UPDATED: A source has slipped me this "force majeure" letter from NBC Universal received this week by a Hollywood talent agency on behalf of an actress on a TV series. (story continues below)
From what I can glean, the casts of The Office, 30 Rock, Bionic Woman and Battlestar Galactica to name just a few shows on NBC and the SciFi Channels were informed Thursday and Friday that their contracts have been suspended. It's because Universal Media Studios has opted to exercise what's known as the force majeure clause in their Screen Actors Guild agreements.
The force majeure provision allows studios and networks to suspend SAG members' deals immediately once production on their shows has shut down.
Other studios have done the same: at Sony Pictures TV, the casts of Fox's Til Death and CBS' Rules of Engagement have been suspended, too.
But regarding the striking writers, most of the showrunners and hyphenates who've walked off the job have been threatened with or actually suspended without pay for not fulfilling their producing duties. But the threats still hangs out there that the studios and networks could escalate matters by firing them. The conventional wisdom is that the studios and networks are purposely waiting for sufficient weeks to pass so that they can, in a first step to a major reorganization of their TV business, kill showrunner/hyphenate deals by invoking force majeure (a common contract clause that essentially frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event, such as a strike, occurs). From that point on, all bets are off.
Studios suspending actors without pay and not outright terminating their contracts, which prevents them from finding work elsewhere, has SAG pissed. Per SAG's agreement, studios can opt to suspend members for five weeks with half pay; suspend them with full pay; or release them from their contracts. Even if the actors are fired, they're supposed to be immediately rehired under their original contract terms once production recommences.
I understand that NBC Universal mailed out a stack of these 'force majeure" letters which began arriving Friday at the agencies of various actors. One of the Battlestar Galactica thespians tells me: "When our agents and managers phoned business affairs for clarification, they were told that we are on suspension without pay. We are not terminated. We are on hold to BSG with no pay in perpetuity until the strike is over. When the strike does end Universal/Scifi will then decide whether they want to bring the show back or let us go. Until that time we are in first position with BSG and will have to clear any other project with Scifi/Uni.
"They are not following article 61 of the SAG agreement and are about to get a lot of calls from SAG lawyers. They say that since we have shot the minimum 13 episodes of this season, as per our contracts, that they are under no obligation to pay us or let us go. We are essentially on hiatus. To say yesterday was a tough day on set as this information was slowly presented to us would be a profound understatement."
But it appears the actors and their reps are planning to fight this idea of putting actors on indeterminate hold without pay under a "too bad we own you" power play. Regarding BSG, NBC Uni's SciFi channel is being told that, since the terms of Article 61 appear to be breached, the actors can terminate their deals and attempt to find work elsewhere.
I smell a brawl brewing.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Comment by pumpkin — November 17, 2007 @ 6:49 pm
Huh. I thought it had to be six weeks. And I was wondering (although if it’s not six weeks it might not matter) what happens if the writers go back to work for one day… and then strike again the next. Will the clock on the 6 weeks be restarted? Or is their no clock and the studios can use the force majeure clause as soon as a strike starts? Any lawyers out there?
Comment by Confused Woman — November 17, 2007 @ 6:50 pm
Don’t they have to wait 30 days or something before they do this?
Comment by Writer — November 17, 2007 @ 6:55 pm
Interesting that it comes from Universal Media Studios (UMS) but the letterhead still says NBC Universal Television Studio (NUTS)….looks like the place is running with typical Jeff Zucker-efficiency…
Comment by Walk The Line — November 17, 2007 @ 6:57 pm
Can someone explain what this means
Comment by I won't sunmit — November 17, 2007 @ 6:58 pm
What did you guys expect. The below the line layoffs are much more low tech.It’s today is your last day have a Happy Holiday
Comment by dagger — November 17, 2007 @ 7:03 pm
I believe this means that anyone “suspended” is not being paid during the period of the strike. I don’t think this is the same as cancelling the person’s contract, which would mean he/she was fired permanently. Is this correct?
Comment by Another Hyphenate — November 17, 2007 @ 7:10 pm
i wonder who this person was. does mean she was fired?
Comment by CHRIS — November 17, 2007 @ 7:15 pm
if you fire this person do you think the fans will come back to the show?
Comment by Chris — November 17, 2007 @ 7:18 pm
Sounds like Another Hyphenate is right. Because of the force majeure clause in the actress’s contract, her pay can be suspended when she isn’t working. No script, nothing to shoot, nowhere to act, no big deal. This has nothing to do with firing her. It’s just a reminder that they COULD fire her if the strike goes on long enough. Sounds like a technicality to me, at worst it’s a technicality dressed up as a scare tactic.
But don’t forget, it’s possible for force majeure to go the other way, meaning studios could lose actors they don’t want to lose if they choose to go. I’m not sure how many actors have that in their contract, but it wouldn’t surprise me if bigger ones do. Just as an example, how do you think NBC/Universal would feel about getting The Office back without Steve Carell?
Great Scott!
Comment by stuck in development — November 17, 2007 @ 7:49 pm
Reuters on Friday had reported that the casts of The Office, Bionic Woman and 30 Rock were going to be suspended on half-pay for five weeks. I guess Uni decided to just skip the middle step mild threat.
Comment by Alex — November 17, 2007 @ 8:00 pm
I wonder who the actress is. If she’s playing the Bionic Woman then it’s the unsurprising cancellation of that show. If she’s playing the cheerleader on Heroes then NBC is obviously suspending everyone. There is an important difference between these two scenarios.
Comment by Anonymous — November 17, 2007 @ 8:02 pm
It’s now time for the WGA to stick up for the actors and showrunners.
In the back of my mind, I was hoping the Guild leadership would fuck over the AMPTP by insisting they pay a huge “bad behavior” penalty for screwing us over re the DVD offer at the last bargaining.
Now, since the actors have backed us so strongly and the showrunners have gone out en masse, it’s time for the Guild to announce that any agreement musi include negation of all force majeure invocations and that we are prepared to stay out for a year if necessary to fuck the AMPTP’s business completely.
Suddenly, we’re all in this together. I think the directors and the actors now realize that if they don’t stand with us, they’ll be standing alone in June.
Big Media is out to bust all of the unions and if they get a chance to declare a full force majeure, the way we did business is over and we’ll all be selling shoes with Al Bundy.
It’s time for the unions to confer.
Comment by a — November 17, 2007 @ 8:55 pm
At first, I thought it was ludicrous that a studio would invoke force majeure given that it looks like negotiations are starting up again post Thanksgiving. I mean, why piss off the actors and start a potential fight with SAG when things might–MIGHT–be looking up a bit? But then I thought: actors have been showing some pretty tight solidarity with the writers so far. Is it possible that this is just NBC’s attempt to put a wedge between SAG and WGA? Or maybe a trial balloon to see if that kind of tactic will work?
The plot thickens…
Comment by Hammerjack — November 17, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
This is definately a hardball scare tactic. I think NBC U is pissed seeing their casts walking the picket lines. NBC U doesn’t have that many hits, so alienating their casts (and fans) doesn’t seem to be the smart move right now. But, as a former wage slave in the finance dept of a media giant I can tell you this is also a bottom line - money move. (and scare tactic)
Comment by mla28 — November 17, 2007 @ 9:33 pm
“the writers could be next?” I thought writers had been suspended for weeks. Let me put it differently - I know writers have been suspended for weeks. Please clarify, Nikki
Comment by anon — November 17, 2007 @ 9:51 pm
The war between the Corporations and human beings is reaching critical levels. It’s time to shut down these inhumane entities before they permanently kill the middle class.
This is about more than compensation for labor; now it is about protecting our humanity. May all the unions unite.
Comment by Starving writer — November 17, 2007 @ 10:11 pm
This can’t actually be a result of “Picketing With the Stars,” can it?
Comment by Dagazzi — November 17, 2007 @ 10:32 pm
Guys, c’mon. This is just basic business.
Most shows have run out of scripts to shoot.
The studios and networks don’t want to pay huge amounts of money to actors who aren’t working. But they also want to make sure they keep the actors on the shows they are on.
This is not a scare tactic or some evil plan. It’s what they have to do to keep their product intact and avoid paying out mammoth actor salaries while the strike is ongoing.
Comment by Kit Sargent — November 17, 2007 @ 10:51 pm
I just started the clock ticking on how long it take some “plant” to blame the writers for this, and not the AMPTP. 1-2-3-4-5-tick-tick-tick….
Comment by writerw/sorefeet — November 17, 2007 @ 11:00 pm
Well I think all this is to (A) save money and (B) try to increase pressure on writers and maybe fracture SAG. On (B), I expect a backfire.
Comment by Writer — November 17, 2007 @ 11:40 pm
This is not about saving money. These are extraordinary times and huge, multinational corporations. This is about breaking the unions. This is the moment for all unions and guilds to stand together.
Comment by anotherWGAmember — November 18, 2007 @ 4:15 am
Yep, it’s just business as usual.
Comment by kathy obrien — November 18, 2007 @ 4:19 am
A giant corporation believes it has a legal way to save money during a strike. Lawyers will argue, someone will win. End of story.
The writers on this board, though they are in the right with their contractual demands, are too quick to jump to conspiracy theories.
The big media companies did not get rich by paying workers who aren’t producing. This is the risk taken with a strike.
Comment by X — November 18, 2007 @ 7:32 am
Remember we own them because they can’t make movies. They think they are selling widgets. We all know that the more power (ie:notes) that the studio uses on a film, the more likely it is that it fails and the directors get blamed. Every editing room I ever worked in know that if you don’t convince the Execs of your opinion then the film will reflect NETWORK OR STUDIO OPINION AND BOMB. The studio never rescues anything. It is always the beginning of the end. Listen there are bands selling million of downloads of their records from their own personal sites. We can make movies and we’ll wipe the floor with this studio fare. Stick tight and BLACKBALL GAVIN.
Comment by Gavins blacklist — November 18, 2007 @ 7:37 am
Well, they can’t force majeure the fans… and we’re still behind you.
Comment by not quite "middle" America — November 18, 2007 @ 7:46 am
Dear Confused Woman,
1. There is no set standard of time for force majeure clauses. Though six weeks is a commom timeframe, it can and will vary depending on the type of contract.
2. The writers simply going back to work for one day would not reset the force majeure clock. It will require a settlement between the WGA and the AMPTP for the strike to be officially ended.
Also, don’t read too much into the force majeure letters being sent out. It’s standard business practice to put their stakes in the ground. Just as the WGA will continue to keep the pressure on the studios and networks in every way they can, the studios/networks will keep up the presure from their side.
Expect both sides to keep fighting with every weapon they’ve got until the strike is over. Let’s hope that happens quickly.
Sincerely,
Lawdawg76
Comment by lawdawg76 — November 18, 2007 @ 8:25 am
Thank you Not quite middle America. It’s true, we do posit certain conspiracy theories in the WGA, but then, that’s what we write about. It’s also what we live. The studios have been manipulating the lives of their artists for almost a century now. This is nothing new.
When you lie with dogs, expect fleas.
Comment by anotherWGAmember — November 18, 2007 @ 8:37 am
I really think it is just business.
Would you pay for carwashes while your car is in the shop? No, so why should they pay for actors while they cannot act? It’s force majeur, plain and simple.
Does any actor REALLY expect to be paid when they are not working? No, they are smarter than that(mostly). They will get the rest of their contracted money when they do the rest of their episodes.
Noone is fired, noone is cancelled, they’re just not getting paid for work they are not doing. As far as not allowing actors to do other projects, well theoretically the studios would make money off those projects too, so it probably is negotiable. If there is solidarity though, why would actors want to do anything else while the writers are on strike?
I don’t think it is as big a deal as anyone is making it.
Comment by Curious — November 18, 2007 @ 9:12 am
The sabre-rattlin’ on both sides is pathetic.
Comment by Anonymous — November 18, 2007 @ 9:56 am
Thank you lawdawg76, Kit and “A”. This is the business. None of you should be surprised by this. It’s been discussed for weeks on DHD and other publications. Now is not the time to act scared or confused. The information is out there. Understand it and learn how to fight with it. Stay strong.
Comment by dawgski — November 18, 2007 @ 11:27 am
I’d like to give kudos to this entire website. When the strike began, most of the news I read/saw didn’t explain the WHOLE story, and this site has explained a great deal of the history, red tape and realities for me. Thank you.
That said, although I am so very tired of “bad TV”, the unfair way members of the WGA are, and have been treated makes me support their strike.
The brilliant writing that is obvious from The Daily Show (and other great shows) that I am truly missing lately is proof that without talented writers, you have nothing.
Again, thanks for this great website and for giving us
viewers a place to get the REAL news.
Comment by just a viewer — November 18, 2007 @ 12:54 pm
Here’s hoping the SAG lawyers start carving off nice lumps of flesh, methinks studios are overreaching… At the end of the day audiences only care about what they see…
Comment by Dr. Kenneth Noisewater — November 18, 2007 @ 1:01 pm
First of all, I thought the studios had to wait a certain period of time before they could declare force majeure.
So are the studios just changing the rules in the middle of the game as usual?
Second of all, the fact that the studios are suspending the actors without outright firing them (thus not allowing them to find work elsewhere for God knows how long) is NOT cool.
The big name actors might appreciate the hiatus but most actors (like most writers) don’t have that much money. Especially when they have their own strike coming up next year.
I’d expect that SAG will at least try to eliminate this clause from their next contract because, at this point, the only ones that benefit from this is the studio which is ditching overhead left and right while EVERYONE ELSE in town is out of a job.
Of course the studio bigwigs and network bigwigs will continue to make ten of millions of dollars each year like clockwork.
This is all very disgusting.
I’m beginning to thinnk that maybe it’s a good idea that Hollywood is wiping itself clean. Now the talent (i.e. not the suits) can figure out a way to make their own version of Hollywood where quality rules and people actually get paid for their work.
Let the studios die like the dinosaurs that they are.
Comment by Non WGA Writer — November 18, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
Well, it’s true. The writers have made such a great case for themselves. The case itself isn’t even that difficult to make. In the great archetype, you are the underdog. There’s no amount of fake studio posts, or washed up agents that can claim you are all millionaires that can convince us otherwise.
I live in southern Mississippi and when Katrina happened and our power was out for three weeks, I kept wishing I could watch everything happening on tv, because then I would understand it - even though it was happening all around me.
When the strike first started, I kept hoping for the Daily Show to come back on the air, so Jon Stewart could explain it all to me.
We depend on you all to frame things, to break things down. Even though you often create fiction, so much of it is based on real world events. I never would have understood the enormity of Blackwater if I hadn’t seen federal contractors dramatized on Jericho. Law and Order, and it’s many spinoffs, make me really think about hard issues to tackle like the death penalty and racism. When I was much younger, Saved by the Bell showed me the dramatic effects of “caffeine pills” taken by studious teens. Poor Jessie.
Sure, I might sound like the mindless tv consumer. I know these are severly dramatized portrayals. I know it’s pure fiction and often very politically polarized. But it works. It feeds my mind and helps me understand the implications of things.
I don’t know how much clearer I can say it. I heart writers.
(As a complete aside, please don’t take what I’m saying as license to make overly “preachy” shows. No offense to the particular writers, but after watching the post 9/11 West Wing episode where the characters spent an hour writing on a chalkboard how we shouldn’t jump to conclusions and hate people, I never watched the show again. Our minds might be numb but we aren’t stupid. Inform, but do not preach)
Comment by not quite "middle" America (Emily from Mississippi) — November 18, 2007 @ 4:24 pm
To Non WGA Writer: No, there is not a time period before which you can call force majeure. A strike is considered a force majeure and most contracts say there is automatic suspension in this case.
Why all the hysteria about how horrible this is and how it’s a conspiracy? As a few have said: this is business. Studios aren’t going to pay writers who don’t report to work. They’re not going to pay actors or crew members who can’t work b/c there are no scripts to film either. Are most striking writers digging into their own pockets and paying their now out of work assistants? I don’t think so. The writers hoped to shut down production and they did; surely they knew that meant layoffs for everyone else involved in production.
And of course the studios aren’t going outright fire the actors. Be real here. At some point the strike will be over and they’e going to need those actors to finish the season. If they fired those actors and the show couldn’t continue, then a lot of writers wouldn’t have jobs to come back to, would they?
Comment by RationalThinker — November 18, 2007 @ 6:31 pm
Attention studios and networks….hold out for a year and bring the writers to their knees. You have thicker wallets than they do. After a year of being on strike, the writers will be begging on their hands and knees to be allowed to write. Maybe while they are on strike, the writers can take a business 101 class and figure out how to deflate their huge egos too.
Comment by thrilled — November 18, 2007 @ 10:28 pm
A simplified point of view on force majeire for actors from someone who’s been on both sides of the situation:
As far as the actors’ contracts are concerned, there is no difference between a strike and an invasion of the US by a foreign country. Anything outside of the control of the producers which stops their ability to produce or the networks’ ability to broadcast constitutes force majeure.
There is actually a clause in most series regular contracts that sets out how long the producers have to produce the full season. If that time period comes, then the producers have to pay the actor for the number of episodes in the actor’s contract (whether or not they were produced). By suspending the contract through force majeure, the clock is temporarily stopped on this period.
Once the producer decides to suspend the actors as a result of force majeure, their contracts will specify the exact terms under which the contract can be suspended without pay (which then puts the suspended actor in a position of being allowed to seek other work)or terminated.
I could go on, but it would be speculation on my part, and there’s already enough of that out there.
Comment by wackiland — November 18, 2007 @ 11:05 pm
I hate that the writers, crew and now actors are taking such a financial hit, but like Middle America said, we viewers are with you.
Comment by Left coast viewer — November 19, 2007 @ 3:24 pm
I’m with the WGA all the way… I just hope the force majeure clauses ends prematurely my favorite show right now, Battlestar Galactica… Ron Moore left a message in his blog that didn’t sound very optimistic
Comment by Colonial One — November 19, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
Sounds like book sales are going to go up. It’s a good time to be part of the publishing industry.
Comment by Donald — November 19, 2007 @ 5:29 pm