SAG Mailing Commercials Contract Ballot

COMMENTS (8)

• Dear Commercial Actors,

  Please vote “yes” on this contract and make it very, very difficult for you to continue making a decent living. Ready for a day job? Then vote “yes!”

  Sincerely,

  Sag and Aftra.

  Comment by Commercial Actor — Friday May 1, 2009 @ 12:11pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I love how they’re “instructing” us to read everything, then vote ‘yes’, etc. No subtle coercion stone shall go unturned.

  Comment by Ace — Friday May 1, 2009 @ 2:26pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Oh, right, “Commercial Actor” – those raises are really going to hurt you. Probably because you’re not getting any bookings, and you hate to see those of us who ARE getting work get paid more.

  The contract passed UNANIMOUSLY through the joint boards of SAG and AFTRA. Even the Membership First mopes voted for it.

  Comment by T. Obvious — Friday May 1, 2009 @ 2:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Read the fine print, people… ALL commercials will soon be internet based. All you’ll get is 3.5 x day rate for a year’s use… THAT’S IT. NO Class A, Wild Spot, or Cable payments when they start calling the networks CBS.COM and TBS.COM. VOTE NO!!!!

  Comment by $40K to $2K in one contract — Friday May 1, 2009 @ 2:42pm PDT  Reply to this post

• “Commercial Actor” doesn’t care about her future. “Commercial Actor” is a dumbshit who doesn’t seem to understand that the COMMERCIAL CONTRACT is the only one worth approving. “Commercial Actor” needs to specify which contract she’s talking about because “Commercial Actor” doesn’t seem to get it that a “yes” vote on the Theatrical Contract will spell the end of the Screen Actors Guild. But then I guess that’s why she’s a “Commercial” actor. Nothing seems to sink in past that for her.

  Comment by Ya big dummy — Friday May 1, 2009 @ 10:02pm PDT  Reply to this post

• The current members of the Board decided that the old negotiating committee was inadequate, insufficient, too radical, and preventing making serious inroads to a contract that would better the future of SAG. And when the AMPTP gave them the big FUCK YOU, now they turn around and are trying to sell us this shit of a contract. I’m sorry (but not really) I am voting a big FUCK YOU NO, sending the contract back to the AMPTP, and asking for better terms.

  IMDB reported yesterday that most consumers are waiting for and demanding tvs that hook up their internet to their television and that reality can be realized within 6 months. So this contract will kill you. No more experimenting. No more “let’s wait and see”. The end days will be here if you sign this thing. ABC, NBC, FOX and DISNEY now have a stake in HULU. And that’s too many for me.

  Vote NO. Fight for your union!

  Here is the article from IMDB, case you want to read it:

  Consumers Want Internet-Ready TV Sets
  30 April 2009 2:34 AM, PDT

  Consumers planning to buy a new television set within the next year — 14.5 MILLION OF THEM, it seems — want one that they can hook up directly to the Internet, without a lot of set-top gizmos in-between, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Consumer Electronics Association. The study, “Net-Enabled Video: Early Adopters Only?” found that about half of prospective TV-set buyers will likely hold out for one that has a broadband connection. Of those, most saw such sets as a way of WATCHING FAVORITE TV SHOWS ON DEMAND and being able to access the Internet and watch TV simultaneously….In a statement, Shawn DuBravac, the Cea’s economist and director of research said, “Consumers want more from their TV experience and marrying traditional television with Internet access is providing the next frontier of the television experience.”

  Comment by Member — Friday May 1, 2009 @ 11:39pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I’m tapped out. I really am. No more arguing. There are basically two groups:

  Group 1: We can make it better later, vote “yes.”

  Group 2: We can’t make it better later, vote “no.”

  This applies to both contracts – all the contracts really. Either you believe the internet is THE delivery system of now and the future, or you think there’s not enough proof that’s the case – in a way that makes striking to get what we need NOW a necessary sacrifice – no mater how painful, drawn out and ugly it may get.

  All middle-class actors have to remove the “stars” from the mix. It doesn’t matter what they say. They have no idea how we live, what we do, what our lives are actually like. Not NOW, anyway. Maybe 10 – 20 – 30 years ago, when they were “up and coming.”

  So, I’d suggest taking their suggestions, which are on the side of “vote yes,” and throwing that out the window. It’s a distraction we don’t need. Same with lawyers who weigh in or all the people with OPINIONS who aren’t IN the union. This is a question ONLY for middle-class SAG actors to decide. Period.

  Just, when you get these two ballots, first commercial, then TV/Theatrical: focus, and ask yourself which of those two groups I’ve printed above you feel a part of, 1 or 2, and then, vote your conscience.

  And then, let’s get the fuck on with it.

  Comment by Matt Mulhern — Saturday May 2, 2009 @ 2:37pm PDT  Reply to this post

• FWIW: every tv sold at BEST BUY has a plug to stream internet from your computer on the TV screen.

  Those that are “internet ready” don’t need the feed from your computer, they will be directly hooked to the internet.

  But the point is virtually EVERY SINGLE TV CURRENTLY ON THE MARKET WILL SHOW THE FULL LENGTH FULL-SCREEN TV RE-REUNS FROM ABC.COM, CBS.COM, NBC.COM, HULU ETC.

  If you look at http://www.imdb.com you can choose to watch full-length current TV shows on their home page to watch on your computer or TV–streamed through the internet and ad supported BUT virtually no residuals for commercial actors with this contract.

  VOTE NO.

  Comment by pb — Monday May 4, 2009 @ 11:28pm PDT  Reply to this post