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I've been reporting repeatedly that the newly installed SAG leadership has zero interest in bettering the lousy terms of the AMPTP's "Last, Best And Final" TV/Theatrical contract offer made to the Guild on February 18th. 
Not the New Media terms. Not the issues of residuals or jurisdictions. Not anything except the expiration date of the contract. Well, now the Los Angeles Times backs up my posts.
I'd been hearing, too, about backchannel communications between the Hollywood moguls and SAG's newly named chief negotiator John McGuire that had been arranged by a few A-list actor / producers / directors (names like Tom Hanks and George Clooney have been mentioned). But I couldn't believe my ears that this fresh opportunity would be squandered by the SAG National Majority.
Because my own insiders and even the LA Times' sources say the new SAG leaders are only bargaining the issue of the contract's expiration date. (To be absolutely accurate, the LA Times soft-pedals this as "primarily" but mentions no other terms being discussed.) So the sole dispute between the Hollywood CEOs and the SAG National Majority right now is about whether the pact runs only 2 years or 3, and only that because it could prevent a SAG/AFTRA merger.
So tell me, SAG members: is that the only dispute between you and the Hollywood CEOs worth talking about now?
(Variety is reporting that, a day after it was offered, SAG's newly named negotiating task force "agreed" to everything else in the AMPTP's LB&FO. Either your untrustworthy trades got it wrong again, or else SAG's new leaders have not shared this news with the membership, who have been told only that Guild board rejected the proposed contract.)
Look, it doesn't take a psychic to predict there'll be an AMPTP-SAG National Majority compromise on this issue (along with some secret agreement to not join any WGA strike in 2011 or 2012. That's not victory. That's appeasement.
What then? I've been repeatedly urging SAG leadership, no matter who's in charge, to immediately and democratically send out the AMPTP's contract proposal to all guild members for a vote.
- SAG's White Says Membership May Never Vote On Contract
- Will New SAG Leaders Just Let AMPTP Unilaterally Impose Its Offer On Guild?
- THR Gets It Wrong About AFTRA vs SAG TV Pilots
- SAG National Majority Has No Clue What To Do Next
- SAG Board Today Votes To Reject AMPTP "Last Best Final" Offer
- SAG National Majority Has No Clue What To Do Next
- AMPTP Gives SAG "Last Best Final" Offer And Blows Off New Negotiators
- Why The Smoke & Mirrors, SAG & AMPTP?
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I think that A-List actors should stay at home during these negotiations. They’re millionaires already. These negotiations affect greatly to the majority of SAG members who can barely make a living from their work. Mr. Tom Hanks has millions of dollars in the bank and I wonder if he cares even a little about the little people who aspire to a position where he currently is. By sabotaging New Media negotiations, those who are “trying to help”, are actually ruining the future of most of the SAG membership.
If the Feb. 19 offer is sent out with a June 30, 2011 expiration date, it will be ratified by at least a 60% majority, probably even better. It’s not a “lousy” contract, except in the minds of certain hardliners.
Neville Chamberlain would be proud. This “National Majority” is not made up of union leaders, but corporate patsies giggling behind closed curtains while they fondle the help. Apart from storming Museum Square in a Bastille-like revolt, what are our options?
Folks; if you’re not appalled, you’re not paying attention. The SAG National Majority is selling you out in the most appalling, disgraceful and traitorous way.
I believe it was Jack Warner who said,’The only difference between the movie business and organized crime is that the movie business ain’t organized’. Can there be no young hotshot in the Justice Department who might see an opening for RICO in all of this? Might be a great way to rapidly lift a career in the Law.And Tom,thanks for getting involved. Now, stand up for us will ya?
SAG is not a union. It’s a doormat.
Start a new union, folks. Won with teeth.
The National Board has NOT stated its intent “to never send out the LB&FO contract to the membership for ratification.” It voted to reject the LB&FO as it currently stands. If the issue of contract expiration is satisfactorily addressed, the National Board will send the contract to members with its recommendation. It’s that simple. The members absolutely will get the last word on the contract.
And I’ll bet as much as you like that they will approve it handily, despite what will surely be the fevered efforts of your most loyal commenters. Most SAG members only have to read how completely SAG has been killed in terms of organizing this year’s pilots to understand that Membership First’s insane strategy — of demonizing and alienating AFTRA, then stupidly failing to make a deal when they had the room first, and then even more stupidly holding out for some fantasy deal even after AFTRA had already ratified a contract — has been a true and unmitigated DISASTER.
Assuming the issue of the contract expiration is fixed – and make no mistake, that is a HUGE deal, no matter what your MF-concentrated comments brigade says – MOST SAG members will be thrilled with the prospect of getting feature production going again, getting a healthy pay raise, and voting up a contract which preserves our ability to recapture for the 2011 negotiation the leverage so stupidly destroyed by MF.
Admittedly, this contract isn’t as good as one that might have been negotiated jointly — or much better still by a single union representing all performers. But that ship sailed a long time ago, thanks to MF. Mercifully, their days are numbered. Just look one more time at those pilot numbers, folks: THAT is what MF delivered to you.
The only mistake I saw MF ever pull was to not get a strike authorization in the absense of a fair contract. A fair contract is something we have yet to see with MF or US at the helm.
What we have now is the AMPTP standing in as our SAG Majority and our SAG negotiators for our contract. And no one is doing anything about it. Our by-laws are there to serve us. But no one will step forward. Our membership can act. But no one will begin the process. It is not enough to make commentary on here. It must start with a fight. With a coordinated effort to remove those with power. Who is going to start this? We had a crooked President walk on this country, cause a Depression (pretty much) and got away with it scott-free!! So who will stand up? Who will stand up? Who is going to stand up to them?!!!
So….Drysdale,
IF you send it out on time and IF the membership turns it down, will you and your group then go away? I do mostly movies and am NOT a member of MF.Why don’t you go over and just work AFTRA gigs and leave the film people in peace.Thank you.
I look at SAG leadership, and the AMPTP; and I see two groups of people who, apparently have decided that the way forward is to destroy themselves, and the industry as a whole..all for ego. all for power. Backstabbed my ned vaughn’s crew,; doug allen got et tu brute’d; rosenberg, it seems, was fighting the good fight, even if execution was poor. financial core is pointless, because SAG has no power; I can, after this contract, work with impunity, because if the studios want to hire me as an actor on a film, they will, union or non, and SAG’s actions against me if I violate global rule 1 won’t amount to much at all. honestly, cutting out the members, refusing to give us our right to vote on this contract is an act of treason. This is collusion by some at SAG, and the AMPTP, against SAG membership. it’s time for a justice dept investigation of both sides.
The Companies sending their errand Boys Hanks and Clooney to “nudge” these talks along sounds like they are starting to sweat the lack of Film Product for 011 facing them, as many Productions remain stalled.
I wonder how many of those stalled Productions involve Hanks and Clooney (Both Producers, mind you).
My best guess is this Neg is going nowhere unless a 2 year deal with SAG is reached. The Companies can’t have their cake and eat it too. Sending Producers Hanks and Clooney won’t fool anyone at this point. SAG Members know this deal sucks but at least they might ratify it if they know they can revisit it in a stronger position with WGA in 011.
The Companies should (but won’t) agree to a 2 yr SAG deal, take their lumps and prepare to go to WAR with the “Collective” Guild (WGA/SAG) bargaining coming their way. Otherwise the clock will start becoming their enemy very soon, if it isn’t already.
Hey AMPTP, your Corporate Boards are calling…
Drysdale,
If that contract had been negotiated jointly, SAG would have been screwed just like they’ve been screwed every time negotiating jointly. At least people who listen and think for themselves are starting to come around and see how terrible all those contracts were that they signed.
IATSE members are as screwed by their leadership as any of the other guilds. SAG is no different. At least they are not caving in. At least the members aren’t caving in. Looks like the NBM is caving in with what Ms. Fink just wrote.
Drysdale…
Healthy pay raise? What are you smoking? This deal reduces residuals 97% when our work is rerun on the internet… where most repeats will be in the future.
AFTRA and the AMPTP did this to us together, and MF’s big mistake was not being much more aggressive and neutralizing AFTRA when it had the chance. AFTRA doesn’t act on behalf of its members… it’s gobbling up the jurisdiction to pump up it’s nearly bankrupt Pension plan. No one making a living as an actor will vote this deal up – it stinks to high heaven.
James Cagney should be ashamed for using a great actor as his nom de plum.
Another week. Another SAG blunder.
I can’t believe we’re still talking about this.
To Whom It May Concern,
The reactions being exhibited by the SAG National Board majority and acting NED to any suggestions of forward, positive motion for the good of the membership are indeed sad but mostly indicative of exactly what Nikki Finke and many many others have been calling out as wrong.
I came to Hollywood from being an active, working member in the Miami, Fla RBD (hardly an inconsequential Branch) and
also had a production company there and am very connected to the state of Florida and other cities and know
that this “undeclared work stoppage or slowdown” is in full effect in NY and the RBDs and thus seriously affecting the business and the bottom line.
So much so that a number of people I know that are very busy, well respected, hard working bi coastal pros of various positions have moved back here to LA due to the lack of work in “location” cities.
As much as the SAG National Board Majority, USF, the RBDs and New York may not like it, the facts are, that most of the work is done and most work generated and administered in and from Hollywood.
Minimally, the board must send the AMPTP’s last, best and final offer to the membership for a vote.
I repeat, must, for it is the membership that we all must serve and it is the membership that must decide their futures and our contracts.
It is not the place of the board to make those decisions for membership but to advise and act upon the decisions of membership.
Any actions that attempt to circumvent membership being allowed to vote on their own contract is a betrayal and abdication of SAG negotiators and the board’s responsibility to their role and to those they are sworn to serve.
Resoundingly, I have seen an ever increasing wave of members formerly against any hint of a work stoppage, now angered by the madness in the boardroom and thus further endangerment of their careers and families and now seeking a voice via a vote on “SOMETHING!, ANYTHING!” Dues paying, working members are angry and frustrated and in fear of ending up with nothing but added expense being shoved down their throats by people who seem to be “either producers or producer’s puppets.”
I had one well known actor actually ask “do they all have production deals like Tom Hanks and George Clooney? Isn’t that illegal?”…I kid you not.
This, from a person who just before the actions of the National Board minor majority, just wanted to work and not be involved.
Someone has apparently sold the USF and National Board Majority a bill of goods that apparently, does not include knowledge or recognition of the rules of conduct nor holding and maintaining the best interests of membership in mind and heart. Partisanship, contrary agendas and blame have no place in this.
All sides need to work together for the good of us all.
Having also worked in production on major projects, I know that virtually everywhere but LA is viewed as “location” so, the irony and madness of the resistance of NY and the RBDs to supporting our negotiators in securing a fair deal for all to get us back to work is akin to a snake eating it’s own tail while blaming everyone but itself for it’s own demise…yet it continues to feed.
My decisions and opinions are made after seeking and learning the facts, considering them and then forming an opinion based on the facts.
To form, espouse and support an opinion without gathering the facts is as I understand it, the working definition of a fool.
Send us the deal and let us decide, armed with the facts and let us all stand together however we choose. I also find it sad that a number of “A listers” that support this very bad and insulting deal, are the same people whose children’s births and health care were paid for by health care benefits that will no longer be available to many of those that helped them get where they are today.
At the end of the day, most producers are primarily business folk and as such, are unamused by profit loss and disruption of income flows and thus business itself. At a certain point, the real powers must by necessity, make a deal to continue making the landmark profits that they have been so uncharacteristically quiet about whilst trumpeting how unreasonable actors are
.
We owe it to membership to send out the AMPTP’s last, best and final offer for their vote. If the deal is ratified by membership, then that is their mandate, if not, we then at the very least know where we stand and can act accordingly to either resume negotiations in good faith or send out a Strike Authorization Vote which does not necessarily mean a strike in these tough economic times but clearly sends a message that we are united and willing and serious about making a fair deal.
The times are not much different than conditions were when SAG was formed and to add insult and confuse the real agenda of pushing through “new media” with essentially no compensation for actors, the AMPTP seek to remove provisions that were fought for and have been part of our contracts since the beginning.
We need a fair and reasonable deal for all parties, performers and producers, to enable us all, the entire community, to move together into an exciting and productive future.
It is my understanding that of over 800 signatories who found SAG’s original contract proposals fair and acceptable, only the few represented by the AMPTP have chosen this path, the others, signed.
Solidarity, education and sanity must prevail and I have faith that this is possible and imminent.
Business without honor is by it’s nature, dishonorable.
All for one and one for all.
In Solidarity,
David Anthony Pizzuto
SAG member
“The National Board has NOT stated its intent “to never send out the LB&FO contract to the membership for ratification.”
Dear Drysdale, you either don’t read what’s been happening, or you are willfully wearing blinders. Who do you work for? The AMPTP?
It’s been clearly stated by the NED that their are “members of the Board” who don’t want the membership to vote on the contract.
And it’s hard for me to believe you don’t know that. So my only take on this is you are intentionally obfuscating the point in order to cause further confusion and INACTION by the membership to achieve your goal of the AMPTP (and U4S) to implement the contract without a vote.
And that is EXACTLY what is going to happen. Just watch.
Justine Batemen is right. Real union members need a REAL union. Better start a new one…
SAG leadership is using the the four-stage war strategy made famous by the French during WWII: RUN, HIDE, SURRENDER, COLLABORATE.
The arguments of many on this board is for the National board to abdicate its responsibility to get the best offer it can: the MF led board abdicated it’s responsibility to negotiate in good faith. The only thing that needs to be settled now is the duration of the contract. The rest is smoke meant to obscure the absolute failure of the Doug Allen led team to get a contract — indeed any contract, since 7 contracts have now expired. Lousy lousy leadership. what we have in place now is much better, and much more sane. Most actors I know want feature production to ramp back up so work opportunities increase and they can provide for themselves and their families. Making a stance on an illusory stream of money is ridiculous.
Nutso Crazy. Helen is right and I have suggested it a dozen times here. So ALL guilds listen up. We. Lost.
A long time ago. And when the DGA, of whom I am a member, realize that the gig is up, there is only ONE way to fix this for good. A NEW GUILD, comprised of all the guilds, including IATSE. DGA will be the last to give up because so much money is had upfront. But when they realize how much residual money they will not be getting, and how much their agents will not be able to negotiate up front once the producers start saying ‘no’ (many directors do not work regularly, folks, shhh, big secret!)then they, too, will come on board. That will take time, because so many board members from all the guilds will lose their power. I suggest a multi-union board of everyone currently seated on every board to get things going, and see if they can work out the MONEY part of the deal, and then worry about sharing power. It is the only way to earn a living down the road, and you all know it. The producers have won this game. Time to start a new game, and we make the rules. This will take time because everyone will have to admit defeat. Capitulation is a bitch. But the new SAGAFTRAWGADGAIATSE guild will be a thing of beauty!
Times now are nowhere near how they were when SAG was started.
Most of the founding members were contract players or steadily-working actors.
There were no masses of unemployed actors or extras in the guild.
The difference in membership is key.
Today there are many of us who have worked for years supporting ourselves & families as professional actors
and many of us rely on the Pension & Health and Health & Retirement benefits.
Those funds are in trouble.
A strike, for instance would decimate SAG P&H.
To gamble the lives of many seasoned professionals on the CHANCE that all re-runs will be internet-based within 2 or 3 years is unconscionable.
Who are these voices of impassioned recklessness who want to further weaken and perhaps destroy SAG?
Go get some acting work if you can find it these days.
Build a resume as an actor – not as someone who can hold their breath for a long time.
For God’s sake, people, can’t you give the folks who just took charge of the guild
at least HALF the time and chance you gave to the former rulers?
Ok, enough is enough! Sign the damn deal & let’s get working. Especially in this economy noone is going to force any more money out of an already bankrupt system. Everyone is hurting & making sacrifices & all SAG can do is act like primadonnas during a time when a 2-3 year contract is going to be irrelevant given the fact this world economy will still be in repair during the next 2-3 years anyway. SAG thinks they deserve any better than the other unions?! I can’t believe this is still a problem.
Mr. Pizzuto says “It is not the place of the board to make those decisions for membership but to advise and act upon the decisions of membership.”
Of course it is. That’s why you elect a board: to represent the membership. The Board owes it to the membership to send out a deal it can recommend, not one they think will get voted down. That’s leadership . Leadership is not attacking other unions, dividing a membership among itself, fabricating facts lacking proof of being factual. Your arguments, though purportedly clear, give themselves away on the Hollywood being the majority argument. Backward thinking. We are a National Union. Same thinking went into AFTRA not having so much of the work, and look what happened with that.
David Anthony Pizzuto makes some excellent points. The most important one to SAG members in my opinion is members who now make the minimums to qualify for health insurance coverage for themselves and their children will never be able to make those minimums under the new contract.
Some years I myself qualify for health care some years I don’t. That is my reality as a 15 year member. That is a reality which I accepted.
But members need to understand under this new contract I, and many actors like myself, will never ever be able to makes the minimums to qualify for health insurance.
UFS is shameful. And members like Clooney who go overseas for photo ops with underprivileged children to show how human they are nothing but frauds when they support this contract that will deny his coworkers and our own children health care while the studios and Mr. Clooney himself rake in millions and millions.
Remember when you see Clooney with Barbara Walters looking so kind in a group of kids overseas he is willing to kick our children out of his way to get there.
Anyone who doubts the agenda of the AMPTP might want to spend a bit of time checking out HULU.com.
Internet streaming televisions are available at Best Buy and your local neighborhood electronics store now.
Again, no one wants a strike…just a fair deal for all.
Despite his two acting trophies, and his enjoyable “aw shucks” persona, when Tom Hanks is dead and buried, his true legacy to his craft will be how he seriously undermined his union at a critical time, and helped destroy a longstanding residual system which his fellow actors depended on for survival.
Like many celebrities, Hanks is a narcissist, and his needs must be met above all. Residuals mean nothing to him. $20 million paydays, his many tv productions and cozy relationships with CEOs do. While people are losing their homes and having their savings wiped out, Hanks’s dinner party companions Iger and Chernin have secured “golden coffin” deals which will pay them well after their deaths. Yet, this is who Hanks has sided with, because, ever the needy actor, he craves their approval.
Celebrities like Hanks are very liberal until it affects their lifestyle. Then the true colors come out.
Spot on, David Anthony Pizzuto!
The AMPTP’s rumor mill has been spinning so fast that most of us, SAG members, on every side and/or in the middle, are dizzy and about ready to puke.
SAG members, everywhere, please, WAKE UP! Don’t listen to ANYBODY! Do your own research. Take the time to READ, for yourselves, the Producers’ proposed SH***Y DEAL (on the AMPTP’s website). This deal heralds an end to residuals, force majeure, pre-say on pushing products within scripted content, and SAG’s, no-brainer, clip consent protections of our images, voices, and likenesses. But, please, in your own best interests, READ, and STUDY, the proposed crappy deal on the AMPTP’s website. Compare it with SAG’s hard-fought for and won (now expired) Motion Picture and TV/Theatrical (Exhibit “A”) Agreements. This stinky deal is the AMPTP’s scaled-down, rolled-back, take it or leave it smelly “turd.” It’s the producers’ and network’s shared wet-dream to get rid of Residuals and/or an attempt to destroy Actors and the Screen Actors Guild, itself! But, please, don’t just take my word for this, onerous, plot to destroy Actors. And, don’t take the word of former SAG Senior Counsel, now, Interim NED, David White that the “deal sucks!” Read, and study it, for yourselves. Then, maybe you might even be able to make up a worse word to describe this, alleged, soon to be IMPOSED, SH***Y DEAL.
Please, always remember, as it pertains, particularly, to the bu$ine$$ of Show: “Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see ‘em do.”
Soleyn wrote…
“many of us rely on the Pension & Health and Health & Retirement benefits.
Those funds are in trouble.
A strike, for instance would decimate SAG P&H.”
The real story is that if all funds were cut off tomorrow, SAG P&H would have SEVENTEEN YEARS of benefits in the bank ready to pay out. Nice try, AMPTP!
Bravo2009,
N-E-V-A G-O-N-N-A H-A-P-P-E-N!
To many different agendas for it even to be considered not to mention actually organizing it.
(prime example: SAG & AFTRA cant agree to work together and they both represent actors – you have to realize that actors have different needs and desires from directors and directors have different needs and desires from writers etc – yes there are issues of common ground but far more issues that would put the different groups at odds)
shut the hell up and take the deal. it’s the best you’re going to get. deal with it.
I remember when getting a SAG Card was an honor… There’s no honor left!
Tom Hanks was quoted at an early meeting at SAG as saying “I don’t care if you want paper or plastic – just take the directors deal.”
Now, while I certainly agree with the assessment that, from everything I’ve heard as well, he’s a swell guy, this statement and his behavior since give me pause.
I know you UFS/NY/RBD/USAN people want merger for personal reasons, not unimportant – they may be completely unimportant to everybody else, but, to you, they’re important. Fair enough.
But, my sense is, Hanks knows plenty about the thinking of the Peter Chernin’s and the Bob Iger’s and that he probably had a sense very, very early on, say, oh, right after these guys announced in the NY Times in July ‘07, that they “were going to end residual payments,” what the future according to these fellows looked like.
I mean, they all SEEM like swell people, but, one wonders, from their behavior, Meryl Streep (?), Clooney, Hanks – three of the “NICEST PEOPLE – THEY’RE SO NICE – HOW COULD THEY NOT BE ACTING IN OUR BEST INTERESTS CAUSE THEY ARE THE NICEST PEOPLE IN THE UNIVERSE – NOT JUST SHOW BUSINESS – THEY ARE SO NNNNIIIIIIICCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ”
One wonders, if, at an early point, the AMPTP went to them – not, you know, just anyone, but, the NICE ones, and said – “look, here’s the totally inside poop (”how flattering,” even the biggest star thinks, “I’m being covered in INSIDE poop”) – we are asking you, being trusted and respected, as you are (”ooh, I do declare,” swoons Meryl) to be THE go-betweens between us and labor peace in the 21st century in the movie and TV business. (”Wow. Us? I mean, I know I’m HUGE, but, this is appealing to my HUGENESS in a, frankly, HUGE way”) -
“Here’s the media landscape, as we see it, here’s what WE need – not just US – but WE, to have a shot, in this crazy, ever-changing world, just, you know, among us HUGE, to make this work. Here’s what we’re thinking, here’s where we see things going in ‘new media,’ – we don’t want to go the way of the music business, and we are asking you to intercede to SAVE THE INDUSTRY by being our ‘covert’ emissaries to ‘your people’ because we know the actors, SAG specifically, with that crazy Rosenberg and that insane Allen running it right now, are gonna think, given half a chance – they’re gonna think ‘the AMPTP is SCREWING us.’ ”
“But, just here, just in this room, among us HUGE, we are telling YOU people, you very special people, that, without YOUR HUGENESS in reaching out, and helping this process along, that this industry, this ENTIRE HUGE INDUSTRY, will be jeopardized.”
“So, specifically, we want your HUGE input, number one – give us the trusted advice of what your hugenesses think about all this (and we’ll, as soon as you walk out that door, file it under “chickenshit from fucking stars susceptible to flattery”) and then, together, we’ll figure out how you can go out there, and like Lafayette in the creation of this nation, be emissaries for good, by convincing your people what is in the best interests of ALL of us (translation: “fuck actors” – in suit-speak – but these stars don’t understand our language, so we can say this in front of them”).
Hence: “We HUGE actors are appealing to ‘our union’ (well, you know, in theory) to ‘negotiate early’ – we are TELLING YOU (hint !! – hint !! ) to NEGOTIATE EARLY, just because we want to help, we are union brothers and sisters, who simply happen to be HUGE, but, of course, have NEVER forgotten that we were once small – tiny even – like all of you – and you trust us, right? We’re NICE.”
Then, crazy Rosenberg and Allen DIDN’T PLAY ALONG. Mistake number ONE!
Turns out – Rosenberg believes in what is “right” instead of what is “achievable,” (DAMMIT!) and Allen doesn’t really CARE about Hanks and Streep and Clooney. In fact, Allen, dear Jesus, is a Rob Schneider fan, and these HUGE people don’t impress him AT ALL – because, this Allen guy – get this! – he actually believes in “one actor – one vote!”
I mean – you can’t make this UP!
And, despite the HUGE-ABLES best efforts, the suits are left with a big, fat, time-consuming, immense, profit-blocking, labor problem. The STARS have failed them. ONCE AGAIN!
“I TOLD you Clooney wouldn’t get us jack-shit!” says Iger to Chernin.
Says Chernin “No, I told YOU, Streep may have 975 Best Actress awards, going back to the fifth grade, but she can’t even OPEN A FUCKING MOVIE! HOW in the hell did YOU think this was going to work!”
“NEITHER CAN CLOONEY! HAVE YOU SEEN HIS TRACK RECORD! ‘ LAST MOVIE STAR!? ‘ I’LL TAKE HANNAH MON-FUCKING-TANAH!!” thunders Iger.
Bryan Lourd then admits “Hanks, maybe 10 years ago? Maybe. Now? It’s O-VER. I TOLD YOU BOTH – but I’m ‘JUST A FUCKING AGENT – I HEARD YOU CHERNIN – don’t think I didn’t hear you say that, you sneaky
FUCK ! “
If you don’t understand why the expiration date is so important than you really haven’t been paying attention here.
The current leadership of SAG, as well as everyone paying attention to this thing, realizes that negotiations have gone so far off the tracks that no good deal is even salvagable now. Even trying is futile, IMO. Unlike many of you MFers who seemed to question the sincerity of putting together a common front for the next round of negotiations and wrongly believed it was nothing more than a stall tactic, the current leadership — led by UFS — wants to form a united front with AFTRA and the other guilds for the next round of contract negotiations. That way we’ll have maximum leverage so we can actually win serious concessions on issues like new media platforms, residuals, etc.
You know, the things you MFers claim you want. That’s what UFS always said it wanted to do and it meant it.
You MF followers/supporters are like the Republicans. You just want the current leadership to fail. That way you can then claim you were right all along.
I thought you were all about doing what was best for actors? It seems to me that you are only doing what is best for yourselves at this point.
Pettiness is such an ugly thing.
Soleyn Fenix-
I like the cut of your jive.
Also -
Is this still going on? I remember a year ago, when this was merely shameless (and not an unholy abomination as it is now) and it seemed silly that SAG could be so remarkably adrift in their ‘efforts’ to get a contract. Really guys, there’s work to do – can we stop wasting time?
I love how everyone is still arguing here. Whatever you say on this blog — as fine as it is — matters not one whit in the long run. It’s what you do.
Instead of saying “someone” needs to do something — go look in the freaking mirror. You are SOMEONE. If you won’t get off your butt and do something why should anyone else?
No matter what side you are on — take the deal or strike — you can do something. Everyone says there is no work. So what the hell are you doing all day besides posting here? Get out and picket. Grab your friends who are not working and go picket. Pass petitions. Have rallies. You don’t have to know EVERYBODY, you just have to know a few people. You start with them and have each of them bring someone new and so on and so on. It does not take a lot of organizational skills. All it takes IS GETTING YOUR BUTT OFF THE COUCH.
I am not in the industry nor in Hollywood, so I have no dog in this fight. I want quality product provided by people who are fairly compensated. So, I won’t be doing anything but providing moral support. But the rest of you who claim who are SAG members need to GET YOUR BUTT OFF THE COUCH and start doing something.
So let me get this straight, all of you SAG cry babies think that this deal sucks, right??? Then just keep your current deal which has higher residuals. Maybe then you could get back to your “JOB” instead of blowing hot air…
Also, if you think that the studios WANT to put all of the content on the internet than you have no clue at all. They make far less money than on DVD and TV. Did the record labels want the internet to replace CDs? Of coarse not, but the end users demanded it. They are just trying to ride out the digital storm like everyone else…
“shut the hell up and take the deal. it’s the best you’re going to get. deal with it.”
MacAttack, if the membership isn’t going to be given a choice, so don’t worry. The deal is done.
And to you, James Brock, your posturing and ideology are showing too much. U4S never intended to get a “better deal”, but to just take what was offered. M4F screwed up by fooling around and posturing, rather than putting the SAV to a vote. But U4S has been totally disingenuous. M4F was not.
And either way, the membership got screwed.
@ James Brock:
Your statement smacks of partisanship – the very thing you deride in your last comment. Pettiness.
Though I don’t count myself a supporter of Membership First, MF isn’t playing the game you suggest. We (the non-U4S people) don’t want the current “leadership” to fail – they’re FAILING whether we like it or not! In many ways, they’re not just “failing”, but have already failed. Again, this isn’t just MF making these observations, it’s everyone who is not U4S. And that coalition is growing each and every day. People who helped vote U4S people to the board are livid about what’s now happening.
There seems to still be a good deal of mud-slinging towards MF here – the very thing that continues to divide the guild. It’s bullshit. U4S/NY/RBD/USAN has every opportunity right now to heal this guild; to bring the membership back together (that would be the “unite” part of United For Strength – ha!). But they’re not only blowing that, they’re creating further division by not living up to their campaign promises, keeping the membership in the dark about guild issues, not allowing membership to vote and balking on their public statements and promises during their coup d’etat. Not only is nothing better since they’ve been in control, but things are worse. Some coup.
Even without the newest addendum to the contract (3-year term from signing date), the POS “LBFO” offer would not have passed SAG membership scrutiny. One of the reasons that the current administration won’t let the membership vote is that they’re scared shitless to find out publicly that the membership knows a thing or two about the contract by now, and how damaging it is. And the majority administration has seemingly promised AMPTP no strike. The membership thinks otherwise.
A good deal is, of course, “salvageable” now and always. It will take leadership, education, effort from all factions, and a big, fat, fucking strike. No more of this SAV hemming and hawing – it’s past time for the membership to stand together and say “enough!”. Or forever wallow in the mud of mediocrity. (Which is to say, merge with AFTRA.)
In solidarity, SAG member #00635339.
I keep bumping into Ralph Morgan…because we both keep rolling over in our graves.
Boys and girls — kick em all out!
ALL of em, including Hanks, Clooney and whoever else signed that reprehensible letter way back when.
This is YOUR Union, not a bunch of fat cat actor/producers and 1970s hasbeen TV stars who could care less about you anymore.
The only empirical evidence we have of the will of the membership in relation to the current LBF is the postcard poll on the previous and quite similar LBF, which was an overwhelming rejection.
The corporate appeasers’ game plan may well be to get the AMPTP to back off on the length of the contract, declare victory and rather than sending the marginally modified new new LBF to the membership, simply sit on their lands and let the AMPTP enforce it.
We know U4S organized around the issue of qualified voting. It is certainly within the parameters of that kind of mind-set to implement a contract without a vote.
VOguy wrote:
“financial core is pointless, because SAG has no power; I can, after this contract, work with impunity, because if the studios want to hire me as an actor on a film, they will, union or non, and SAG’s actions against me if I violate global rule 1 won’t amount to much at all.”
And this is bad, how?
You mean you’ll be in complete control of your own destiny? You won’t be held hostage by some outdated union the way you are now?
Sounds like WIN, WIN to me.
@ LA VO:
Have you even READ the proposed contract?
@ macb:
You should be ashamed for being a fucking doucehbag shill. At least Cagney stands for something, instead of falling for anything.
@ MacAttack (aka macb? so little creativity…)
Actors will not give up their future, or their kids’ future, for your present.
Fuck you for demanding they do so.
So, I am just a poor IATSE member engaged in a brewing civil war within my own union. But, when you stage a coup and oust the legitimate government, shouldn’t you have some sort of plan?
Shameful that the UFS and their cohorts did what they did and have no plan. I mean they should at least live up to their rightfully earned title “Sell Out” and put the contract out so that you guys can approve it.
Oh, what’s that? The overwhelming majority of the SAG membership will vote against the LBFO? Oh, so the saving grace of SAG, the UFS, is just going to let the expiration date come up so the AMPTP can enforce their Last “Best” and Final Offer.
You guys have networks. Infrastructure. Phone trees. WHY ARE YOU NOT MARCHING ON YOUR OWN HEADQUARTERS. Do something!!!!!!
Because maybe, just maybe, if you do something and force them to let you vote on this contract, which will be handily voted down. And our ridiculously horrendous and devastating contract gets voted down we can unite. Because there is an unheard of groundswell of anger and support for change in the IA. And between the two of us, we can get what we earn and deserve from the corporations.
Whatever happens. For those of you fighting against this contract and these leadership challenges you are facing. You have this IATSE member’s support.
Calvin Starnes
Local 80 – Grip
Joe Cool is right. As a tool, financial core would be a huge one right now. It should and must be the total and 100% right of most members to have a fair deal. If the “stars” are doing everything in their power to make you take a horrible deal, Finanical Core may be the only tool you have left.
Forming one united guild maybe a good idea on paper, but it isn’t overall because most people have different needs, even in the same guild. Even Tom Hanks and George Clooney have different needs and they are two people that have been destroyed in the past year for supporting the AMPTP. The same could be said for President Obama vs former President W. Bush. A ton of things had to be changed in the transition to a new President.
As for the old SAG, it is clear that the multimillionaires have taken over the guild while AFTRA refuses to do their job. Financial core is needed and can be used to form a new guild called the Actors Guild of America (AGA). The new guild can even have the muscle to destroy AFTRA through financial core and make those decisions stick through legal muscle. After a while the AMPTP will have no recourse but to recongize the AGA as the only actors union in town.
Good Luck and Godspeed.
I’d like to help, but I’m on ET tonight promoting my new TV guest shot…Surry’bout’that…
Jessy S’s idea concerning Financial Core is excellent!
I didn’t know what it meant so I looked it up and it is a very interesting strategic move that individual actors could take against SAG’s malfeasance and incompetence.
To whit, here is a brief explanation of Financial Core (from Wikipedia):
“Under the National Labor Relations Act (Sec. 8 (a) (3)) an employer and a labor organization may agree to condition employment upon membership in the union. The 1963 ruling limited the burdens of membership upon which employment may be conditioned to the payment of initiation fees and monthly dues. In the words of the court, “Membership as a condition of employment is whittled down to its financial core.” Or, in other words, “If an employee in a union shop unit refuses to respect any union-imposed obligations other than the duty to pay dues and fees, and membership in the union is therefore denied or terminated, the condition of membership for 8 (a) (3) purposes is nevertheless satisfied and the employee may not be discharged for nonmembership even though he is not a formal member.”
In 1988, the Supreme Court again addressed the financial core issue in Communication Workers of America v. Beck. The question this time was whether an employee who is not a formal member in the sense above, but rather a financial core member, can be required to pay full union dues and fees, if those fees are used for purposes beyond collective bargaining, contract administration, or grievance adjustment (so-called collective bargaining activities). The court ruled in a 5 to 3 decision, with Justice William Brennan writing for the majority, that the financial core obligation does not include “the obligation to support union activities beyond those germane to collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment.”
Most significantly, this financial core definition of the minimum union dues required to get and/or keep employment under a compulsory union contract allows objecting union members to withhold that portion of their compulsory union dues that the union spends on any political activities, campaigns or causes. By resigning full constitutional membership in their labor union and declaring themselves financial core workers citing the Beck ruling, financial core members are termed dues-paying-non-members. They keep their union jobs and all union benefits. However, since they are no longer constitutional members of the labor union, they are free from any union internal rules and regulations governing full constitutional members. They can not hold union elected office nor can they even vote on the union contract they support financially.”
So SAG members, you can WITHOLD your DUES without losing work! Make yourselves felt and heard!
First to helenofpeel, If you are going to do research try understanding it first. The only dues a Fi-Core can withold concerns any part of the dues that the union uses for political causes. SAG doesn’t spend any money on political causes. So there is little to no money to be saved by going Core.
>a financial core member, can be required to pay full union dues and fees, if those fees are used for purposes beyond collective bargaining, contract administration, or grievance adjustment (so-called collective bargaining activities).With respect to theatrical and television motion pictures, the Producer has agreed to a separate payment for this use on the Internet because Internet exhibition is at this time outside the primary market. The Producer reserves the right in future negotiations to contend that the pattern of release has changed so that this use constitutes or is a part of the primary market of distribution of theatrical or television motion pictures, and that, therefore, no additional payment pursuant hereto should be made with respect to the exhibition of theatrical or television motion pictures (including those covered by this Agreement) on the Internet. The Guild reserves the right in future negotiations to contend to the contrary, and further to assert that regardless of whether other exhibitions are or have become part of the primary market, payment provisions for performers employed on motion pictures so exhibited should be improved.<
Now that USAN is in charge again they have agreed to a whooping $22.50 for 26 weeks of unlimited use on the internet after 17 days of free use.
I know I am one of many who may lose their job due to the horrible economy and the ongoing strike but I must say this whole ordeal will make all of us lose in the end. I am so glad that I am Canadian because I can go back to a sane place once the corrupt and broken have completely wiped out this country. Does anyone see the irony right now. The entertainment industry is made up of adults and children. Right now we have allowed the children to run the show; a bad and costly decision that will ruin most of us who have no choice but to stay in America.
James Boomtown: “I am so glad that I am Canadian because I can go back to a sane place once the corrupt and broken have completely wiped out this country. Does anyone see the irony right now.”
Uhm, do you?
BRAVO LA VO
exactly right…it is NOT a bad deal except for MF using it as spin.
The expiration date is the ONLY issue to be negotiated.
We would have signed it in June had we been given the opportunity. WE would have signed it months later and cwe would have gotten retroactivity.
GREAT NEW LEADERSHIP…NIKKI HAS IT WRONG AS USUAL
let’s see if she posts this…i doubt it as she is so bbiased
Just received this from one of the all time great Casting Directors; Sharon Howard-Field. She works with the worlds preeminent filmmakers; Bruce Beresford, Michael Radford, Peter Greenaway, Uli Edel, Al Pacino; and many of the rising stars on the horizon of International directors and producers.
I take this letter along with those from Theatrical Agents, Screenwriters, Leaders from IATSE; as positive proof, that our campaign and opposition to the predatory practices of the AMPTP, and disloyalty of AFTRA and cowardly members within the ranks of SAG; is resonating and gaining force.
Why would any right minded person want to concede the elimination of residuals for the replacement income, that compensates us for the re-use of our performance? Fear, denial, ignorance, ulterior motives, greed, indifference? Whatever the variables; the tide is beginning to turn; and others will join the bandwagon when they see that everyone else is aboard. That’s how critical mass or mass hysteria works. I’m betting on the former.
Respectfully
Tom Bower
Dear Tom,
Thank you for including me in on your communication. You and the SAG body absolutely have my support. Now, more so than at any other time, there is a need for change to ensure the working environment is secure and fair.
There has to be a minimum wage and parameters within which employers hire actors, or any of us who are trained to do our job. To know that these bigger enterprises are continuing to facilitate a working environment where untrained, non union personnel can be hired, and unique and talented people are facing the prospect of no future security, is terrible. It is unbelievable. It becomes a “free market: and survival of fittest.
Now, as the world in general – every type of business – is crumbling around us due to bad management, malpractice and greed there is the greatest need to face reality, focus on our future, and set goals to improve standards that will offer continued security and protection. For too long, important issues have been ignored. The way things are, there are no incentives, as you say, for the up and coming generation and for the future of our business – and any other business – until things change. There is little to NO respect for education and skilled and experienced persons. The creation of the computer and the immediate and rapid gains for communicating and accessing all things through the internet has had the most extraordinary effect on the world. The worst effect, though, has been the erosion of the very standards that society endeavored to create for itself, particularly since the end of WWII, as nations began to recover. There are NO STANDARDS any more. Now, everything is moving at such a fast pace, few people take the time to listen, truly communicate. There are few arenas for individual thought, everything is fitted into boxes and ticked off into categories. The very basic human qualities of respect, compassion, responsibility are swiftly being diminished. As our position in the world is changing, as we face the challenges of learning to communicate with, as well as respect and appreciate the rapidly immerging power of developing, as well as unique and ancient, cultures, the western world is becoming more and more confused. We are no longer independent, no longer able to easily support or nurture a functioning and efficient home land environment as we thought we had in the past.
As governments around the world are struggling to make sense of “how it all went wrong” and quickly find solutions to get things back on track so the lower and middle classes of our society can once again “function” – are able to keep a roof over their heads, put food on the table, ensure their children are properly educated, get medical assistance – it is fairly clear, there are no quick and easy solutions, no matter how educated our leaders, EVERYONE is floundering. We have been living and surviving well beyond our means. We are faced with years of “rebuilding” and finding new and sensible ways to enable society as a whole to pick up, move forward and function once again – for those that are educated and trained and for those that are not. We have to, as individuals, as groups of skilled labor, stand by what we believe in and what is necessary to ensure our, and the next generation’s future survival. Everything is likely to come to an eventual stand still if management cannot recognize how serious the situation is for SO MANY in the work place and the need to take responsibility and work towards change. At this time, there are “no pillars in our community”! Our situation is SO SERIOUS and we cannot afford to sit back hoping it will sort itself out. We need to keep working, of course we do, but that shouldn’t be a reason for compromise.
When you think about it, every rule that has been created for educated people to work is being broken when management choose to hire unskilled, non-union labor with no minimum wage and work conditions laid down. It is against the law to employ a doctor, teacher, dentist, lawyer, accountant, architect, pilot, you name it, without the credentials to prove they are trained and qualified in their particular fields. Why should it be any different for actors, writers, casting directors, directors, etc. There is some license given to a “natural” talent in our industry but great emphasis and consideration given on developing and training a talent, which takes time and money. I have never understood why the producers and unions cannot come up with an agreement to regulate sensible salaries across the board for all leading production personnel and actors plus a percentage of residuals if the project is successful in the market place. We know there are only at few above the line actors that are really worth the extraordinary levels of upfront pay they receive, particularly when you consider the amount of time it takes most films to recoup their budget before going into profit.
I woke up early this morning and felt compelled to share thoughts with you. I am so sad – as I know you are – to see so many people affected and in distress at this time, people who have always strived to do the right thing and have families to support and our industry is almost at a stand still. I’m afraid I’ve rambled on a bit too much!
Onwards we go, but my thoughts go out to you for your extraordinary efforts in pursuing what is right and necessary.
Sharon x
Tom,
Ditto Sharon X and thank you Tom for not giving up or in.
Lilly–
I’m all for opposing viewpoints, but I find your position hard to believe. The AMPTP puts an offer on the table 8 months ago with huge rollbacks and you have no problem taking exactly and only what they offer without modification even on the smallest terms.
No Force Majure. OK
Product Integration. OK
No Union Jurisdiction whatsoever on what amounts to all web content. OK
No Union provisions for meal breaks. OK.
A elimination of virtually all residuals for reruns. OK.
I begs the question, in what capacity are you involved in the industry? I ask because you are the one person I have ever seen enthusiastically endorse this contract which even proponents of signing the deal seem to agree is a turd.
Whatever the case, if our new leaders and the contract are so wonderful how do you explain that they have fostered a worse deal than the previous leadership and refuse to send out the contract for a vote? Once they hijacked the union they could have sent it out that day without giving the AMPTP an opportunity for further rollbacks. But here we are.
make a petition online (petitiononline.com) and forward it to all actors. It’ll circulate like wildfire! Get a bunch of people to stand on wilshire distributing this petition to EVERY single person who comes out of that building!
Dear Yosemite,
Your sniping at me did not change my point about Fi-Core. I understood it perfectly well. The only addition you posted was that SAG does nothing outside of membership dues that would constitute political or other action which is not at the core of SAG’s function.
Ok, point taken. But… how do you know that, Yosemite? What has SAG been spending your dues on? You seem to be an expert here. And casting about insults as well.
It seems to me this idea about Fi-Core must have caused concern about members withholding their dues or you would not have reacted so…
Tell me why you’re so concerned. I’d love to hear why this is important to you if it is so ineffective!
OMG! You mean you once had to be actually talented in the old days to get a SAG Card?! OMG! That sucks! I’ve got two! Gotta go! Off to Dan Tana’s! I heard George is gonna be there! OMG!
TO PB
What area of the industry am I a part of?
I’ve held 3 union cards and made my living as an actor for over 32 years my friend. And I am vested in two of those unions.
All the bull you listed is MF nonsense and nothing more than false propoganda.
There is jurisdiction of New Media established in this contract. MF denies, lies and distorts this fact all the time. The moderate or (as i like to call them) the sane members of SAG know that this is true.
You say no union protections for meal breaks. Do you think I’m a fool? You’re talking about French Hours which have to be voted on by the cast and crew. Why can’t you people tell the truth. French hours are not at all the same as “no union provision for meal breaks” at all. Not at all. I don’t even think that is still on the table.
Product integration has been around for decades. You may not remember how Johnnie Carson integrated the commercials into his show or older shows. And this issue must be taken seriously because it is inevitable.
We get more residuals (raise in pay is raise in residuals) not less and residuals do not go away. You aare of course refering to the “end” of residuals baloney regarding new media and it’s not at all true.
Elimination of reruns? What are you talking about? Hulu? That has nothing to do with regular prime time reruns which I make tons of residual income on. Some reruns will go to hulu and some will remain on cable while prime time will still rerun during the summer. Reruns in the summer slowed down years ago with reality tv, not with this contract.
It would be nice if you MF crackpots would for once just deal with the facts and not the spin,lies and damaging misrepresentation. If you did that maybe, just maybe some people would listen. You haven’t done it yet, so you lost me months ago.
I am not the only person enthusiatically endorsing this contract. I’m just the only one willing to tell you about it shamelessly on this pro MF site!
Ok your saying people should go Core to send a message to SAG by paying less in dues.
If Fi-Core was such a great idea there would be far more then just the 850 or so there was as of last year.
It’s called the LM2 report that SAG has to file each year with the Dept. of Labor.
Last year SAG brought in just under $53 millon in dues, and spent $657,509 in Political Activities and Lobbying. That would make a 1.3% savings on Fi-Core dues.
I have talked to a few who are Fi-Core and all of them have told me the only advantage was they could work NU.
They still had to pay about 98% of their dues if they wanted to keep working on SAG jobs, They had to inform CD’s that they were SAG Fi-Core as they are no longer members of SAG by law, On their resumes they also have to have SAG Fi-Core for the same reasons. One of the biggest drawbacks is that there are a lot of CD’s and Directors that will not hire a Fi-Core. If you are a BG actor and the casting companies know it why would they hire you on a union voucher when they could hire a union member on it and book you NU.
My concern about people who go Core is if enough do it and if the producers find enough to do their movie then why would they sign with the union. So all those people would no longer have any protection in case the producers deside to screw them.
So now that you sent your message to SAG and saved a whooping 1.3% on your dues and hurt your chances of getting union work, What would SAG’s message to you be?
“Who are you? You are no longer a member, you no longer have a vote or voice so we don’t have to listen to what you think, goodbye and have a nice Core day”
Lilly-
“Elimination of reruns? What are you talking about? Hulu? That has nothing to do with regular prime time reruns which I make tons of residual income on. Some reruns will go to hulu and some will remain on cable while prime time will still rerun during the summer. Reruns in the summer slowed down years ago with reality tv, not with this contract.”
So you are going to go ahead and ignore the fact the Fox CEO Chernin said it would no longer rerun their shows on traditional television? You even concede that reruns have slowed down “YEARS AGO”.
No one is accusing your contract as the source of reduced reruns. Reruns are reducing as a planned, strategic shift to full distribution via mobile and internet sites. They are planning this for a number of reasons. Primarily because it is the next step in the evolution of our industry. But, also because it will eliminate their obligation to pay residuals.
I understand your frustration. I understand everyone’s desire to work and how tired everyone is with all the labor drama that started with the WGA negotiations. But, this is no small thing. Everyone needs to look long term. The big picture.
If you vote for this you will be taking a gigantic step forward in dismantling the earning power and strength of your guild. The original MF leadership may have made some mistakes, but their motives and intentions were in full support of the SAG membership of today and tomorrow.
Anyone who thinks you should sign this contract might be happy today, but you will be very much fucked tomorrow.
All this talk of fi-core is a joke (at least in the context it is being used). Clearly some people don’t fully understand what it means to be fi-core. First of all, fi-core are no longer union members and therefore have NO say in what happens in the union. So, let me understand you want to take back control of the union so you resign from the union altogether? Hmmm. Second, going fi-core does not form a new union (as suggested by Jesse). As for the ridiculous idea of forming a new union (AGA), you need to understand that without the stars that you despise, that union nor any other would ever be recognized by the studios. Remember the whole leverage of the union is witholding the services of the elite to get more for the those at the bottom who dont have the leverage to negotiate for it on their own. So forming a new union without the “stars” would amount to a social club of out of work actors (or out of work want to be actors).
Going Fi Core is Scabbing. I think you’ll find that’s why union members get a little itchy when people talk about it as if it were the equivalent of bargain shopping to save a few dollars.
Scabs are not just anti-union they are a threat to collective bargaining and everything the union has fought for over the years including the 40 hour work week, any benefits including health care, overtime pay, and the like.
I haven’t the time to go into union history here, but you should educate yourself about the worker protections you are willing to undermine by eliminating unions and scabbing. Collective bargaining gives the worker a sturdy platform to negotiate fair wages and working conditions against what have become multi-national conglomerates where an individual does not stand a chance of negotiating a fair deal on his own in the broader scheme of things.
While these current negotiations are a mess, giving up on America is hardly the noble thing to do. I think if you swing by the Teamsters office and let them know you are frustrated and would like to scab yourself they might explain it more clearly than I am able.
Lilly–
You will lose your residuals. The delivery system of TV to most homes is already facilitated by the same cable that delivers internet to those homes.
Many new TVs are on the market that facilitate internet streaming on the screen from that cable. Older TV sets will accommodate this by cable boxes that already exist and covert the stream for TV viewing. The technology exists and will be the norm in next few years meaning all TV instead of being delivered to your home through the antenna on your roof, or through what we’ve come to call broadcast cable, will be delivered by the “internet cable”. You will watch TV the same way you always have–even though those younger than us will still prefer to watch TV on their laptops– the difference is the delivery system has changed to an internet platform for both first run and re-runs. As an internet delivery the new contract provides you will not receive any meaningful residuals.
Any 16 year old kid at Best Buy can explain it to you as he shows you an internet-ready TV.
Hulu is a problem in a sense that it has been touted as the sole re-run platform for networks like Fox. But it is not the only challenge we face. The internet TV delivery is the other shoe dropping.
It exists Lilly. A few years ago cell phones were for rich people, but look at us now. Hybrid vehicles, navigation systems, camera phones, email phones, holy cow! internet phones– I can watch entire TV shows on my phone. The technology is changing extremely rapidly. And if we don’t change with it in a way that allows us to make a living we go the way of the dinosaurs.
Regardless of “who’s side you on” the technology is here and the new contract addresses it in a way that will bankrupt most working actors.
As for the first day voting on meal breaks…Well, I mean c’mon Lilly. That literally means on the first day of shooting when producer Tom Hanks has scheduled only millionaire actor George Clooney to shoot a couple of scenes, Hanks assistant swings by Clooney’s trailer and say, “Mr. Clooney, here’s that espresso. Sorry to bother you, but I have to have your vote on the SAG first day meal break vote.”
“What’s that sweetheart?”
“It about the union lunch breaks for the extras an some other actors.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Tom says just vote ‘no breaks’ so we can keep the production moving.”
“Consider it done darling. Now, please excuse my manners. My mom taught me better. I’m George, what’s your name?…”
PB:
Couldn’t agree more as to French Hours. On the first of a 120 day shoot, it will be VERY much worth it to bring in only a couple actors “in the bag,” shoot some, uh, “test footage” on a digital cam without bothering to light or do *anything* other than let the camera role for 5 minutes, then take the “meal vote” for the entire shoot, and then move on to the production meeting that’s the real agenda for the day. Crew needn’t be bothered to come in to shoot that “test footage” which unequivocally will then qualify as “day one, first day of shooting.” The one or two stratosphere above scale actors who “voted,” won’t of course have what they just voted for everybody else apply to them. They’ll still have meal breaks whenever they desire, and nobody would *dare* tell them not to. It’s just the rest of us who will be boned and working 14 without a break — and without any meal penalties in lieu of a break when applicable. Anybody who thinks this won’t happen is greener than a tree in late spring, as this isn’t even on the same charts or the same scale as offenses producers commit daily. Hell, in fact, there will be no offense whatsoever (other than our sensibilities) because to hold a “vote” that way is perfectly acceptable per the rules UFS is going to impose on us without allowing us to vote.
You guys don’t get it. The AMPTP never planned to get French Hours. They put that in along with Force Majure in the SAG deal in order to stall SAG and get AFTRA to sign first. They never asked AFTRA for those 2 thing and they were the first things droped in the last LBFO.
Should an actor that earns above “union” minimums be bullied into withholding his services, thereby risking his livelihood?
What realistic incentive is there for such actors, as ‘Fi-core really’ wrote: “to get more for the those at the bottom who dont have the leverage to negotiate for it on their own.”?
I’ve yet to see anyone provide reasonable, objective answers those questions.
Yosemite–
I pretty much get it. I was referring to an earlier comment that said the AMPTP’s first offer would have been approved 8 months ago if it was sent to the membership, and a follow up that suggested French Hours were somehow “SPUN” into a negative clause for actors.
I think it is fair to say without the hindsight factor provided after seeing the most recent offer, your clairvoyance about what the AMPTP “planned” or “never planned” would be a bit more challenging.
Let’s hope they “never planned” to eliminate our residuals as well. And they “never planned” to have our union support non-union internet productions as well.
If you’d please look into your crystal ball and let us know when the AMPTP plans to take those clauses out of the contract it may suppress some anxiety since we’ll know when a contract we can approve will be offered.
What my crystal ball tells me is that a month or two before elections the AMPTP will drop the timeline so SAG could send out the contract as is so they can claim just how tough they are. Remember they had already agreed to all the provisions except the timeline when the AMPTP added that little diddy.
And I see it passing by 62%
@ PB:
Considering that in ‘07 the AMPTP did in fact state — in print — that they intended to END residuals… you’re completely right.
They intend to end residuals by delivering tv via an internet cable, then classifying that delivery as New Media.
We’ve seen the studios rip people off for DECADES. Why do some continue to live in denial about the AMPTP’s intentions, especially WHEN THEY SAID THEMSELVES THEY WANT TO END RESIDUALS?
Don C.,
I don’t work for minimum and why would I put up with being out of work to insure that actors that do are treated fairly? The workplace. An underpaid cast and crew carry a resentment that cuts not only into process but productivity.You treat creative people well they will produce better work in faster time.This is clear to anyone who has put at least twenty years into the film and TV racket.To even begin to do this work people have to be given a strong motive
otherwise why bother? This is what commentators like you and comment don’t get.You seem to assume that everyone seeks some form of bloated stardom. The fact is most of us do this work because we train for it,enjoy the process and can make a decent living. Most of us who do well will not put up with pitching lines to rich guys, who do extremely well, for no compensation.In a most objective sense the cost associated with production generally rests at the top of the show. Give the rest of the cast and crew a break with the nonsense that their salaries and compensations are to be reduced.The cost of living in L.A. would suggest that labor compensation should be increased,not diminished.The ’stars’ and the ‘Moguls’ and their aggressive compensations are the culprit here not the working actor and crew members.
YOu know when a horse broke a leg they used to put it out of its misery. Wonder when some kindly soul will be merciful to SAG and end its misery as well.
First off, I have worked with both Tom Hanks and George Clooney, and if you don’t think either one of them cares, you’re crazy. They have been blessed to have made it where they have gotten, and neither one I can only guess could and would say the same, that they’re blessed. Their intention as A listers is to make an attempt to create peace, like any good mediators, to come to common agreement.
SAG leadership has dug you into a hole that is now hitting bottom, you’re hard nosed previous leaders have not done their homework on DVD or New Media. Take a clue from the DGA, they did. The writers walked out without the same ammunition and created a mess in the local economy.
Now, we have to get down to real business, vote yes or no, thats it… Put the contract to its membership and vote, YES or NO, strike or no strike. We in the IA do this for a living, as for most of the other guilds supporting the industry, we don’t strike because we have a desire to work. We have taken rollbacks and wage reductions to keep filming not only in Los Angeles but the US.
Now is not the time to strike, has anyone in SAG read the papers. Theres an economic recession out there. The film business normally thrives now, and look what happening. We need to start working and supporting our families.
anonymous IA–
WHAT????
Not only do I read the papers, I understand subtext. The subtext of your comment being you are the sole see-er of the big picture. Not surprisingly your big picture is most concerned with how it effects….drum roll….YOU. Well, that and how it effects your comrades Hanks and Clooney.
I’m sure Hanks and Clooney have been dying to have you come to their aid.
You missed something about your heroes. Every million they take from the top of any project is that much less for your family and mine. I’m not chastising them for being able to demand that money–and neither are you. But you are chastising the rank and file for demanding only enough money to make a living wage.
It’s something of a flawed platform, don’t you know.
I assume from your post you consider yourself one who “reads.” In the future work on thinking. The two together are a little more effective.
Hey, AnyMouseIA -
Guess you missed the part in the papers where Box Office is through the roof.
If you want to blame someone for your lack of work, blame the AMPTP.
Just keep taking those rollbacks and reductions. It won’t keep the work in L.A., but it will let the world know how little you are worth. I’ll just bet you’re pimping for subsidies, too, so you can feed the hand that bites you.
If the new IA contract passes you’ll be working non-union conditions but paying dues.