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For days and weeks and now minutes ago, I've been bombarded with lists of name actors who are supporting either AFTRA's AMPTP contract ratification or else SAG's effort to get AFTRA to renegotiate. (Seriously, is someone going to choose how to vote just because AFTRA paraded Tom Hanks and Sally Field or SAG trotted out Jack Nicholson and Holly Hunter?) Then there are the letters, the membership emails, and all the other nasty missives back and forth between the union heads, most of which I've decided against posting for now. I'm sick of it, truly sick of it. This is not news. This is meaningless spin. There's a reason I am sitting out these propaganda games underway between AFTRA and SAG -- because only the AMPTP wins. What I am doing is putting the final touches on a SAG/AFTRA/AMPTP package of urgent news and information that Hollywood needs to absorb. For those who are impatient for the posts, please understand that they represent a lot of research and analysis and fact-checking. Just know I'm working around-the-clock. My goal is the same since the start of all these guild negotiations: to chronicle how Hollywood talent collectively bargains in the face of impossible odds since a handful of Big Media moguls control the movie and TV business and hold all the power.
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Thank you.
got my hip waders on, because it’s getting deep in here.
I find it hard to believe that this town is held hostage by a group of actors that have seen better days. Take a strike vote SAG and see where you stand.
My goal is the same as it’s been since the start of all these many guild negotiations: for Hollywood talent to collectively get a good deal in the face of impossible odds since a few Big Media moguls control the movie and TV business and hold all the power
Are the writers and actors you flatter with such whimsical child-like statements such as the above even aware that you’re more than likely just waxing their cars, or are they so deluded that they believe such absurd ultra-simplifications are true? I doubt this comment gets posted, as it’s not another “gee whiz thanks Nikki for all you do for us suffering artists”.
Bless your bones, Nikki. I swear, this SAG/AFTRA/AMPTP bullcrap is the worst.
I look forward to your perspective. And I hope it distills the BS to its core and really strips away the spin. That stuff is just tiresome to read.
Thank you!
Kudos Nikki, and thanks.
The posts end up in a circle, IATSE blaming SAG, SAG blaming AFTRA, AFTRA, SAG, IATSE blaming AMPTP. Here’s where I stand: “trust, but verify.” It certainly wasn’t Ronald MacDonald Reagan who wrote that, some speechwriter I’d guess, but, the basic point is tried and true and has centuries of precedent: the rich and powerful will screw the weak and powerless. Every. Single. Time. In the early 20th century, the working man in America decided to put their lives and the lives of their families on the line, and they formed UNIONS. The unions ORGANIZED people, regular people, working people, into collectives, that spoke with a thousand, 10 thousand, a million voices, instead of one. They were wretched, tired people, children, working 16 hour days, 7 days a week for a few bucks a week. People DIED to organize work in this country. Many, many, people. Did corruption and graft follow? Of course it did. Did the unions price themselves out of certain businesses? Of course they did. BUT, everyone needs to understand the AMPTP is not the friend of the working actor, writer, director, or crew member. We may treat them as friends, and they us, but when push comes to shove? When they get an edict from on high to cut costs? People, regular working people, crew members, TV directors and AD’s, comedy writers, focus pullers, craft service, wardrobe, become expendable. The AMPTP is OBVIOUSLY pushing hard, as we enter the digital age, to force concessions from the creative unions, because, while they CAN’T see the future, they want to hedge their bets, and just like people who hedge money? IT TAKES MONEY TO MAKE MONEY. The AMPTP has cost benefit analysis data on their computers that are telling them things like: IF SAG strikes for 4 weeks, what will it cost us? 8 weeks? 16? If we hold the line against residuals for the Internet, against a raise in the DVD residual, against the ability of SAG to collectively bargain force majeure, against a raise in minimums for the average actor, who, our data tells us, brings home around 40 thousand dollars a year, and keeps 22 – IF we hold the line on these items, and SAG, worst case scenario, strikes? WHAT WILL IT COST US VS. WHAT WE WILL MAKE OFF THESE NEGOTIATION WINS DOWN THE LINE? And when Tom Hanks, making 25 million on “Angels and Demons” staying in a 5 star hotel in Italy, looking forward to 10 percent of first dollar gross, says, “VOTE YES ON THE AFTRA DEAL” he’s saying: “GET OUT OF MY WAY – I HAVE A MOVIE TO SHOOT.” Now, how do the rest of the 120,000 members of SAG react to that act of force? Do we, in the tradition of our predecessors, use the POWER OF OUR VOTE in a democratically elected and run UNION to overrule the rich and powerful who NO LONGER NEED THE UNION THAT MADE THEIR CAREER POSSIBLE? Or, do we think, “Well, Tom Hanks seems like a nice, smart guy, he certainly plays them in the movies, why would he steer us wrong?” But somewhere, James Cagney, one of the earliest supporters of SAG, who lived through the depression and started working as an actor in films when they paid you peanuts and worked you 16 hours, 7 days a week, somewhere, James Cagney is snarling, “Shame on you Hanks – you dirty rat.”
God Wakely is at it again. Rants with no solution. Are you mad because you work a AFTRA contract or do you really care about your union. That’s right a union not a guild. 120,000 craftsman I don’t think so.
You put down the likes of Hanks and conjure Cagney. Cagney would have kicked Alan, Justine and Francis in the nuts a long time ago. Stars makes this business work not has beens
Mrs. Wakely nails it!
What everyone needs to remember is the power of work.
No work, no product, no payday. For anyone.
Executives depend on workers being scared by the threat of lay-offs, firings or cut backs in production.
Once you get the people who pay for your work to back you, then you will have their power to fight the executives.
Hollywood is now feeling what many American workers have experienced over the past three decades. The ability to organize and demand fair compensation has been slowly stripped away to nothing.
Time to get the entertainment audience to back the people who do the work in Hollywood. They hold the power of the purse.
That’s the only power that executives respect.
Tom Hanks deserves to be blacklisted pure and simple. Who does he think he is kidding when he tells people to vote in a horrible AFTRA agreement with the AMPTP. He not only was a struggling actor at one point in his lift, but he had to wear dresses for a series called Blossom Buddies. This is one major person that spits on the SAG and laughs. And the laugh I am referring to is the one from “The Money Pit” where he laughs after his and Shelly Long’s character loses the bathtub after it drops to the first floor. The link to the youtube video is in my name.
Make a deal ….our industry and this town has suffered enough. It must be great to be married to Marg and not have to be worried about making your house payment… It’s funny – we hear nothing from the WGA. I bet they are not interested in losing additional income and pension hours.
Dear Nikki,
I really admire your work but this post makes me go, “Boo-ho for you”.
As a member of both unions I work to stay very involved and up to date about this mess but I don’t feel bombarded although I’m sure you are.
The unions seem to be fighting this in the press and you are getting both more information about the matter then the union’s constituency, as well as, have to deal with more of the vitriol in the heat of the situation.
All this makes me wonder what the hell my unions are doing but I continue to hope that we are working to clean up our shops through this process and that we actors will be stronger in the outcome. All I have is my vote and that has already been cast so now I can only stay informed and read news like your column.
I appreciate your voice on the subject and hope the burden of the unions investing in your opinion doesn’t deter you from the ultimate goal – through thick and thin, we must get a deal that secures the future of the actor.
Sincerely
MM
120,000 craftsmen? Get serious.
More like 118,000 parking lot attendants and a couple of ADR artists running a bunch of used to be somebody names.
This one’s over folks. Time to piss on the Allens and get back to work.
If we don’t dump those two, what the AFTRA guys say about SAG will be true. The only thing a SAG card will be worth is to get into the movies free.
All the shows will be AFTRA, and all the movies produced somewhere, anywhere except Hollywood.
These huge money actors like Hanks are all producers in some sense whether they are credited or not. And bully for them. But I hope the rank and file are able to peg them for two-faced millionaire/producers they are when they urge us to vote YES on a crappy contract. Millionaires is what they are and greed is why they are so eager for you to approve any contract that will keep them brining in millions.
Any actor who collects a multi-million dollar paycheck is an enemy of the rank and file SAG actors. These millionaires are taking money out of everyone else in the projects pocket including crew and cast. And I hear the logic of, “without Tom Hanks we wouldn’t even get it produced. So he earns that money.” Well..
If tell you we’re going on a road trip and since my car is the only one that works it’ll cost you $20 million to use my car… I don’t think you like that. But without a car there’s no road trip. But does that make it right for me to collect $20 million all for myself.
Similarly while these bastards like HANKS pull $20 million out of our pockets and then tell us to vote their way…c’mon people. We’re smarter than that (aren’t we?). And remember, SAG only gets a cut of the first one million (a mere .25% on the bulk of that)because of the dues cap. So it’s not like there is any benefit to the rank and file for the additional $19 million that HANKS pockets. I’ll bet a cut of that $19 million– THAT’S 19 MILLION– would help some of us with health care.
Sure we wouldn’t be going anywhere without the $20 Million car. But what money is left for us to buy White Castles on the way? I’m starting to feel hungry and thinking getting screwed might not be all that fun. Maybe we would be better off without the road trip, don’t you think?
You don’t want a Strike HANKS? Me neither. Although I might wanna entertain a REVOLUTION.
While you are attacking Hanks, Clooney and other “Big Name” actors plus a couple thousand others who are currently working what happens if they decide to quit SAG and form a new guild of working actors. Could they do it once the SAG contract expires and negotiate a separate deal with the AMPTP.
Please Nikki,
Be careful what you post right now, most actors don’t read their ballot/contract that carefully. Which ever email get through or read is how they will vote or think about it.
The outcome is soooo important to those of us who depend on work to support ourselves. We want a good deal, we hope SAG is out there carving one out for us. I don’t want to see AFTRA voted down, but I’m very upset with them for going off on their own and some deal points that they had no business weighing in on.
I’m following this very closely and I’m conflicted.
Most actors I know are very very confused. Please think carefully, I don’t care if you don’t post this either. I’ve been writing in since the writers strike.
Please think carefully before you write anything from either side that is too much about their own agenda and not the greater good of members and the other worker bees at large. You have a big audience, please use it help us and not just get the most clicks. I beg you!
What I find truly astonishing, is what do Tom Hanks & Jack Nicholson know about the hardships or middle class actors?!?! When was the last time Tom Hanks did an AFTRA job? When was the last time Jack Nicholson worked for scale? The issues on the table do not affect them in the slightest.
To be frank, the A-list actors making 10-20 million dollar salaries per picture is a huge contributing factor to the plight of the working actor. Five years ago a working actor with a resume had a quote – no more!
I’d be much more interested in hearing from other actors who work both SAG & AFTRA jobs.
Hey, just a thought, I have another thought for ya: try making a movie with no background players or supporting “non-star” actors and see how far the story goes. You can make a film without big name actors, but you cannot make a film without a supporting cast of mostly no-names. So your little diatribe about “stars” making this business work is just slightly off center.
Just like middle-tier writers (like me) who are the backbone of the WGA, SAG and the movie business in general, needs their so-called “no name” actors to fill the screen. So before you talk out of your ass again, try thinking about the working actor who’s just trying to survive in this business. Hanks and the rest of the 20 million-dollar a picture gang forget what a struggle it is to eck out a meager living in this industry. Those that struggle (and Hanks and co apparently have forgotten their roots) deserve better from those who’ve made it to the top tier. Instead of knocking the struggling actor and working against SAG, Hanks and friends should throw their considerable weight behind the Guild and force the AMPTP to do the right thing and increase pension and insurance benefits, salaries, etc. etc. etc.
To do anything else undercuts SAG and belittles their fellow actors and craftsman.
The worse is that these people ignore they are the dramatis personae in the great Odysseus of modern Hollywoodland written by Nikki Finke. But this time Homer is not blind…
Part of the problem with this riduculous and dangerous situation between SAG, AFTRA and the AMPTP is the confusion in most aactors that I know. To clear up that confusion, one has to look at the truth: AFTRA capitulated to the AMPTP for nefarious reasons just like the Congress has capitulated time and time again to George Bush. that only happens with inside help and a lack of integrity to constituents.
I don’t know what percentage of AFTRA’s membership works honorably on radio and game shows but they do not negotiate for SAG.
Acnowledge no precedence by AFTRA. Draw strength from the Writers’ past labor action and make that strike look like a picnic. See you on the picket lines.
There is no confusion, only questions surrounding management’s competence.
Yo hank another thought
I did a tv movie 6 years ago. Aftra contract for the actors low ball IA contract. The actress won a Academy award the following year. The DP got an Emmey nomination, didn’t win. The point is we worked for the movie not the money. Yes these producers are money grubbing scumbags, they know nothing about art, but they will suck it dry from us.
The point is either you work for them and have a moment of greatness or you don’t work and “your performance is dead forever”. you pick.
Tom Hanks is earning 20m against 20m first-dollar gross on ANGELS AND DEMONS, fyi.
Dear Hollywood,
Please stand up and lead for once!
Realize that your guild/union execs are only trying to leverage power to maintain their jobs. Without members, the unions, guilds and crafts will crumble.
QUIT ALL OF THEM.
Form a new union/craft/guild of actors, crafts, writers, etc.
Take your new group, with all the attached talent and go to the bank.
If you get 100,000 people in your group and ask for $10,000 line of credit per member, you have $1 BILLION in credit at the bank.
This action will draw outside investors.
Form a production company as a unit of the new union/guild. Produce your own movies and pay yourselves.
You become the studio.
Distribution?
Don’t worry about it.
Ever heard of the internet? DVDs?
Let the studios have the old movie houses.
Without having to pay for all the overhead, it would be hard for your group to NOT make money.
Put 50% of the profits back into the business and the rest into your retirement/healthcare fund.
Smile at the ex-VP who parks your car.
Otherwise, just suck it up and take what they give you.
Mrs. Wakely, these are not unions but guilds and they are weak, silly and corrupt at this point.
The way these unions and we, their members, are going about trying to get a fair deal from the “rich and powerful” corporate giants doesn’t work.
Chinese definition of insanity’s doing the same thing over and over again and expecting it to turn out different.
Even in a day dream i can’t see this working out.
we need a new way of doing business, a new playing field.
Instead of arguing with each other, we should all be banding together to make product. The AMPTP is engaged in last century thinking, when the means of production cost millions. That has changed dramatically in the last 5 years – so let’s stop playing THEIR game.
See my column in Now Casting’s online newsletter, Actors Ink, today for one way of looking at the new reality … compared to the old way of doing business with THEM.
The only power talent has in this world is the power to deny services.
The fundamental problems with the proposed AFTRA deal remain the same. Opponents of the AFTRA contract generally have it right, but greater emphasis needs to be placed on the egregious union-busting New Media provisions. Even most of the “working” actors I have read on both sides of this debate do not, IMHO, have a firm grasp on how significant IPTV is, and how deep the moguls’ plans are for obliterating network and cable television in favor of Internet channels. The telecoms and cable companies aren’t busy laying fiber optic all over the country out of boredom.
Between the low-budget New Media exemption, the 17/24 day windows, the joke New Media residuals, and AFTRA’s capitulation on clip use, the moguls are clearly establishing what they think the terms of New Media should be vis a vis all of the creative unions. Even if AFTRA members turn down the proposed deal – and they damn well should – I suspect after this round of actor negotiations is concluded, we’ll have done what the WGA did with New Media: put off the big fight for a couple of years. And make no mistake about it, the choices then will be either a HUGE fight or the end of the meaningful unionization of Hollywood’s creative community.
Get off Aftra’s back. Those who don’t support Aftra’s deal can choose not to work Aftra. If SAG goes on strike most of the working class actors are going to be quite grateful for a way to make rent and their car payment.
SAG should worry about SAG and make a deal based on their own Merits. Forcing another group to gain them leverage is downright un-’merican.
SAG is just like George Bush forcing Dem’s in congress to vote for the war even though they didn’t want to because he knew they feared like looking like wusses. SAG thinks Aftra will look like wusses if they don’t strike with them.
Wow…SAG and Bush…so proud together.
We can parse the issues forever, but poster Tom Segerson hits it right on the head. Blow it all up and start again…and if not, you’ll be taking what they (producers) give you.
SAG and AFTRA have no leverage. Without leverage you cannot be successful in a strike. It’s not like a striking steelworker whose rationale is, “well, the job is physically demanding and boring and pays low. If I can’t get what I want, I’ll go do something else.” Actors are not going to pick up another profession; they are actors and it’s what they do. No one gives up acting, they just don’t get hired.
The producers only care about the 150-200 top level stars who open movies or get eyeballs in front of the tv screen. That’s why they make all the money and everyone else gets scale plus 10. If these 150 actors would support SAG (by that, I mean: stop rushing movies into production to make a June 30 deadline), you might have some leverage.
For a union to work, you must have common causes. The disparity of income in SAG between the top and the bottom is too great. Poly Sci 101 teaches that: a well-organized minority defeats a disorganized majority every time.
@just a thought>/i>: and your point is?
Your previous post indicated the need for “stars” or no movies–which, as I suggested, isn’t true. Now this post seems to say “be happy you have a job at all, otherwise no will see your performance.” Also bullshit. Using your logic (or lack there of), in theory, you and your friends could just post a video on you tube and be just as happy to be seen by the masses. No money (kinda like AFTRA), but hey, it’s showbiz, right?
Hollywood is in the business of making money. I got no problem with that. Art vs commerce? It’s commerce, baby. But the point is, since it is a business, you might as well get as much as possible. Studios invest money to make money and because they do, writers, actors, directors, and support people should get as big a piece of the pie as reasonably possible. SAG is an actors best chance at getting what he/she deserve. It’s only fair.
If you wanna work for free (or AFTRA–it’s pretty much the same) that’s your business. But if I’m an actor I’m going with the group–SAG–who’ll get me the most money. And I’ll support them the best way I can, strike call or not.
“Any actor who collects a multi-million dollar paycheck is an enemy of the rank and file SAG actors. ”
Close. A multi-million dollar paycheck is the envy of the rank and file SAG actors.
“Hey, just a thought, I have another thought for ya: try making a movie with no background players or supporting “non-star” actors and see how far the story goes.”
It was called Cast Away. Made lots of $$$.
Question now is this. Will SAG on Strike next Monday? Now with Tom Hanks and Jack Nicholson logging heads could the strike now take place? Beocuse the two unions are now coming to head in heated negations? The more it plays out the more interesting it gets.
By the fact is these days studio moguls no longer have the controls like they used too. Corporations now run studios. That could be the real problem there too.
This is why a strike will make me stiff actor/waiters in this town
If you look at the last sag strike, the 2000 commercial strike, it was the vanity card holders that voted to strike. Well what happened? All commercials left the country. Thats what started the whole Canada as the new Hollywood deal. That then carried over into TV and Features. The results of that strike was a net zero for sag. As a matter of fact you net less than zero because the work left the country in the form of buyouts.
Lets look at what the writers actually won. In my opinion, the only thing they won was the language, “percentage” in the new media contract. Even though the percentage is capped at 40k, which really isnt a percentage in the current contract. They can in 3 years use that precedence to negotiate a removal of the cap. Thats all they won. Lets look at what they lost. Studios have reduced the amount of staffed writers on a show from around 12 to 4. They lost animation. They lost dvd. They lost every other item they were negotiating for. So for this strike, net gain at zero but with the possibility of a back end deal in the NEXT contract because of the “percentage” language.
The DGA deal. They aren’t at a net zero here folks. They made gains, didn’t give anything up, and didn’t strike. They have more now than before they negotiated. Thats a plain fact. You can argue that they could have gotten more but thats pure conjecture. It didn’t cost them anything, didn’t cost jobs or staffing positions and didn’t set the rest of the industry on a course of lost wages.
When you go on strike you effect more than just your union. You put other people in harms way by causing the loss of THEIR jobs and wages. I went through the 88 strike, 2000, and this one. No one wins with a strike. A strike should never be the goal. You should also consider who you are striking for and at what cost to you and others. Most contracts for those other than extras are negotiated by YOUR AGENT and these deals are above scale and union minimums anyway. In fact, even though I am BTL my contract is negotiated by my agent as well. I am paid well above scale and treated contractually well above union standards. If there is something in your deal that you don’t like then you talk to your agent and have him take it out. If you get a Michael Bay film and you don’t want to hold a Coke can and feel that you are advertising, then talk to Bay or your agent. It’s done all the time. If you are just a 5 and under, and don’t like it talk to your agent. If being a 5 and under isn’t enough pull and you really have a moral conflict then don’t take the part. No one is forcing you to do it. Just like when I read a script and don’t like the story I CHOOSE not to take that project. You don’t want your clip used and your agent has tried but can’t negotiate that part out? THEN DON’T TAKE IT!!! Thats the benefit of being free lance. I mean how desperate are you? So what actors are we really going to strike for? Who is really voting to strike? It’s the vanity card holders who are a MAJORITY in your union. These people have other jobs, not acting. They have nothing to risk by striking. They think they will not lose wages so that is why I will not tip. No waiter/actor is going to cause financial harm without joining in the cause “oh union brother”. What about solidarity? Does that only apply if there is a reward? Doesn’t solidarity mean that everyone should share in the risk? and the rewards?
A note for next time. Please have someone other than actors negotiate your contract. You have an agent, manager, lawyer do your contracts for work but when it comes to your union you decide, “well take it from here MBA’s”. That makes as much sense as having them give you a line reading.
“I Sometimes think we must all be mad and that we shall wake to sanity in straight-waistcoats.”
- excerpt from Bram Stokers’ Dracula.
I’m not an actor, but am disgusted by actors like Tom Hanks. I stopped seeing movies with these “big name” actors because it is boring to see the same merry-go-round of faces in movies all the time (Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, blah blah blah), and because it is sickening how much they are idolized for being actors, and because they get paid waaay too much money which is part of what causes a dearth of interesting movies and new interesting faces.
Now Hanks et al. are highlighting their selfish putziness with their anti-union shenanigans during these labor disputes.
Can anyone really take these guys seriously? Dump on the union that protected you on the way up? Make sure you don’t have to share the pie now that you got yours?
Clooney is probably conducting his putziness behind the scenes because his career is deteriorating too rapidly to grandstand
This is about deal-making. It’s not about capitulation or “fighting the man” or any other drama-queen definitions that get thrown around by union members. Actors are creative people, really good at being emotionally brave and living in the moment to tell a story. They are abysmally bad at deal making.
You want a good deal? Go find a professional deal maker, give him the job of making that deal, and then get back to work.
The deal won’t strike a blow for the working man, it won’t insure the future, it won’t secure the rights of the middle class actor, it won’t be a revolution, it won’t make you “feel better”, it’ll just be a good deal for this moment. Which is all a deal can ever be. You may live to regret it as things change, or it may turn out to be better than you thought. It’s just a baseline deal. If you get some success, some experience, you’ll be able to have your agent get a better one.
And by the way, despite some basic issues, Tom Segerson is very much onto something….even if the enterprise isn’t that big, even if it isn’t very successful, the entrepeneurial spirit of what he’s describing is the essence of successful art. Vision meets boldness meets practicality…
It’s the opposite of disgruntled resentment.
nicely done, Tom
Nikke,
I feel like a 13 year old white female child in a Perlman v. Duff custody battle. On one hand, I love my union SAG, on the other hand AFTRA is my parent union.
AFTRA allowed me to go through its backdoor and join SAG after I did a radio commercial for Disneyland back in 1981. (When I worked there as a Character in a Mickey mouse suit) Now, I am being asked to choose which parent I love the most. Well, after several calls from Rosenberg, the President of SAG and Ed Asner (Cool Papa Bell) telling me to vote NO on the AFTRA contract I am truly dazed and confused. I was doing to vote yes until they got me to change my mind.
I had to take away my selfish need to work in front and behind of the camera and think what this possible strike would mean in the long term of Hollywood. Reality has ended scripted programs for most actors and writers… the Internet has a promotional window forever if you really do the math… Gas prices to drive to the Warner Bros. in valley from LAX area is and back is $15.
SAG is 100% right this time so I must Vote “NO” on the AFTRA contract. I made my decision. It comes a time when all actors have to choose a side on our future and the future of all actors.
Think of where we will be once Microsoft and Google owns the entire world. It will be like the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee stealing the 4 Clinton Michigan Delegates and awarding them to Obama — just because they can.
I urge every AFTRA member to vote NO and stand by SAG. because the timing has ticked down to the wire.
Our destiny as performers against free product integration, no DVD residuals (I have lived on since 1985 from Police Academy 2 residuals), yes residuals do matter when it comes to the loneliness you feel around rent time and you haven’t worked in months.
It’s the check in the mail that gives you dignity to say you are a professional actor/pizza cook/security guard at FOX/Waiter…
Residuals are what dreams are made of… NOT promotional windows…
WGA, SAG & AFTRA current member in good standing.
“Take a strike vote SAG and see where you stand.”
Well, they (the leadership) know where they stand and that’s why there’s no strike vote going on…
It is highly unlikely that 75% of SAG will vote yes.
So a no vote will be more crap icing on the crap cake SAG has turned the “we won’t talk until AFTRA fails” negotiations into, even though our contract is up in a week and the AFTRA results won’t be in until two or so weeks…
Note to SAG: Concentrate on YOUR OWN CONTRACT instead of AFTRA’s!
I don’t enjoy my SAG dues (which were already hard enough to pay this year because of the WGA strike fallout) going to tons of anti-AFTRA mailings and phone calls when what you are supposed to be doing is NEGOTIATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SAG: The more you keep up this ridiculous behavior, the more your whining about the producers is being ignored (and resented by hard working below the line people & actors that want to work in this town).
Signed,
Longtime member of SAG & AFTRA
Anybody who believes anything out of SAG’s current MF leadship are morons! They have been yelling at the top of their lungs for weeks now how shitty AFTRA’s tentative deal is and that it is horrible for all working actors. Now that they have received feedback that their Anti-AFTRA Exhibit A campaign will not succeed they agreed in NEC to extend the their own current contract??? So AFTRA’s tentative deal which made improvements on the current SAG/AFTRA contract (negotiated together) is unacceptable, but since SAG can’t negotiate anything better they are willing to extend their own contract which undeniably has lesser terms all around from AFTRA’s propsed deal??? Are they serious??? And are you MF defenders serious??? They obviously don’t even believe the crap they say, but mindless drones repeat it like gospel.
Pay attention, SAG leadership can’t negotiate a deal with AMPTP, they can’t convince people to vote down AFTRA’s deal, and they can’t get a strike authorizataion. What exactly CAN they do? Besides repeatedly make claims they can’t back up? In fact the only thing I have seen them accomplish is to alianate AFTRA and splinter the different factions within SAG.
Here’s a perfect example of who MeFirst is getting to vote no!
Chris Jackson: “(I have lived on since 1985 from Police Academy 2 residuals….It’s the check in the mail that gives you dignity to say you are a professional actor/pizza cook/security guard at FOX/Waiter…”
More parking lot attendants voting for actors to strike. Great.
I look at these comments and I’m stunned. This is truly the beginning of the end. Only a fool or a liar would disagree that since the deregulation took place in 95-96(thanks to Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress)that the entire industry has shifted from creative talent based leverage to a corporate leverage system exerted by network and studio conglomerates. For a bunch of liberals, Hollywood sure is full of Bushisms.
Hanks and Spielberg are classic examples of the hypocracy and greed that now ruins our commerce and our craft. Band Of Brothers actors got no pension and health contributuions from these two. They didn’t want to give up their producers commissions. How much did they make on DVD sales? True American Patriots indeed.
The only winners in this war are the media, they’re getting more column inches in the last year than most have had in their career thus far.
The losers are the actors/craft persons/even the execs the industry is changing and there is no clear leader with a vision.
AFTRA/SAG will implode, films will be done non-union (save the we’re a union town, when bills need payment some aren’t as all for one as they are when the bank account is flush) and states will revive their right-to-work status.
The sad part is if the two Alans spent as much time educating their members who aren’t Hank/Clooney etc on the contract perhaphs they’d be spending less time pissing on AFTRA as the enemy.
And yes, where IS the WGA they are suddenly very quiet.
Just need to make another few comments. First, when you look at that video of Tom Hanks laughing, picture him laughing at the guild.
Second, both Bob Fraser and Tom Segerson have a point. The working actor should think about forming a new guild and leave behind the SAG and AFTRA. At the same time, every actor and actress should work hard to avoid working on a big name actor or actress’ movie or TV show. Make sure that the biggest name on the marquee is going to be either Michael Cera, Ellen Page, Olivia Thurby, and/or has the last name of Bateman. In other words, the lead is in the early to mid 20’s or fully supports the SAG.
Finally, and not least, everyone should find the courage TO NOT STRIKE. Granted, the SAG might just be avoiding the enviable, but working without a contract would be a major blow to AMPTP plans which were to expect a strike next Tuesday. The AMPTP would be at a total loss as to expect anything less than a strike. What would happen next is that the SAG would be in control of negotiations because the guild would have the power to call another strike vote at anytime and the next vote will empower the SAG board to set a strike date.
With that said, Notgoingtotip is dead wrong in his analysis regarding the WGA. The WGA was pushed to the breaking point and had to strike. Their negotiations with the AMPTP were not serious at all until they set a strike date for 12:01 AM on Monday November 5th. That lead to a round of negotiations that ultimately failed.
What resulted was a four month strike that to a deal that both sides can be happy. This deal included no rollbacks at all except for some deals that were cancelled by the networks. You have to understand that the showrunner makes all the decisions regarding who is hired or fired and this includes the number of writers on staff. An concession requiring cutbacks on writing staffs to only four people would have been caught by the WGA during negotiations and if made during the last round, would have been a major dealbreaker that would have resulted in the breakup of talks, a third six-week cooling off period, one very angry Nikki Finke who would have made a major post that would have taken up 10 pages of 8 X 11 paper minus our comments, no Oscars, WGA members targeting annual meetings, and congressional hearings.
The final result would have been an April arbitration hearing that would have given the WGA everything they wanted and more with one person being appointed by the President, one appointed by the Senate Majority leader, one appointed by the House Speaker, and two appointed by the FCC. Again, the final result would have been the WGA getting everything they wanted in negotiations and more. About a few weeks later, the AMPTP would reach an agreement with both AFTRA and SAG on those terms, and why not.
Cassie, it is AFTRA that has a me first attitude. They broke negotiations on how joint AFTRA/SAG negotiations were going to commence then AFTRA goes ahead and fully capitulated to the AMPTP. Meanwhile, they never briefed SAG on negotiations while they were going on, and when the deal was announced, they fled until they were caught and forced to brief SAG. This lead to the action we are seeing right now where Roberta Reardon’s me first attitude is causing both guilds to go to war against each other and small struggling actor vs bigshot $20 million dollar a picture actor who doesn’t care one bit about the SAG.
George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, Sally Field, and their ilk should be blacklisted right now. That means that any actor or actress that doesn’t support the SAG must quit shows who’s names I mentioned. I am sure that ABC would love to cancel Brothers and Sisters just because Emily VanCamp refuses to work with Sally Field or that the producers of Angels and Demons must find their working actors from Americans visiting the Vatican.
The vitriol against Hanks, et al is truly odd. Hanks supports AFTRA because it has traditionally been the gateway for struggling actors to get into the business. You can buy into AFTRA and get things jumpstarted in your career. Or not. Depending upon your talent and drive.
Worth noting, it’s been many moons since Hanks has done much of anything AFTRA. He supports them for, believe it or not, fairly selfless reasons…because they help young actors, one of which he was once.
Jessy S.
It seems that you can’t even read. Because if you could, you would notice that Jack Nicholson is actually on your side. He wants actors to vote down the AFTRA deal.
SAG taking the wait and see approach is dangerous in the sense that these studios can lock SAG out. To think that not having a strike vote is empowering to SAG position is just plain nonsense. If they can’t get a strike vote now what makes anyone think they can get one three months for now.
the writers are quiet because they know they should have waited. Now they are saying OOPSI
Jessy S. is a moron. Does he really think SAG would have leverage against the AMPTP at this point? What a fool. If SAG extends their current contract 30 days, the AMPTP would still accept those terms. SAG can;t just unilaterally extend the contract. Now if AMPTP were to accept the extension, then SAG would have 30 days to accept AMPTP’s terms (which won;t change much). SAG would not be able to hold a “strike at anytime” scenario over the AMPTP because they are too smart for that. If SAG doesn’t seriosly negotiate in those 30 days, I can guarantee you when SAG asks for another extension, AMPTP will say “you better get a strike authorization because we are done playing with you”
Have any of you folks seen TV ratings recently? Film grosses? Do you really think we can survive another strike? The WGA strike accomplished NOTHING compared to what the largest portion of the day-to-day working members lost in salaries. Saying nothing of the other union, guild and production salary losses. If you work 2 days a year, then great, you’re probably gung-ho strike! But if you actually make your living being paid 52 weeks a year working in film or television you really have to ask yourself how will this industry survive another strike. Big, tough talk means nothing, and there’s a lot of it here.
Well I think the vitriol at Hanks is coming from frustration. While Hanks intentions could very well be done out of earnestness for the young actor, it does nothing for the established middle class actor.
Who cares that Hanks makes $20 mil a picture? It’s easy to say it’s obscene but not a single actor posting on this site would pass it down if it was offered to them.
Once again it comes down to the AMPTP, if they want to pay that amount of money that’s their right. Just like professional athletes, the owners determine value for a players skills.
It doesn’t matter which witch camp you support Hanks or Nicholson, because neither of them are going to be affected by the outcome. They will still get paid handsomely, they will have clauses that protect them from clip-use and if they work in TV they will give them Producer credits to offset the lack of new media residuals.
In a perfect world both acting guilds work together.
In an ideal world the AMPTP would realize that giving something tangible weather it be a DVD increase, force majure or a higher residual rate this whole thing could be done with everyone feeling like they got a fair deal.
THIS JUST IN…
I have it on good authority that the estates of some MAJOR Hollywood players have weighed in on the AFTRA contract & SAG Board & NED behavior, and here’s how it breaks down:
Pro-YES-on-AFTRA Contract: Rodney Dangerfield who reputedly said “I tell ya, as an AFTRA member I get no respect at all. Last week SAG sent me a t-shirt…with a bullseye on the back!”
Pro-NO-on-AFTRA Contract: Ronald Reagan who said, “Well, Nancy and I used to take lots of costumes home from the set without permission, and this is no different…is it?”
Pro-YES-on-AFTRA Contract: Paul Robeson who said, “That old man river, he just keeps rollin’ along…”
Pro-NO-on-AFTRA Contract: Bela Lugosi who said, “Where the hell can i get a snort of China White around here?”
Pro-YES-on-AFTRA Contract: George Washington, who said, “I never tell a lie.”
Well, I voted “no” on the AFTRA deal.
Suck it, Aftra. You’re useless.
Again, I ask. Despite all this posturing, exactly what leverage does SAG have in a strike?
So can we all grow up and learn to get along. You are acting like a bunch of Children. Oh yeah let’s trot out the big name actors, that make millions of dollars that show their support. *eyeroll*
SAG is pissed because AFTRA made a deal first, making SAG to look like idiots.
Get a clue, grow up and make your own deal. Stop trotting out big name stars to make your pathetic case.
Copy that, I misread Nicholson’s side of the story and I apologize.
Regardless, clueless should know that the SAG doesn’t have the leverage to strike as of now. If they hold out for a few months, then there might be a strike, but there isn’t one now. One can work without a new contract for a good deal of time. Back to last fall, the WGA “according to the AMPTP and the media” were expected to wait until the SAG contract expired next week so they can strike. Up to that point the moguls were daring the WGA to strike but hoping they didn’t have the balls to take that action because the WGA’s last strike was a six month one that started in 1988.
Right now, the SAG task is to make sure that the AFTRA contract with AMPTP doesn’t pass and then get rid of Roberta Reardon because that is the only way a deal can even begin to get done.
Besides, the best thing to happen to the guild is the anger against Tom Hanks. If he truly believes in the working actor’s struggle, he would go ahead and order actors left and right to toss out AFTRA like yesterday’s trash, or better yet, stinky, spoiled meat. These $20 million per movie deals have got to go. This would be like getting $20 million per game. No pro athlete in our four major sports makes that much on the field per year. Thank goodness for endorsement money, but even that doesn’t make it due to taxes.
AFTRA and SAG/AFTRA duo members, you have the duty and authority to strike down a bad deal that your Roberta Reardon made for you and then buckle down and make a major salary cap for A-listers that would allow the working actor to gain on salary, deals, and would allow for the AMPTP to give everything that you asked for in previous negotiations with the contract being finalized before the AMPTP is able to regage on any one of those points, with the contract in the hands of the combined SAG/AFTRA membership.
Andy,
To answer you question… SAG has no levereage at this point! And it really doesn’t matter what the outcome is on AFTRA’s ratification vote. We all know it will pass, but even if it doesn;t there is no way AFTRA retrns to the table with SAG, so SAG doesn’t gain any leverage voting down AFTRA’s deal.
At this point, there is no way this ends well for SAG and it’s all because of poor leadership
Jessy
You have to be kidding us. Use the spell check by the way
Enough, read the backstory. Yes SAG is pissed, but because the AFTRA deal would hurt everybody. Everyone but brain-dead slobs know this. They agreed to negotiate their own deals after talks for combined negotiations fell apart. Part of this deal was that SAG and AFTRA would brief each other on what was happening except AFTRA failed to brief SAG on their negotiation until after AFTRA had their bad deal.
I think it is very important to remember that Tom Hanks is a producer. If the Aftra contract goes thru he reaps the rewards as will all other producers in town. He is part of the AMPTP. Also every AFTRA member I have spoken to is voting No. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
Some of these replies are so intelligent and noteworthy that I wonder why Nikki hasn’t put up a special page for them much as people who read the BBC have done for similar comments. Perhaps the people in England don’t have the problems that the people in Hollywood do.
Jessy your just spewing what you read before. Your tiresome. As for Brian Who is it your talking to.. I work a lot of days and know people that will vote this contract and the word is yes. I hope this impasse goes through December WHEN those idiots on the sag board go to oblivion.
Have any of you people seen the movie REDS. It’s about pragmatism verses reality. The reality wins every time. Only this reality was set up by democratic president, bill cliton and play out by a bush. In an earlier missive some said had the wga held to april they would have gotten everything they wanted. What planet do you live on.Bizzaro world.
I hope this labor strife is over soon so i can get back to what I love, making movies.
Brian, not all producers are members of AMPTP. There is a producers guild that Tom Hanks might belong to. Also, all executive producer showrunners belong to this guild as well and caused minor debate in the WGA strike’s early days.
What Leverage (name of commenter) -
Au contraire. If AFTRA membership turns down the proposed Schedule A contract, AFTRA leadership returns to the table with a mandate to do better.
The AMPTP would be negotiating with both unions again, either together or separately, but either way, they will know that they can’t continue to play one union off against the other. In that respect at least, the two unions would be negotiating together, even if it’s not entirely voluntary on AFTRA’s part.
Brian writes, “I think it is very important to remember that Tom Hanks is a producer.”
Yes!!!! Precisely. Yeah Brian! Two enthusiastic thumbs up!
You can’t side with Hanks’ philosophy as if he’s an actor talking to an actor because he is a producer. Same with Nicholson. It’s absurd. They are both cannibals inviting you over for dinner. My advice is don’t go.
“‘To Serve Man’….it’s a cookbook… it’s a cookbook.”
I’d love to hear what Peter Scolari has to say, though.
And c’mon Notgoingtotip: I can promise anyone anywhere at anytime you already don’t. So now what’s your bargaining chip?
The history of Unions is negotiating collectively for a fair deal for individuals who are powerless to do so on their own against greedy business owners. “Have your attorney negotiate it”? How rich has stiffing waiters made you? And I can’t leave without noting your hatred for waiters marks you as a rube. What’s your opinion on School Teachers and Janitors and Valets. Are they silly too? Would you like to withhold their salaries too? Should they let their attorney negotiate the deal? Do you even understand the issues here? Pppppplease. You offend all working people with your ignorance.
Leverage requires a lever or stick and a fulcrum to work. Having the stick up your ass makes leverage near impossible to achieve.
“My goal is the same as it’s been since the start of all these many guild negotiations: to chronicle how Hollywood talent collectively bargains in the face of impossible odds since a handful of Big Media moguls control the movie and TV business and hold all the power.”
- i Laughed out loud when i read this. And not just for the way it portraits the ‘poor actors struggle,’ but also the you portrait yourself through these things nicki. I know you’re not really a journalist and there is no moral objectivity that applies – but maybe you should hold of on portraiting yourself as the ‘little john’ to the actors ‘robin hood.’
I also find it really funny when you guys talk about ‘black listing’ people. from what exactly? the Ivy? you think in 2 months anyone will remember anything about this?
Take the deal. You don’t want to get spanked like the writers did.
Jesse S you are a child. “congressional hearings” regarding staffing for writers on a show? Give me a break. There are less writers staffed on shows now then before the strike. You have the right to you own opinions but not your own facts. There are less writers working right now than before the strike-fact. A showrunner doesn’t get to put as many writers on as they want. The studio TELLS the show runner how many they can have. Showrunners can choose less but not more than a studio allocates in THIER budget.
Also, Tom Hanks makes 20mil a picture because his name sells MORE than 20mil a picture. It’s simple math. The studios are in the business of making money and they have a rating on every big actor as to the minimum amount their name attatched can add to an open. Have you ever seen one of those deals? Usually they are set against first monies of the gross. They don’t just say, “here’s your check for 20 mil Tom, you call time is 11am so you have time to go to the bank and deposit that before your first day of shooting.”
The writers were not forced to strike. They painted themselves in a corner using the contract deadline as leverage. A strategy that ultimately failed. They were asked to start early negotiations a full year before the strike but chose to follow David Young’s strategy of backing talks against a deadline. The same failed strategy that cost Youngs negotiations with Guess jeans in the Garment strike to leave him empty handed, with everyone losing their job as Guess left the country.
Start your own union? Really? Now you’re a labor attorney. How do you propose to steal jurisdiction away from the unions? Do you even know the complex legal battle, money and time it would take just to get the legal issues to turn in your favor?
This is a clear example of why actors should act, writers should write and negotiators should negotiate. So pick a good negotiator not an actor with no background or training.
“you’re out of your element Donnie” and “This is bowling this isnt Nam, there are rules” -The Big Lebowski
Brian – your accusations against Hanks are scurrilous. He is not a producer of any AFTRA show, AFTRA passing or not passing does not affect him personally in any significant way. He supports AFTRA out of principle. Despite all the blather on this board, the AFTRA deal is solid and beneficial, and AFTRA in general is great for young actors.
If you actually love this business, love making movies and television, and you actually WORK in this business, all this high minded talk seems silly. AFTRA’s stance wasn’t ideological or dramatic, it was pragmatic. Get a good deal for your members so that everyone is not only protected, but working!
Look – the problem with Hanks not supporting SAG (despite the obvious betrayal) is this: the whole reason middle-class actors are so squeezed already and further threatened if the AFTRA deal becomes the template, is because the producers KNOW they have to pay huge above the line costs to Hanks et al, that’s essentially non-negotiable. The Kevin Huvane’s of the world hold the keys to the kingdom, the coin of the realm, if you will, and it’s “I can give you Tom Hanks. But it will cost you 20 million up front, plus 10 percent of first dollar gross,” give or take. Throw in his leading lady and a very famous character actor in a large supporting role, and you know what you’re talking in above the line upfront costs? 50% or more of a film’s budget. Now, we can all say, “well, they deserve it, we’d take it if we could get it, people come to see THEM!” and that, of course, is right, BUT, the AMPTP has a long-term strategy here, which is to squeeze the rest of us to cut costs, so, instead of an industry that resembles the one I went into 26 years ago, where I got paid my quote (per week amount for a movie) now, I get offered “scale – take it or leave it.” So, this AFTRA deal is very dangerous BECAUSE it does NOT set a strong, precedent as EVERYTHING goes digital. If producers don’t honor quotes anymore, and the business is two tiered: the stars and the rest of us, with a VAST inequity in the distribution of wealth, then, when the producers can say “hey, we ORIGINATED this movie or TV show on the internet,” (which is coming soon, and in some cases is already here), then the PRECEDENT we set NOW will either allow a middle class actor to continue in the business with a CHANCE to make a good living if they are good and lucky, OR we will be permanently barred from that opportunity by the paltry deal AFTRA has made, on a VASTLY uneven playing field, with NO recourse. DO YOU REALLY THINK THE PRODUCERS WILL “RE-VISIT” THIS PRECEDENT ONCE THEY GET IT? THOSE are the stakes of this dispute. WE MUST have a fair percentage of ALL ORIGINAL content made for the internet. The AFTRA deal DOES NOT LOCK THAT IN. IF NOT? What’s to stop producers from making a TV pilot for the internet FIRST, trying it out at rock bottom costs, then, if it looks good, transferring it to network, but paying original internet content, AFTRA negotiated, low-ball wages and benefits to actors? Answer? NOTHING. If we don’t get fair residuals for the internet on ALL programming (clips, full episodes of TV shows, movies) ALL that money goes into distributors and producers pockets – NOT ACTORS. I was a regular on a top ten series. You can now watch it – FOR FREE! – on Veoh.com, and not only do I NOT get paid, I wasn’t even ASKED!
We NEED to be able to say “NO” to product placement without fear of reprisal. I just saw a big studio movie a few weeks ago, the lead, who has been in captivity for a while says “I want an AMERICAN cheeseburger!” Cut to, the lead, walking through the scene with a Burger King bag clearly being held up for the camera, munching on a Quarter Pounder. Wow. Under the AFTRA contract, if you find yourself in that position, and you say “no” they can say “O.K. you’re fired,” and you have very little recourse under the AFTRA deal. Because, when Burger King is kicking in 5 or 10 million dollars for the budget, or to be used in P&A by the studio, they don’t want to hear “no,” from an actor, they want to hear “hey honey? (Holds Up “Depends” Adult Diapers) how about these for your Dad – I hear they’re the best!” The bottom line is AFTRA, a separate BUSINESS entity (you think those officers and staff members aren’t interested in their becoming better paid, bigger Hollywood players, more powerful members of the AFTRA staff and leadership?) is exploiting a very specific time and place – right NOW – after the WGA strike, everybody still fried from that, the statistics about money lost and ratings that went away, still fresh in everybody’s minds, and they are making a POWER PLAY to undercut SAG, and thus, give themselves a shot at becoming THE ACTOR’S UNION as we continue into the digital age, where they know it’s a free-for-all with SAG. So, it comes down to this: is SAG, and the SAG membership, going to let that happen? Or not? Right, now? I hear the AFTRA count is 80-20 “yes” with a small percentage counted. COME ON DUAL CARD MEMBERS. It is NOT a “strike” vote! It is a vote to allow SAG back to the table, hopefully (it’s their choice folks) with AFTRA at it’s side, to say “The AFTRA membership voted the contract down because it’s not good enough.” It gives SAG a MANDATE to get YOU and ME a much better, FAIR deal. Come on guys – it’s only our futures at stake. We have the power to force a good deal, but we have to USE it. NOW.
Most A listers have projects earmarked for 2009 worth millions.That is why they do not want a strike.As a background artist I always wonder what a movie would look like without the background, I do not think the public would buy it.I wish the background would organize( we are the bulk of the vote)and demand more than 130/8.Tom Hanks and the likes get about $500,000 per day for , compared to the day rate for other principals,surely nobody is worth that much.Acting is not that hard.I worked Eagle Eye and ran into many problems with what they wanted me to do. They agreed to a $ 100.00 bump but denied stunt work, so did SAG.
I found out the hard way that production of Eagle Eye
and SAG do not care about your contribution to film you must negociate the rate yourself.After 3 days of principal work I was still complaining , so they replaced me, when they did not need me anymore.The AD said “TAKE A HIKE”.Not once did he thank me for the job.So folks unless your Tom Hanks, Production could care a less about you.They have deep pockets, and Dreamworks I hope you enjoyed my work for your film, I hope it makes a difference, and if you ever establish me again, and try to get away with min. pay, I am smarter this time.
Mrs. Wakely
I think SAG can go back to the table when ever they want.Right now they are trying to undermine Aftra. You can’t do two things at once.
Mrs. Wakely, stop YELLING! A Quarter Pounder out of a Burger King bag? I don’t think so… Star and show runner salaries may be through the roof BUT the day that daily and weekly minimums were agreed to was the day that the “middle class” actor began to die and disappear altogether. It assured that agents could no longer negotiate good rates for their clients for guest star or supporting roles, putting an end to an actors hard earned quotes. We’re at a point where a lot of actors, talented union performers with long resumes, are going to find their profession has become their hobby.
IATSE, Teamster’s & DGA figured it out early. The studios are only going to offer a little. If you cannot live with what they offer, who benefits if you call for a strike? A protracted dissention among union members to secure a fraction more, when you are bleeding large losses in lost income; benefits no one. It is like slaughtering the dairy cow that you want to milk; it makes no sense.
The studios are not worried about a strike. They realize their position in this bargaining process and they know the position of the guild. It was apparent when SAG determined to sit and wait and AFTRA made its run to settle the deal that would secure an income for its members.
Dissention among the actors is exactly what the studios needed. This signals a lack of leadership and erodes the bargaining position of the actors. How can the studios feel compelled to negotiate concessions when discourse is among the bargaining leadership?
If you want to make a pitch for a better deal, you have to know what deal you can expect. IA, Teamster’s and DGA knew this. You need to show up to the meeting on time, poised and ready to bargain realistic terms at the negotiating table.
Without a unified voice, the studios know an unorganized voice is weakness. The best that the union can do is aprostrolize, bluff and threaten. This is not constructive deal making. Nor does it bode well for a union of professionals who expect representation by a confident, competent and persuasive leadership.
This is business, not a drama. The queens need to stay in their trailers and let the agents make their deal. There are better-experienced negotiators’ who can perform as leadership. A false understanding of the dynamics and assuming a leadership role is foolishness. Knowing and working within your strengths is tantamount to success.
Maybe next time, we will prepare better for making a deal with the Farmer who owns the ranch. We are merely ranch hands; we do not own the farm. Organizing, educating and communicating among the labor groups are how we gain strength. We should all have learned from this last year of labor turmoil and prepare for the future. Killing his cattle puts us out of work. Eventually, he will find other cattle and cheaper ranch hands. Then we become rustlers or vermin and take whatever he is not protecting; less we starve.
Got Milk?
To Larry Sullivan,
I appreciate the sentiment you are making here about background performers and how sometimes you get the shaft. I have worked background many times myself. But your comment about “acting isn’t that hard” is offensive and misinformed. Background acting isn’t hard. You walk. You pretend to talk. You pretend to talk on the phone. You mill about. That’s about it. I now work principle roles – where I have lines and have to deliver a performance. Is this hard compared to digging a ditch or brain surgery? No it is not. But it takes a level of talent and training that is not required of background performers. As far as not being thanked – did you do your job and get paid? If yes than that is all the thanks you need. Who cares if some overworked AD that has had to listen to background performers trying to get a bump up all day long doesn’t thank you for your job? At the end of the day, all of us but the stars are replaceable. Am I so arrogant that I don’t think there is some very talented non-union performer who couldn’t do just as a good a job as I can? No. I am not.
And while I’m on the subject I might as well cry over spilled milk. Several years ago when the proposed merger of SAG and AFTRA came to a vote, it was shot down by a narrow margin – most of which came from background performers pissed that anyone could join AFTRA and then by proxy get into SAG – something that most of them had do beg and plead to get their three vouchers to do. So, the merger got voted down. Letting our petty deferences got in the way of something that could have prevented our current situation. Imagine what an Actors Union (both SAG and AFTRA) together could have accomplished. United we could have stood. Now it is divided we fall.
Comment to NotgoingtoTip
I am not a child. Nick Counter and his AMPTP is the child in all of this. They Want, Want, Want, and Want some more. Did I mention the word Want. In any case, David Young and the WGA were forced to strike because the AMPTP was the child. They used the entire prestrike period to play games against the WGA including arguing about everything under the sun except the next contract until the WGA board of directors set Monday November 5th at 12:01 AM as the strike deadline. Only then did the AMPTP get somewhat serious. Negotiations were going pretty well, but the AMPTP discovered their childish way by walking out on negotiations with the WGA after the WGA refused to suspend the strike deadline. Meanwhile there isn’t a rule that says that negotiations end when a strike begins. If the AMPTP was serious about preventing a long strike, negotiations should have continued on into the night and continued until there was a deal. If that happened, we were looking at a 10-12 day strike at the most. The only reason why the negotiations didn’t begin earlier was because of new media issues.
Also, if the February 2008 talks ended in failure over staffing, then there would be congressional hearings. The only thing is that it would be over the entire history of the talks from the start to the present. I am sure one of my senators, which just happens to be Byron Dorgan BTW, would be pleased to hold a late February into early March series of hearings on labor strife starring the writers and super greedy owners. If the showrunners are forced to cut writers due to the egos of Les Moonves, Jeff Zucker, and Sumner Redstone, the WGA would be fighting tooth and nail to save their jobs. We just don’t know about it because we don’t know if there is going to be any work for writers come mid July and early August. In the end, if a majority of showrunners feel that they are understaffed in the writing department, then expect a sickout kind of deal where every showrunner on a WGA show refuses to work for up to two weeks.
Besides Life isn’t that bad when you back talks against a deadline. Just ask the MLBPA and their Owners. They averted another damaging strike with an agreement that both could love. The previous strike was the 1994-1995 event that killed the 1994 World Series and only ended due to a court order that stopped the owners from using replacement players.
Now lets say that if you take the total gross of a film starring Tom Hanks and then add his $20 million dollar salary, worldwide movie promotion, the overall budget, and all travel costs, and minus all of that from the gross, the studios would come up short almost all the time. The latest movie that made a profit and in which Tom Hanks took part was “Cars,” and it isn’t hard to imagine that, while the part was small, Tom Hanks didn’t take home $20 million, but did grab a large sum of cash. Neverless, most of Hanks movies and most blockbusters that have a major budget over $100 million likely make up their budget on the DVD release. BTW, Cars does feature the late George Carlin as Fillmore the hippie VW Van so be sure to rent it.
Also, you know what, I know that Tom Hanks doesn’t cash his $20 million before the movie is made. That would be a fools errand for the studio that is making his next picture. Most A-listers will get their money off the gross, but I am calling for the SAG to make the concession putting that practice to rest because most top of the line pro athletes don’t make $20 million per season. They would be lucky if they get $7 million per season. If the top A-Listers were capped at $6 million per picture, that would be a boon for the rest of the working actors.
Finally on the topic of new unions, lets say that Jack Nicholson wants to start a new actors union. He will get thousands of actors and actresses on his side. If there is a big lawsuit, Nicholson can tap into SAG corruption if it is believed to be there and his guild will become the dominate actors guild. If you believe something is corrupt, it is your duty to change it. Right now the duty of most Americans should be to take out the current US government if they feel that if our leaders don’t follow the law.
Ranch hand wrote:
“If you want to make a pitch for a better deal, you have to know what deal you can expect. IA, Teamster’s and DGA knew this. You need to show up to the meeting on time, poised and ready to bargain realistic terms at the negotiating table.”
Wow…someone on this board that actually knows how a deal works. Unbelievable.
“We’re at a point where a lot of actors, talented union performers with long resumes, are going to find their profession has become their hobby.” Hey Jerry? Why do I get the feeling this statement applies to you? You’re one tough rabble rouser, Jer. If you bend over just a bit more, it’ll go in easier.
ranch hand:
Imagine if there were 2 IATSE’s, 2 Teamsters, 2 DGA’s? A big, powerful one, that had handled business for 75 years, and a little, weak one, who was just waiting for the chance to break away from the big guy he was so jealous of and angry at, and make a low-ball deal that undermined the big guy?
and, “we’re just ranch hands?” speak for yourself pal. We write, direct and act. We ARE the product the suiits sell. YOU wanna grow vegetables? Be my guest.
Acting is not that hard.
LARRY SULLIVAN-
I guess you must be a better actor than most, because I think acting is actually QUITE DIFFICULT and taxing! Keep on misrepresenting our craft and speaking for everyone and maybe you will be asked to forego pay in the future because the AMPTP will say, “But you love your job and it isn’t hard, so why do you want a raise again??”
all i can say is that i think attorneys should negotiate on behalf of actors and the unions should hire them to sit in a room and do what they do best and not have committees and public talk etc. treat it like business if you want results.
Why the hell would ABC cancel Brothers & Sisters because Emily VanCamp wouldn’t want to work with Sally Field? Emily VanCamp isn’t good enough to dryclean Sally Field’s blouses much less get all uppity and act as if ABC would prefer her over a two time Oscar winner who IS the friggin’ show Brothers & Sisters. God, some people posting here are complete douchebags.
btw, Mrs. Wakely…you are describing the “star system”. No deal with AFTRA or SAG is going to significantly impact that.
And not only that, but there has been some serious cracks in that same star system…outrageous perks, draconian back end deals, production deals, many are going away as the studios see that no star, or very very few stars, are really box office bulletproof in such a way as to justify such largesse.
We all know the business is changing but let’s face it, we just don’t know how yet. The online digital realm is not yet a significant source of revenue. The studios only say that to Wall Street to get Wall Street’s money. Duh.
Mrs Wakely-
Then don’t take the part. If it said in your script, ” I want an american cheeseburger” and you don’t want to eat it, hold it, or show it on screen then just don’t do it. Just like nudity. It’s a freelance business. If on the other hand you realize that you are just a part in the movie, saying a line out of hundreds of lines in the script, and know that your representation is as the character not you personally, then you will have matured as an actor and become successful.
If you are such an ego maniac that you believe that you are personally endorsing the product and that you are simultaneously appearing as both your character and the person who plays the character with all the political, personal and religious beliefs that come with a real person, then you need to see a shrink. You might also believe that Hanks really has aids(Philadelphia Story), or that he is advertising the great volleyball made by Wilson(Castaway), or that he is pro gun because of Saving Private Ryan. I doubt he has aids, can play volleyball, or is an NRA member.
You are an actor playing a role. It is not representative of you personally. If there is some product placement money that comes in to help make the picture better then why not. Im sure Fed-ex and Wilson paid money to Castaway. So what? It could have been Mizuno and UPS. Having real brand names only gives that movie relevance to a time and place. Brands are as much pop culture as a phrase like “xerox that for me” even if you don’t use the actually brand xerox to make the copy.
I shot a Burger King commercial with Karl Malone. He bit into the hamburger and immediately spit it out gagging. He said, “that is awful!!”, I said you don’t like those? He replied, ” I am a professional athlete, I don’t let that crap into my body”. Did he walk away from the commercial? NO. Does anyone think that he actually eats those? NO.
Get a grip and decide which material you will do based on your own preferences. Don’t mandate a choke hold on financing. The producers will raise the money to do the project and hire the people that are ok with the way they have done it. It is their prerogative, and their project. It is your prerogative to kindly say, “no thanks”. Not “mom says you have to let me play with you”.
Does anyone here understand what Jessy is talking about. I’m lost. This is not baseball and to pick on Hanks is just not right. Do you know why people go to the movies to see people like Hanks. They do with every star that came down the pike. Fifty years ago it Grant Wayne and you get the picture.
As for the government looking into these strikes, not going happen. The only time they get involved is when they shut down the ports, shut down the railroads, shut air transportation. That’s what is important to them not the movies.
Jessy S.
Do you have any facts? When was congress going to step in? The LA city council couldn’t even step in. What planet are you on?
You want SAG to stop the practice of paying Tom Hanks 20mil? SAG has nothing to do with it. It is so far beyond your level of sophistication that it tires me to ponder how far back I would have to start to get you up to speed.
The WGA was asked to sit at the table in 2006 regarding their contract. Not mid or late 2007.
You have a right to your own opinions but not your own facts.
Your blog is filled with rumors and conjecture, “Nicholson can tap into SAG corruption if it is believed to be there and his guild will become the dominate actors guild”. NO- there are laws about labor jurisdictions not fantasies of a Chinatown like plot. What are you smoking? Are you writing a fantasy script and designing your own plot line as it suits you?
Stick to the facts.
Oy. “notgoingtotip” and others. I’d guess many of you aren’t actually actors, at least not ones who work regularly and care about what they do. It’s not that Hanks doesn’t actually have AIDS, it’s “hey this anti-viral drug might work.” “really?” “yeah – it’s made by Pfizer!” Please.
No, “suit” (I’d guess you may HAVE a suit, but, from your lack of sophistication, I’d guess you sort mail at William Morris). SAG does not control the “star system” – obviously – BUT, SAG can, and should, advocate for the vast majority of its membership (NOT stars) who are directly and negatively impacted by the amounts paid upfront and on the back end to stars. THAT takes the kind of money away from a budget that could solve many, many of the current problems for middle class actors WHICH IS WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT. If the suits are going too cut costs, how about they go WHERE THE MONEY IS rather than at the rank and file? BECAUSE THEY ARE ASS-LICKING STAR FUCKERS who don’t want to get on the wrong side of the Hanks’, the Clooneys’, the Roberts’, the Fords’, the Nicholsons’, etc., etc., This is actually a very simple equation for ACTORS WHO WORK IN THE BUSINESS BY WALKING AND TALKING IN MOVIES AND TV – NOT guys who “did a Burger King commercial with Karl Malone” You know – actors. REAL actors. Everybody else needs to get off this site, because you DON’T KNOW WHAT THE F*** YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT.
Can someone make a realistic post detailing what they honestly think AFTRA negotiators would achieve in a revised contract with the AMPTP if this current one were to be voted down.
Not what you’d like to see or what you damn well deserve, but what specifics would realistically be gained in the AFTRA contract if they returned to the negotiating table after a No vote.
I’m not trying to rabble-rouse–I’m genuinely curious.
I think Mrs. Wakely was referring to “Iron Man” – and yes, it was Burger King – but it wasn’t a quarter pounder, it was a Whopper….I think. Yeah, that sounds about right.
I do totally get her point, but let’s face it – I’m sure Robert Downey Jr. was well compensated for his participation in the not-so-sublte Burger King plug entrenched in the film…
However, an actor, the working middle class actor that is the hot button issure du jour (and a very real one, truly) is obviously not going to have the pull or weight of Robert Downey Jr. And yes, that actor could face being “replaced” or disposed of – but to them (the employer) it’s like, “whatever” – because there’s a line up of people down the hall and out the door who will be more than happy to take your place!
And that is a rather harsh reality of the business. But it’s a reality nonetheless. And I see where ‘NotgoingtoTip’ is coming from on that – if you are a working actor and you get hired and work a lot and establish a good reputation, you CAN make that choice to not compromise your moral integrity and walk away from it, theoretically.
BUT…again, not all actors have that “Robert Downey Jr. pull”…is it fair? No, probably not. Can that be changed? I dunno – it’d be nice if there was some protection for the actor that although successful in their own right, by contrast – will commonly be percieved in the employer’s eyes as the disposable “little guy”. It’s not the greatest position to be in, but nobody ever said that pursuing a career in the entertainment industry was going to be a bowl of cherries and lollipops and rainbows…
However, at the end of the day – I want the middle class actor to still have a job and I think they’re valuable contributors of the creative process / product that’s being sold and they deserve something – anything – that will help secure a fair and reasonable future that respects and helps preserve their existance…does the AFTRA contract really do that? Hmmm……not so sure…..
…I don’t know about you, but I the other night I wasn’t feeling well so I parked in front of the TV I didn’t move for around 4 hours because I got hooked on crack TV aka “reality TV” and I feel rediculouly dumber for it. It is like crack, and I’m sure the studios love to dole out it’s 5 dollar hits, or likened other such crap shows, but that won’t necessairly solidify long term gains, recognition, respect with that kind of programming – it just won’t last. Smart humor, drama, stories, comedy – that never goes out of style and can be appreciated throughout generations – but the “crack” material that they’re trying to pump out on the cheap – only lasts a few fleeting moments and then it’s forgotten. It’s not worth it in the long run – it’s just as disposable as the studios might currently view the “middle class actor” we’re all so enraged and defensive over…
Think about it…in the times of the “go green movement”, where we’re pushing for “reusables” “renewals” and so on – that’s transferable rationale for the entertainment industry- make it GOOD – STONG – TIMELESS – SMART – ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY – NATURAL – FRESH – LOCAL – ORGANIC – and people will be entertained by it for years! I LOVE reruns of TV shows and sitcoms that accomplished just that! Or movies that showcase and actor that I recognize – but who are they again??? But in order to create and sell that quality product – you need actors that may not be household names – but they’re the guest star that made you laugh, or cry, or enjoy something new and innovative in the show and characters that you support every week – or every movie that they’re in – or whatever.
Hopefully those there will be a place for actors and material like that in the “future of entertainment” – if not, I guess I’ll just keep watching my reruns and will just spend more time outside and AWAY from the TV / Screen…
So please someone, anyone, no matter what direction the debacle that has become this industry goes in – internet, digitron, mobisode webisode direct-to-download pay per crap – please, just please – can you give me something remotely intelligent and entertaining to watch? Because I don’t want to raise kids in a world that perteually reveres and endorses pure garbage!
I am sticking to the facts, Jack Nicholson is so much a senior member of the SAG that he likely has seen the corruption happen as it happened.
Also, the business of government stepping into the WGA strike was threatened and could have happened. Check the facts, the WGA went to Washington to raise awareness of the strike to Congress and congress promised to hold hearings if requested. That request would have happened if the February round of talks would have ended in failure. BTW, the LA City Council did step in. They held a long hearing and Nikki made a blog post regarding that hearing. The man that held the real power and refused to step in was the governator.
I also mentioned baseball because it was very relevant to another comment I made in response to another poster’s comment. It was relevant because it is one of many examples of deadline deals which include the current WGA contract which was done because ABC wanted the Oscars to be saved and ABC, FOX, and CBS wanted pilot season to be saved. If there wasn’t a deal, the WGA would have more than enough evidence to force congress to hold hearings in which the AMPTP is the bad guy. Thankfully, Nick Counter swallowed his pride and gave the WGA a deal that they can live with. BTW, in the nuclear winter of 1994-95, The US government got involved in that baseball strike complete with federal mediator.
Now on the subject of Tom Hanks and other big name actors, SAG can and will negotiate away some money he gets for doing a movie if they have the willpower. Here the goal would be to give it to the struggling and/or working actor and its definition is REVENUE SHARING. Almost everybody else does it including sports teams and other industries.
Finally, the hate against Tom Hanks is justified. Here is an actor that claims to like the working actor, but then votes yes for a bad deal that AFTRA got from the AMPTP. Nobody deserves this hate, but Tom has it and could be blacklisted due to that hate.
A Middle Class Perspective
I joined AFTRA in 1972, SAG and AEA shortly thereafter. IMDb lists much but hardly all of the work I’ve done over the past 36 years – soaps, commercials, voice-overs, children’s TV, public affairs TV, prime time, features, and theater. I am a poster child for “middle class actors.”
In my working career, I’ve watched SAG grow from 25,000 to 122,000 members…yet this reality endures. About 10% of SAG will make a consistent living wage and earn health and pension benefits. Five years ago, I saw my peers dying…and took my pension. I’m hardly rich, but I don’t ever need to work again. I have ‘enough’. Yet I’ll bet a SAG actor who begins a career today and enjoys a comparable level of success and consistency to mine will not qualify for a pension, 36 years from now.
Think of the producers as OPEC and we performers as HUMVEE drivers. Simply put, we have zero leverage. We lack sufficient clout to compel them to deal with us in terms we might consider equitable.
Our union leaders are our commanders and this is a time of war. It is not a time for posturing or hubris. A savvy commander assesses the tactical reality and makes decisions that minimize losses, while planning to rejoin the battle at a more advantageous time.
It may be that by next contract negotiation, we have managed to level the playing field and can negotiate with genuine strength. Or maybe not, maybe that ship has sailed. We are comprised of three groups – Stars (and we know who they are), middle class actors (hardly household names but making a living, owning homes, putting kids thru school) and newbie’s (or aspirants or dreamers). Stars don’t need SAG. Newbie’s hope to move up the food chain but have little to lose. The ‘middle class actor’ (like his struggling economic counterpart in American society) is the only one with a dog in this fight.
The issues being contested in negotiations are important in principal but insignificant in pragmatic reality. They are certainly not compelling enough to justify a work stoppage. So why are AFTRA’s 70,000 plus and SAG’s 122,000 plus (given that 44,000 are dual card holders) allowing our leadership to indulge in brinksmanship that endangers not only the opportunity for middle class actors to make what living they may, but also threatening the livelihoods of …I don’t know how many, but a helluva lot! I mean the crews and support people that enable what it is we do?
WAKE UP! It’s 2008, we are a nation a war, an economy in recession, confronting a sinking dollar, soaring energy prices, a housing crisis, global terrorism, massive national debt…have I left anything out? And do you need more reasons to conclude that a work stoppage is an incredibly self destructive choice at this time in our history?
It’s called “show business”. If you want to be creative, do theater. It will enhance your craft and you might enjoy yourself. If you choose to vie for success in what is now prime time or feature films (hoping to buy that winning lottery ticket) well good luck to you! The odds are stacked against you (always have been, always will be) but dreams sometimes come true…and we all have the right to the pursuit of happiness. Just don’t confuse your giddy aspirations with reality, OK?
A strike benefits no one. The producers don’t care. They have product in storage and the belief that viewers will watch any amount of crap they roll out in prime time. The stars care only inasmuch as their big ticket projects will be delayed or shelved…but they won’t miss any meals. The beginners won’t have that chance to show their stuff, make that impression. The crews and behind camera workers will lose income and opportunity. And finally, the class of actors continually held up as “those middle class actors, for whom we’re fighting!” will be those most disadvantaged by a strike.
Approve the AFTRA contract. Compel SAG’s leaders to seek a comparable agreement.
Yes, we got fucked. That sort of thing is going around these days. Tomorrow is another day. But don’t add insult to injury by prolonging this silliness. Get ‘er done! Then use the next 3 years to find ways to insure that what we do is irreplaceable…and therefore valuable…and therefore commensurately rewarded.
Tucker Smallwood
SAG supporter is right on the money. At the end of the day it is quality that counts, and the networks are producing quality garbage that only Oscar the Grouch could love.
It wasn’t no product placement!
Burger King saved Robert Downey Jr. from drugs.
Mrs Wakely-
You are right, if a star doesn’t want to do product placement he has the power to walk. A power that many middle class actors don’t have the will to use. Why? Because they haven’t made it that far yet. All these stars like Tom Hanks did whatever they were told when they were middle class actors. Do you think Bussom Buddies was pushed around by a then young new actor Tom Hanks? NO. You want the union to change the whole social system of vetting yourself by paying dues. When has working your way to the top, paying your dues, being rewarded for success, become an evil thing that Mrs Wakely must blog angrily and join other socialists by encouraging unions to fight for unatainable terms. They have paid their dues and now you want to be elevated to their position with paying yours.
You think the budget on a movie should be split evenly. What planet are you on. You know what the big stars have that you don’t? BALLS. They don’t get the 20 mil that they asked for, then grab their balls and they walk. Just like I do. I don’t get the terms I want(which are always over scale) then I grab my balls and walk out the door. 2 things happen when i do this, 1- they come after me before I hit the parking lot and concede, or 2-they let me walk. That’s why it takes balls. The studios would pay Hanks 1 dollar if they could. They want that number as low as possible.
Maybe its finding out what you’re really worth that scares so many of you. If you cant negotiate you deal over scale, then you are worth scale or get this, less than scale. How relevant are you as an artist? Negotiate you own deal and let the market decide. The market is the public, viewers and advertisers. The more you are wanted, respected and revered the more every one will pay to keep you in the money chain.
How much are you worth?
jesse s-
You can’t have facts and use the words, Nicholson would “likely” know this, or “SAG can and will negotiate away some money he gets for doing a movie “if” they have the willpower”. IF- really? LIKELY-hmmm. These are clearly YOUR views not facts.
Mrs. Wakely – first of all, you need to cut down on the coffee. I’ve been there. Sometimes just one cup is enough. Personally, my issue is Diet Coke. But I’m learning to cut down.
Second of all, there is nothing SAG or AFTRA can do about overpaid stars. NOTHING. This has been going on since the beginning of movies. It is the life you have chosen. They are overpaid because the public loves them. It’s that simple. The day the average moviegoer ceases to care about who is in a movie is the day this will all change.
It’s truly wonderful that these guilds protect actors and try to give them adequate compensation for their talent and efforts. But nothing is going to change the fact that the acting business is a extraordinarily difficult one that by it’s very nature does not support a very large or comfortable middle class. It’s hard to get a job, it’s hard to get the next job, and it’s hard to keep getting jobs year after year. Becoming a star, even a minor one, is as difficult as winning the lottery.
I’ve known and know many, many actors and I’m constantly inspired and impressed by their dedication to such a difficult craft which gives back so little to so few. And you can scream at me, or the AMPTP, or AFTRA, or SAG, or the WGA, or the FBI, or everyone…but none of them has the power to change this.
I remember a film director who told me when I was a kid…”If you want to be an actor…get yourself a trust fund.”
Tucker Smallwood has said it better than anyone else on this page. Someone send him in to negotiate!
Wakely, I don’t understand. Were you taking a shot at me? What do you mean by calling me “one tough rabble rouser” and that if I bend over it’ll go in easier? Did my suggestion that middle class actors are finding that their profession can no longer sustain them somehow betray some latent tendency of mine to sit back and take abuse? I frankly thought we were on the same page about middle class actors. And yes I was talking about me when I wrote that. I was also talking about actors that I know and have known. Some were also on “top ten series” like yourself and are now finding those sorts of credits can’t sustain them like they used to. I’ve been very lucky. I’ve been a dual card holder for two decades, WGA since 95′ and Equity since I was a teenager. In that time I’ve been lucky enough to be on three series (though no top ten series, not even close actually) I’ve recurred on others, done countless guest spots but I never had an overwhelming feeling of security. Criminy, I’ve done Broadway. There was a time when that used to be a highlight of my resume. Non NY casting people actually seemed impressed. As a writer I’ve had access to scores of actors, great older actors who’d be doing guest spots on whatever series I was writing for at the time. They’d tell me their war stories. These were not bitter people either. But they’d paint a very vivid picture of the business and how it’s changed and how their fortunes changed along with it. Apparently, once upon a time, a resume like mine would have sent my kids to college. Luckily I looked at every job as my last and never spent a dime. Anyway, as a naturally defensive type, I felt the need to defend myself against your mild gibe. Also I think the AFTRA deal stinks, I think Kim Roberts Hedgpeth’s defense of it on the AFTRA site was pathetic. In fact if you were on the fence about it, her remarks should push you into a no vote. And dear god, I don’t want another strike.
Wakely you can rail against star’s fees in your posts all you want but aside from highlighting your grasp of the obvious, it won’t encourage Tom Hanks to take a pay cut. It should but it won’t. And telling the actor who did the commercial with Karl Malone that he/she’s not a “real” actor is hateful. Put down the vodka.
I am not saying that Jack Nicholson knows something, I said that he might know something because of his history in hollywood, and I don’t mean from his courtside position at Laker games or at the Oscars.
Also, SAG can do a bit of revenue sharing by putting a major salary cap on big name actors salaries and redistributing the wealth to the small and middle class actor. They just don’t have the willpower.
Finally, Tucker Smallwood, who are you to say that you point out everything that is f***ing wrong with this motherf***ing world and then have the f***ing courage to vote yes on the AFTRA contract? You may be set for life, but you are f**King the future of this industry by voting yes. It is guys like you that make Nick Counter and his ilk sleep well at nights. Yes Tucker I respect you when you say that your work doesn’t even begin to cover what is on IMDB.com, but you have no right to leave the working actor in the lurch with no access to any residue that he has rightly earned. We don’t know if there might be a next time the way the actors contract negotiations are going, but we do know this. We are all in this fight right now because Roberta Reardon f***ed SAG by canceling joint negotiations and then rolled over to ensure horrible working conditions where the only thing standing in her and the f***ing AMPTP’s way is a NO! vote.
Every actor and actress that is reading this blog and these comments, it is your duty to vote no on the AFTRA contract if you do have the vote. If you don’t, persuade your friends and co-workers to vote no.
Suit:
I don’t believe I ever said SAG or AFTRA can do anything about the overpaid star. What I said is the middle class actor can and should be protected and advocated for by SAG. They deserve a good contract, and, until the last dog dies on this whole situation, that is what the SAG negotiators are trying to do. There are many people on this blog – “casual observers,” “suits,” “people who don’t make a living acting, but want to weigh in as if they do,” and, rarely it seems “middle class actors.” Only the last group has lived the issues SAG is fighting for, and understands the importance of a good contract coming out of this. The rest? Cynics. Hollywood hangers-on. Show business weasels. People who find it oh-so-funny to toss bombs from the sidelines because they couldn’t really give a rats ass about this SAG contract, because they’ll never work it. “Suit” – the star system has been ever thus? Actually, no, it hasn’t. Lew Wasserman, in his agenting days, got the first back-end deal on behalf of his client Jimmy Stewart. THAT began the slow, inexorable rise is the power of “stars” and their agents. When Mickey Rooney went into Mayer’s office and said “I’m the number one box office draw in the country, I want more money!” – Mayer threw him out the window. In those days, the suits were about fifteen guys and they ruled the business with an iron fist. Then, agents like Wasserman came along, and, like Curt Flood in baseball, challenged to make their clients free agents. And they won. Then began the slow, incremental, rise of star-enabled, agent-driven greed that has the business in it’s current financial state. If you want to sound off on how the business works and how we got here? Know your history. To say, as so many deeply cynical posters on this blog have, that “it was ever thus” is arrogant and factually wrong. It WASN’T ever thus, and it’s about time it was, let’s say, realigned to the center a bit. All these stars know they are taking the vast majority of any movies’ and TV shows’ budget, and, if they’re informed, they know that inequity has gotten MARKEDLY worse in the last 20 years. Clooney, for all his fence-sitting (inexcusable, but, there you have it. George is, first and foremost a politician) has now acknowledged yesterday in public and in writing, that he and the other money hogs (who, by the way, increasingly do NOT guarantee success, in fact, if you look at their track records, it aint so great lately)are OBLIGATED to cut down on the corpulent, wide-loads some of these stars have become to budgets, middle class actors (their “union brothers and sisters!” Ha!) and the business in general. Clooney himself just said yesterday that the cap on dues should be raised from 1 million = 6k in dues, to 6k for EVERY 1 million they make, and that that would go a long way towards pension and health relief, and could be used to create a LOT more capital for SAG to even out the playing field a bit. For that, I congratulate him. Now, I would love to see some OTHER big, fat, overpaid stars step up and say “You know what? We (stars) actually DO have the power to make this problem go away, if only we wouldn’t be such little piggies. If we worked out a way to give back, along the lines Clooney suggested, the AMPTP would be forced into providing relief for the middle class actor, something they otherwise would rather put hot pokers in their eyes than do. SAG can only get so far with the AMPTP – they are bottom line sharks who ONLY pay stars because they don’t have ANY real balls when it comes to standing up to top agents and their talent. What is to stop any studio head from saying “you know what, Brian Lourd? I’ll pay your client 15 million to star in my movie, not 20, and the back end will go down to 2 gross points not 7.” Fantasy? Not really. Of course not. It’s just that when one AGENT makes a huge deal, all the OTHER agents say “hey – Jim Carrey got 25, we won’t settle for a penny less.” And, to keep the stars and their agents happy, the suits bend over every time. Complete, gutless, pussies. THEY have created the current untenable business climate we all find ourselves in. So, it remains for stars to show SOME guts (come on guys – you can live on 15, can’t you?) and maybe, per Clooney’s model. make this right. Am I holding my breath? F*** no. But the AMPTP? The only way to get a fair contract from them is force. So ,let’s see what happens. will the AMPTP roll over, or will SAG roll over. Place your bets folks…
The funny thing about what Mrs. Wakely claims George Clooney proposed is that that would all be tax deductible and George wouldn’t lose a penny from his Take Home Pay. In fact, the bottom bracket for a million dollars is so much higher than $6000.00 that George could pay the Union ten or twenty times that much without any change in how much money he keeps for himself.
Why don’t people realize these things?
NotgoingtoTip writes: “I don’t get the terms I want(which are always over scale) then I grab my balls and walk out the door. 2 things happen when i do this, 1- they come after me before I hit the parking lot and concede, or 2-they let me walk. That’s why it takes balls. The studios would pay Hanks 1 dollar if they could. They want that number as low as possible.”
It sounds like with a minor adjustment you agree with the UNION philosophy. While you’re holding on to your balls for strength, we’re collectively holding each other to ask for what we “want” and, like you, we reserve the right to walk out into the parking lot if we don’t get what we want. (Ball holding is in most cases is up to the individual.)
And while I get that it is enjoyable for you to participate in all the ball grabbing I think the perceived power it gives you is far less than the actual power of collective bargaining. And we all know– you, me, producers, even your balls- that every UNION contract that existed before you enlisted your fairly primitive negotiating technique, set minimums that are what really give you a starting point for your own alleged bargaining.
I do think we disagree on the shame involved in negotiating scale. But on the plus side we both know you are not some powerful shrewd negotiating whatever it it is you pretend to be.