pattern as AFTRA — they are not interested in maintaining the course and getting the best deal. Rather they are just interested in getting any deal that will keep some kind of work flowing. This is about serving the interest of the union leaders and their pension funds rather than the members. It is disgusting.
In tough times, you see people’s real colors. Unfortunately, those real colors of SAG NY and AFTRA are dishonest and self-serving.
I agree that if someone is going to call for a new negotiating committee or not to have a strike they better be prepared to state how that would still get us the deal we are seeking. Otherwise, it is caving in and misrepresenting your membership. How else can you call it? The facts speak for themselves.
Rosenberg and Allen have been incredibly transparent and honest. They have been asked to do a job, to represent their membership with all the courage and honesty any human being can offer — and they have delivered. Why disrespect them? Why??? Why spin and twist the facts to discount their efforts? Just because you feel economic pain? Just because the AMPTP doesn’t negotiate? Just because AFTRA walked away from the table, desparate to do any deal to stay alive? Just because SAG NY has little work due to the AMPTP non-engagement?
I am beyond frustration with AFTRA and SAG NY’s leadership who are willing to fuck the general membership to save their own asses. It’s corrupting. It’s wrong. How could you do this and sleep good at night? Wouldn’t supporting the cause of your membership, the actors, in a united way be more productive? Ughhh. Barf. Stink. What kind of people are you? Do you think that L.A. isn’t suffering too? We’ve had more than a year of sucky work, no work, downsized work. L.A. is really suffering too, by comparison.
So SAG NY, get off your high horse and take courage. Stop the fear. Instead support L.A. and let’s get this negotiation over with WITHOUT GIVING UP.
Dear Matt,
I feel you are very clever and very wrong ! See not everyone goes on and on. You have to look at the whole picture. No one is saying what we are fighting for is wrong. It is just the wrong time. Sorry!!!!
Alan Rosenberg is as good an actor as he is a negotiator and leader… and therein lies the problem.
Fire Rosenberg & Allen… put together a new negotiating team, make as good a deal as can be made and move on. Life is too short for this and Rosenberg is having too good of a time in the limelight. Someone has to give him his exit cue so he can go home and live off his alimony payments.
SAG members learn the facts. Attend the SAG meeting Wednesday Dec. 17, 2008 at Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, 7-9:30 pm.
When you hear the facts, whether you are a rank and file actor or Cameron Diaz previously signing a misguided letter you will vote yes.
You will lose all residuals if the contract is ratified and that’s just the beginning.
Don’t get your information from people who rant here and don’t get your info. in these articles from NIKKI who relies on a few angry opportunistic SAG members who call from a dark room in a quiet voice to feed her their skewed view of the private closed meetings of our strong UNION.
Not sure I like this revisionist history of SAG alienating AFTRA. AFTRA was POACHING. It wasn’t SAG that started infringing on AFTRA’s territory, and therefore it wasn’t SAG’s responsibility to be the one who plays nice. First DIRT, then the CLEANER and who knows how many others.
I was sitting near the mike and the guy in the backwards hat seemed not to be referring to Mr. Rosenberg’s personal marital status, but to the fact that if we strike, he is in a fine position to withstand it. And he is. Actually, all the big actors on both sides of this issue are in fine positions to withstand a strike. “Middle class” actors who are lucky enough to make enough money to support themselves w/out taking on outside work, will suffer, yes, I’ll take your word for it, will suffer under this contract, but the people who will suffer more are the “lower-class” actors (it’s never specifically said, but to call some the “middle-class” infers the others are ignorant “lower-class”), who are out there everyday scrambling for enough work to just get health insurance. Actors who have to take on several jobs to continue to do what they love. A job that is basically play, by the way, and one that is a choice.
And that man’s comment did not deserve the fury of Mr. Rosenberg. Had he been a professional, he would have let it all slide off his back. He should have been well prepared for New York’s reaction and risen above it. Mr. Allen did. And honestly it did make me question Mr. Rosenberg’s ability to negotiate. And made me wonder what exactly was going on inside the room with the APMPT. The faces he was making through-out the proceedings, were completely disrespectful and childish. Yes, some people were disrespectful to the both of them, I agree. But respect goes both ways.
The board members who spoke longer then their two minutes were given permission by the group in attendence because, as always, we heard only one side of the argument for about 45 minutes and there was no indication that we would officially hear the other side.
There is no real work in New York anymore. There are several TV shows, but they are monopolized by one casting company that has frozen out a great number of the working actors over the last year. There have been no films to speak of in six months (yes, several indy’s but not what there was the previous year and the first half of the year). Everyone is worried they won’t make their insurance or pension even if we don’t strike, forget it if we do.
I am one who agrees with the young man. I may be a bit older than him, but I watch televison shows on the internet, in fact, I prefer it because the quality is better than cable. I am on the internet more than I watch TV, so don’t say all the old farts don’t understand what is going on. I’ve done principal work for The Onion, I’ve worked for new media. So, I am completely aware of it. Had our negotiating team handled this differently from the get-go, there might have been some movement, of course I’m not psychic, but from what I have observed, it seems likely to me, we might have gotten a little something new media-wise. We’ll never know now, and I believe it is probable that when this is all over, strike or no, our contract will be worse than the APMPT’s final offer.
The problem here is that some folks are willing to pretend that the other side is negotiating in good faith. That the other side won’t complain about the economy generally and the fiscal health of the movie/TV business specifically in three years. That the other side won’t employ the ‘A Strike Will Destroy The Business’ rhetoric in three years. That the other side will, for the first time in their history, be more than happy to renegotiate new media standards when the business model evolves. In three years.
Those who do not learn from history are condemned to be George Clooney. Which is not a bad gig. If you’re George Clooney.
What I dont get is why people keep comming back to widening the rift with AFTRA. To hell with AFTRA! let me see here- oh I do a day of work on a SAG set and I make 750 and up; I do a day of work on an AFTRA set and I walk home with maybe 500. I have a force call on a SAG set, and my check at the end of the week has an extra 750! I have a force call on an AFTRA set, and the union is like… “what’s that?”
seriously would ANYONE besides Roberta Reardon chose to work under an AFTRA contract if they could work under a SAG contract? Why not have SAG absorb the T and let them keep their AFRA- American Federation of Radio Artists, c’mon it even has a nice ring to it.
but alas Actor, not being the smartest of the bunch dont really take the long view on this….
A fair contract for ordinary actors, and the survival of S.A.G. are minor matters.
What really counts is Vengeance.
It’s the engine of the Vote No campaign.
The rest of us worry about online residuals or the Internet going non-union. Many are concerned about the state of the economy. Stars fret over huge fees that could be lost during a strike.
But for Richard Masur, Melissa Gilbert and Mike Farrell, the struggle is an Elizabethan quest for Revenge.
Ask an al-Qaeda recruiter, or a Mafia lieutenant: Vengeance is the most consistently reliable motivator. It drives on when other motives sputter out. Most vengeance seekers seem to outlast most do-gooders.
See page 344 of Farrell’s memoir, “Just Call Me Mike.” In a shocking shift of narrative tone, the normally bland Farrell spews vitriol against MembershipFirst (M1). What was M-1′s crime?
“They succeeded in chasing a bright and dedicated president, Richard Masur out of office.”
Farrell and Ms. Gilbert set out to avenge Masur’s defeat and take back the Guild from the “vulgar,” “brawling” militant Barbarians. Farrell was justly celebrated as an advocate for human rights. For many of us, he had earned a measure of moral authority.
Farrell and Gilbert won office, but the lustre of their celebrity wore off and their “moderate” AMPTP-friendly policies cost them their popularity. They suffered Masur’s fate and were then more vengeance-driven than ever. Now, as pariahs to many rank-and-file actors, they needed to avenge, not only Masur, but themselves, as well.
One of the most famous quotes from the Vietnam War was, “We had to destroy the village to save it.”
Masur, Gilbert and Farrell’s unspoken motto would be, “We must destroy S.A.G. in order to vindicate ourselves.”
Corollary: We must destroy S.A.G. in order for AFTRA to absorb it.
#44
I was not aware right and wrong had anything to do with “timing.”
“theroadnottaken”
Yeah, I love this “Rosenberg is having too good of a time” idiocy. The guy’s getting brutalized by people he’s trying to get a contract for that can allow them to make a living as an actor, and, last night, I swear to God, I was worried he might have a stroke in the face of all the insults and attacks from those NY loudmouth assholes.
He’s having a ball.
As a (still struggling) screenwriter I very much appreciated you actors coming out in support of our strike. If you do the same know that I’ll be there for you. But reading these comments I have to ask– what’s happening with you people? This is about your livelihood. READ the contract so you can make an informed decision. It’s your future. Some of these posts (as with the WGA strike) are grievously wrong or just outright lies to sway the uninformed. If it’s this way on the actual SAG site you have no hope. Here’s an outsider outlook on points that keep coming up in your comments.
1) AFTRA – Is not SAG’s friend. Time and time over the last year the leaders of AFTRA have colluded with AMPTP to screw you. They are taking shows that their union has no right to represent and will keep doing this until you’re dead. And many actors want this group to join with SAG where you will instantly put yourselves in a minority position. Strange.
2) NY SAG – Has a massive insecurity complex. Coming from New York I would have guessed the mild weather in LA would make people softer than the cold would shrink balls. I was wrong.
3) A new negotiating team will have exactly the same effectiveness as this one unless everyone agrees to FOLLOW THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS. Undercutting your own elected leaders is idiotic and in the long run will not serve your purposes. I know this concept is especially tough for many actors because of the Bush presidency, but you can learn!
4) If you sign a sub-par contract that creates a template for new media payments you will NEVER get it renegotiated. Never. Nev-er. See VHS, DVDs.
5) All the guilds, including AFTRA and IATSE, will pull together for a strike down the road and really put the screws to the studios… HAAAA-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-HAAAAAAAAAA! Seriously, I peed a little typing that.
6) The economy is a straw man put forth by the studios and swallowed whole by some of you. The economy adversely affects you personally but historically does the opposite for the entertainment industry. Hollywood’s golden age occurred in the Great Depression. And I don’t care how bad you think it is now, it’s not as bad as the Great Depression. Plenty of data available on this– any figure you’d like to put forth; unemployment, homelessness, foreclosure rates– all worse then. But it’s all beside the point. The fact is for the last 80 years economic slumps have caused noticeable UPTURNS for the entertainment industry each time they occurred.
7) New Media is an “emerging” market, etc. When won’t it be? I’m pretty sure in three years it’ll still be emerging. The first TV program was aired by GE in 1928 (so says Wiki). And twenty and thirty years later in the 50s and 60s was the market still emerging? Well, it kinda was. But if you wait for the market to totally emerge like say, the market for VHS and DVDs, I do believe you have waited too long.
But this has gone on long enough. Give yourself a month or two to get together on a plan or just have the courage to PUNT. Take the same crappy deal you have now but don’t do ANYTHING on new media. At least that way there’s no prior template and if the WGA (and possibly DGA) join with SAG two years from now it could work. But you have to keep the end of your contract close to the WGA’s. Don’t let the AMPTP string that six months or a year away from the end of yours. Then, everyone’s done.
Good luck.
“Had our negotiating team handled this differently from the get-go, there might have been some movement, of course I’m not psychic, but from what I have observed, it seems likely to me, we might have gotten a little something new media-wise.”
Well, that’s an enormously watered down objection, don’t you think? First of all – “a little something new media-wise?” Like what, exactly? There was NOTHING TO GET because they were and are NOT GIVING anything. THAT’S why we are where we are – NOT because of anything Rosenberg and Allen have or have not done.
Second: was it really worth all the vitriol flung at Rosenberg and Allen? And, maybe it’s a guy thing, but if some asshole made reference to my wife’s income while I was going through marital trouble, as if I were poaching off her, while I was largely unavailable to work because I was representing a union of actors – a bunch of whom are vilifying me while I try to get them a livable contract – and I’m doing it FOR FREE?
I would be off that dais and in that dipshit’s face faster than you can say “time!”
And any self-respecting guy would do the same thing. That jerk-off was WAY out of bounds and he deserved more than he got.
You guys are all pretty well screwed no matter what happens, but if you let the studios slide on New Media like you did on home video, you might as well close down the unions entirely.
I think this is pretty much the end of an actor’s guild that has any sort of teeth. Last time (1988) at least you could argue that the guilds didn’t know what they were getting into, didn’t know how big the home video market would get, etc. etc. This time you know exactly what you’re talking about but you’re still not going to do anything about it because it’s too hard. What’s the point then? Shut it down and become a rubber stamp. At least you’ll save yourselves the aggravation of labor negotiations.
SAG New York wants a new negotiating committee just so that Richard Masur, Mellisa Gilbert and Mike Farrell can have their revenge. If anyone of the three gets into SAG leadership the guild is done. The New York board broke guild laws in requesting an emergency board meeting and in late January, all three could be expelled from the guild. Translation, there isn’t going to be a new negotiating committee. If SAG New York is lucky, they will get Robert Shapiro to join the current committee.
On a unrelated note, for those of you questioning the resolve of the WGA to strike in three years, that guild is already getting screwed in new media despite the contract. Translation, there will be a strike, and the leadership will make sure it will happen because the AMPTP is asking for it. Nick Counter is nothing but a three year old brat that holds a temper-tantrum everytime he something.
EXCLUSIVE: 20th TV May Shoot Spring Pilots Under AFTRA And Transition Existing SAG Shows To AFTRA
I THINK THAT KIND OF TELLS YOU WHERE SAG IS GOING. SAG IS TOAST. THE AMPTP HAS SUCCEEDED IN DESTROYING OUR UNION.SADLY WITH OUR HELP.
REMEMBER, WE INHERITED THIS UNION FROM A GROUP OF SMART ACTORS WHO FOUGHT FOR OUR SAFETY, FUTURE AND INDEPENDENCE. CHOOSING NOT TO SUPPORT THE CHALLENGES THAT WE ARE FACING TODAY IS AN INSULT TO ALL THIER EFFORTS.
ARE WE REALLY SO AFRAID TO NOT WORK BECAUSE THE ECONOMY IS BAD? REALLY? EVERYONE IN THAT ROOM LAST NIGHT COULD EASILY GO WITHOUT SEVERAL MEALS.
WHERE IS THE ACTOR THAT WANTS TO PLAY “NORMA RAE”? WHERE IS THE MR. SMITH? THE ATTICUS FINCH?
HERE IS A XMAS GIFT SUGGESTION FOR ALL WE SAG UNION MEMBERS:. A PIECE OF 2X4 WOOD, ABOUT ONE AND A HALF FEET LONG. ONE PIECE OF STRONG ROPE, LONG ENOUGH TO WRAP AROUND YOUR WAIST. NOW TAKE THE BOARD AND PLACE IT VERTICALLY, ALONG YOUR SPINE AND USE THE ROPE TO TIE IT FIRMLY AROUND YOUR WAIST. THAT SHOULD HELP SUPPORT EACH OF US, HELP US TO STAND UP STRAIGHT UNTIL WE REMEMBER WHERE WE LOST OUR COLLECTIVE SPINES.
Ok that would be great. well SAG WEST is on strike the producers will bring what little work is left on the west coast over to the east coast.
The West Coast has no support, Heck they can’t even win a Tax incentive. Oh that right SAG NY has a 30% tax incentive. LOL
So “Let Them Go” SAG WEST would sink without NY!!!! PS LA does not have 65% of the work. But they do have 65% of the membership so think of how many people from SAG WEST would be out of work. Do your homework before you comment on something you know nothing about!!!!
kathy,
for the young man to bring up rosenberg’s home situation
was insensitive to say the least. i don’t know if it was assholish,
but it was really, really dumb. alan got mad?
when you’re being bombarded with abuse, sometimes it’s hard to distinguish the cruel people form those who are merely stupid.
can alan weather the storm? maybe. all of the people
who signed the just vote no petition can live the rest of their lives without residuals. so what’s the point?
and kathy, there never really has ever been much work in NY in terms of screen acting. i’ve lived in both places, twice. i moved to LA in ’89
to get steady work. then i got a gig that brought me back to NY for a few years. it was great. when it ended, i remembered why i went to LA in the first place. NOT ENOUGH WORK. too hard. much easier to
have a proper career as a screen actor in LA.
if you are one of those people who can put together a living doing stage, voiceover, and the occasional film or TV show, god bless you.
not all of us have all of those talents. so, the rest of us moved to where the work is. and i know everyone is convinced that the tax incentives
will bring tons of work to NY if only we’d sign a deal.
maybe that’s true. but as soon as schwarzenegger or the next governor
of california gives the go ahead for incentives back home?
production will go up again in LA and down in other parts of the country. all things being equal, it’s just easier.
if you think that a different negotiating team will make any difference to the AMPTP, well, you’re in for a surprise.
if you put in every person from NY or wherever that you think is
“professional” and reasonable, the AMPTP will look at them and say
“Here’s the deal, same as before. Take it or leave it.”
even if they did sweeten the deal to reward the new go along to get along committee, it would be something as trivial as adding a few cents to the mileage fee. but they wouldn’t even do that.
they don’t have to waste any energy punishing rosenberg.
sam freed, paul christie, masur, NY, the RBD and U4S do that for them.
a new committee without a strike authorization is like a new car
without an engine. it just won’t go.
Comment by Jessy S. — December 16, 2008 @ 2:48 pm:
“On a unrelated note, for those of you questioning the resolve of the WGA to strike in three years, that guild is already getting screwed in new media despite the contract. Translation, there will be a strike, and the leadership will make sure it will happen because the AMPTP is asking for it.”
Wow. It’s almost as if you believe what you wrote there. As if reality totally passed you by.
I’m just going to assume it’s strike whore trolling, but it’s so off-base it doesn’t even have strike whore credibility.
The problem (or benefit depending on one’s POV) with the disaster that was the last WGA strike is that it prevents another from occurring for a LONG time.
And please save any retorts that the WGA strike was successful. Joss Whedon was one of its strongest supporters and even he admits that it was an “impressive” failure.
Listen for the following lyric in the musical commentary of “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog” as it comments on the WGA strike:
“And lose we did,
Impressively.
Slump back to our offices
declaring victory.
If you need your residual,
why did you all agree?”
This entire situation is sad at best and ridiculously foolish at worst. How is it that there are members of a union; a body that is enacted to monitor and fight for the rights of its membership, would actively undercut negotiators acting on their behalf??
Would a new negotiating team have gotten further along with the AMPTP? No one can say that for sure. What we do know is that the WGA is having to threaten the AMPTP for non payment of monies that were agreed to in their agreement. This is a union not a damn play or television show or movie. We have too many performers in our midst who are treating this situation as a Shakespearean drama as opposed to the business issue that it is.
NOBODY wants to see people out of work or losing money; not just in today’s economic climate, but even in a healthier one. But power concedes nothing without a demand. And demands take courage. The courage in this case meaning the gall to sacrifice now for something better down the road. There is no one who can tell SAG members with a clear conscience that three years from now things will be different. The economy will be better. We will join forces with other unions. NO. Things will not be different because too many members of our union do not have the courage of of their convictions or have no convictions at all. Too many know what is right, but are not willing to do what is right or in the collective best interest of the union body. Things won’t be different because people who are fearful will always have the next excuse to go belly up in the face of adversity. Yes, it is hard. Yes, it can be costly. Yes, times are hard. But those are not the issues. The issue is if one can honestly say that what the AMPTP is offering is “right”. Not okay. Not viable enough. Is what they offer doing right by actors now and in the future? If that answer is no then there is nothing left to do but fight for what is right!
Instead of questioning why a multi-national corporation would hi-jack residuals and refuse to cede ground on “new” media, too many actors have turned on their own union and its leadership publicly. It is senseless and only serves to undercut the negotiating ability of ANYONE who is sent to represent us. At the end of the day the WGA looked out for writers. Because that is what their union does. The DGA looked out for directors because that is what their union does. IATSE will be the same. SAG has to fight its own battle instead of counting on a unity pact across unions three years from now.
Sometimes you have to punch the bully in the mouth even if you get a bloody nose in the process. Once you allow fear to make you give up your lunch money it becomes a habit that is hard to break.