Yet Another AMPTP Trade Ad About SAG

COMMENTS (9)

• like we keep saying…

  …surely someone can show us the actual figures

  a balance sheet of the income and outgoings

  a pie chart of the remaining profit ?

  how hard can it be ?

  Comment by herbiefrog — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 3:06pm PST  Reply to this post

• What a crock. First it was “…the same deal that every other guild got…” Now it’s, “The offer to SAG has been tailored to meet the needs of SAG members.”

  Seriously?? Bitch, please…

  Hey AMPTP, let’s talk about that 60 Mil you’re refusing to pay to SAG actors. Let’s talk about the WGA millions you’re reneging on. Let’s talk about the $ threshold at which you would start paying residuals for new media.

  I could go on, but most intelligent people can read through their bullshit claims of “fair”. They want to compare the current offer with the past contract? Fine. If they want people to go to their website and read the offer, then that offer should be provided and compared in its entirety with the now-expired contract – what’s there as well as what’s been taken away from us.

  But they’re not going to tell you that, are they? Because this is just another business tactic.

  The AMPTP is spending a ton of PR money to convince people (who, SAG members or the rest of you?) that the deal is something that it’s not. SAG members should remember that the AMPTP is not your friend, and that any “information” you read which originates from them is likely spun to pull the wool over your eyes so you don’t see the truth. There’s no law which states that they have to tell the truth.

  And it’s not personal, it’s business – the business of contract negotiation. It’s not about the economy; it’s not about personal vendettas; it’s not about the other guilds; it’s not about egos or infighting within SAG’s ranks; it’s not about how much of anything SAG is asking for (because we’re not asking for much, only to keep what we have)… That’s all extraneous bullshit. This whole thing is about bottom-line profit for the moguls. They pay us less, so they profit more. Simple as that.

  Producers don’t “not like actors” (they don’t respect us (or the WGA), but that’s a different conversation), they’ve simply hired expensive lawyer heavyweights (the AMPTP, led by Nick Counter) to help them profit as much as possible for now and into the future. And for once SAG has hired our own heavyweight gun in Doug Allen, an experienced union contract negotiator. These people are not fools (either side) and they play the game well. It ain’t always pretty, nor without setbacks but it ain’t over yet, either.

  Any/all of us can postulate, predict, whine, lie, blather, wheeze, spew, spin, opine, share, accuse, shill or fart y/our “beliefs” here, but none of us knows what’s going to happen short of the facts. The bottom line is, the fact is, that a SAG strike authorization will be mailed out in less than a month, and the vote counted in about six weeks. Every indication shows that this authorization will pass with more than the needed 75% vote, and be implemented.

  And that little piece of paper changes everything for SAG. The weapon will be loaded.

  Without that loaded weapon the AMPTP will continue to attempt to screw SAG out of our fair share of the huge profits from this business.

  Why would they give any guild anything if they don’t have to – because they want to be nice to us? “Nice” is not on their agenda, nor in their vocabulary. “$” is the only thing in their vocabulary.

  Which is why our side (SAG NegCom) needs desperately to have some leverage to get the AMPTP to play fair. That needed leverage, our only leverage, is the strike authorization, coming soon to a mailbox near you. Of course there is the possibility of the AMPTP still standing foolishly on their “final offer” and that a labor action would ensue. But at that point, the blood will be on the AMPTP’s hands, not SAG’s. At that point, they will have forced us to fight with the only weapon we have. And fight, we will.

  And the AMPTP can avoid it, if they so desire. They could stop the potential [threat of] lost work, lost jobs and lost businesses if they cared about any of us. And it won’t cost them a dime to do so. But they don’t care about you or your jobs – they’re a bunch of lawyers hired to screw you out of your money so their bosses can have more of the profits. They do what the producers tell them to do.

  It’s the AMPTP that is throwing the rest of the industry under the bus by cheating SAG, not the other way around. Remember this: the AMPTP cannot lose in any configuration of deals that SAG has proposed or already conceded to. This is all about how much they can win. Commonly known as (say it with me, Nick) “GREED”.

  Comment by Ace — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 4:20pm PST  Reply to this post

• Every time the AMPTP takes out a trade ad a conglomerate employee (or three) gets fired.

  Too bad that’s not as festive sounding as “teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings”.

  But the eight executives hiding behind the AMPTP aren’t as talented as Philip Van Doren Stern, Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra, Jo Swerling & Michael Wilson. The execs only know how to write checks and then of course they’re only made out to themselves.

  Happy freaking holidays from the major media conglomerates.

  Comment by Scuttlebutt — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 4:22pm PST  Reply to this post

• if the AMPTP wasn’t starting to sweat this,
  they wouldn’t waste the money on the ad.

  Comment by blivit — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 6:24pm PST  Reply to this post

• And what this bullshit ad fails to show is that AMPTP demands to expand the fee-free window and venues greatly, so that any show that doesn’t have 66 episodes and goes into syndication actually has FAR fewer residual-earning “reruns”. I mean, they owe NOTHING for any show for 3 weeks as they cycle it to their sub-networks (like NBC to USA, or Sci-Fi). If they air a sub-net show to the networks like Monk, then they own the sub-net residual rate, and the AMPTP is trying to totally eliminate that payment. If something airs on the Internet first and then goes to network, the owe nothing… as demonstrated by the lack of residuals being paid for My Own Worst Enemy.

  And the AMPTP will NOT admit this, because as producers they know they inherently have been sucking at their jobs and fewer shows than ever reach the syndie threshold.

  What AMPTP in essence is trying to do is pay SLIGHTLY (and still FAR behind inflation) more residuals, but jerry-rigging the process so that 70% FEWER shows actually earn residuals.

  Not only that, they destroy the residual structure so that in 3-5 years when Internet/IP distribution is the norm, they owe NOTHING on the shows… that is really what the AMPTP is doing now, they are stalling and obfuscating so that when the next technological platform is in place they keep ALL of it. A few lead actors will make more, but all the supporting, day-player, journeman and middle-class actors won’t be able to sustain themselves.

  Just too bad Rosenberg and crew suck at their jobs. This should have been handled last September.

  Comment by Big C — Sunday December 14, 2008 @ 7:48pm PST  Reply to this post

• Hey blivit,

  You keep telling yourself that the AMPTP is the one “sweating” here.

  SAG, and their supporters, are downright delusional at this point. They don’t realize that AMPTP have them completely by the balls. After you lose this strike authorization vote, which you will, they’ll start squeezing.

  Comment by Oh please — Monday December 15, 2008 @ 6:07am PST  Reply to this post

• As a working actor who is very concerned about the future of acting as a viable career, I do believe this contract is what will make or break acting for the foreseeable future.

  We have to fight for ourselves this time. It really isn’t about the economy. It’s about our livelihood.

  Comment by Working Actor — Monday December 15, 2008 @ 7:31am PST  Reply to this post

• Thanks AMPTP for trying to blow sunshine up our asses.

  Comment by mheister — Monday December 15, 2008 @ 9:05am PST  Reply to this post

• I implore those undecided actors deciding how to vote on the strike authorization to play through the likely outcomes and consider the consequences of his or her vote. It is possible that the bullet in the chamber that a confirmed strike authorization represents will push the AMPTP to offer an improved contract, but the vast preponderance of the evidence (including their response to our strike authorization last year) indicates that they will not respond with a better deal. Nick Counter and the companies he represents will most likely not respond at all.

  So what happens then? SAG strikes. Seriously. I ask the more militant posters on the DHD comment boards, do you expect any other outcome if the AMPTP doesn’t come back with an improved offer? Given both their tactics so far and the SAG negotiating committee’s? There will be a labor action that will shut down the business for months.

  So thousands of people from writers, directors and actors to grips and electricians and craft services people will be out of work and adding further weight to the already bloated unemployment rolls. This is not to speak of the support businesses ranging from scene shops to property houses to costumers to the honey wagon operators. Hundreds of thousands of people will suffer. The AMPTP folks will blame SAG. SAG will blame the AMPTP. Ultimately, the blame game won’t matter one iota because whoever is at fault, people will still be out of work.

  Ultimately, the AMPTP will come back with a marginally improved offer and SAG will accept it, declaring a historic victory. Just like the WGA did. This victory will provide some nominally improved amount of money… and fewer prime time shows to act in (or write or direct), more reality shows and an even further truncated television world. The ends do not justify the means.

  So what to do? Instead of just paying lip-service to the labor movement, let’s actually organize like one. The SAG national board should withdraw the strike authorization and accept the current contract. The negotiating committee should insist on the the caveat in writing that new media will be revisited in three years. SAG, the WGA, AFTRA and the DGA should convene a high-level conference to craft an industry wide new media proposal. In three years, all unions should do their strike authorization votes in advance of their negotiations (before the ship has sailed and it can actually be a valuable tactic) and a joint new media negotiating committee comprised of all the creative unions should present their one and only new media proposal.

  There are alternatives to an industry crippling strike. Vote No.

  Comment by WGA Writer 2 — Monday December 15, 2008 @ 11:58am PST  Reply to this post