SAG Updates Members On "Priorities" Before Tuesday's Talks With AMPTP

18 Comments »

1. I think I can sum this up; they want more money. For everything. At all times. Gotcha.

   Comment by The Accountant — April 13, 2008 @ 12:32 pm

2. …and a pony.

   Comment by D.B. — April 13, 2008 @ 12:37 pm

3. …or a fair deal?

   Comment by David — April 13, 2008 @ 3:48 pm

4. Godspeed, SAG, and good luck in your negotiations. May you achieve everything the WGA didn’t.

   Just be careful the DGA doesn’t swoop in and start their 2011 contract negotiations early to undercut you.

   Comment by Writer Bob — April 13, 2008 @ 7:47 pm

5. Writer Bob,

   I honestly hope you will find a way to deal with your anger toward the DGA at some point soon. If you’re currently working in this business, I also hope you’re not venting this kind of anger at everyone else on the set and in the office. For the current negotiations, SAG has a chance to put together a new contract without the vitriol and hostility that marked the events of last year. The working actors and crew I have spoken to over the past month have unanimously voiced the opinion that a fair contract will be reached without the town going through another work stoppage. Fanning the flames of anger and bitterness will not accomplish that goal.

   Comment by Kevin — April 13, 2008 @ 11:08 pm

6. Kevin, I’m guessing you’re not a writer OR an actor, just someone who was put out by the writers strike. Either that or an AMPTP tool.

   Whatever, this is one working actor who believes the writers got screwed over big time by the DGA, to the ultimate detriment of ALL our guilds, before finally screwing their own selves over for a big finish.

   With SAG negotiations set to begin tomorrow, our leadership could do worse than heeding the cautions of justly embittered WGA members like Writer Bob.

   –Actor Ron

   Comment by Ron — April 14, 2008 @ 11:16 am

7. Fingers crossed that the background artists are not the sacrificial lambs in this proposal as indicated by the fact there have been “historic inequities”.

   Comment by T. Barnes — April 14, 2008 @ 11:16 am

8. “Kevin”

   You said the people you taked to think “a fair contract will be reached without the town going through another work stoppage.” I sure hope so. I just hope that people’s wanting to believe doesn’t make the “other side” feel like they can lowball us. Nobody wants another “work stopoage” that’s for sure, especially us who make 50K or less a year from acting (I just finished my taxes, that’s how I know how much it was). But if the “other side” thinks we’re not willing to strike we’re doomed.

   And to whoever said it earlier… yeah, the writers handled it badly. They gave away too much and then didn’t hold their ground. Waste of time.

   Comment by J. Nordling — April 14, 2008 @ 1:51 pm

9. Actor Ron,

   You are correct that I am not a member of WGA or SAG. I am a DGA Assistant Director who works in episodic television. I wasn’t “put out” by the WGA strike, but I was put out of work, as was the entire crew of my series. I’m not bitter at the WGA over this, but I do have issues with angry, bitter people who wish to make nasty comments about either the DGA or about the crews that were left unemployed through the holidays as a direct result of the WGA’s actions. And calling anyone an “AMPTP tool” shows more than a little of this bitterness.

   For the record, the WGA wasn’t “screwed over” by the DGA. The DGA waited over 2 months to begin its customary negotiations, in the hope that the WGA could find some common ground with the AMPTP, after the WGA specifically pre-empted those negotiations. When the DGA started its talks, its leadership publicly stated that they were acting on behalf of their members to find a way to breach the WGA impasse. At that time, there were no negotiations going on between the WGA and the AMPTP, and none likely for the foreseeable future. Instead, the only actions we were hearing about were the various interim deals struck by the WGA with independent producers and companies (although not Dick Clark Productions or the HFPA), or the WGA attempt to block film permits, or the discovery by WGA members that they had been misled about the status of their health benefits when they went on strike. Those people that have suggested that the DGA should have blithely hoped that negotiations would someday resume, have provided not a single alternative where those negotiations would have ever happened. Instead, they simply point a finger at the DGA to little effect other than to further their own bitterness.

   As for whether the WGA hurt themselves by agreeing to the DGA pattern, that really depends who you talk to. If you talk to the serious hardliners that frequent this site, then you’ll hear about how the WGA should have held out until June for the magically better offer that somehow would have appeared after another four months of pickets. If you talk to the working writers with whom I have talked on various episodic shows, you’ll hear about how the WGA made the best deal it could under the circumstances, since the additional four months of pickets would not have yielded more than an extremely tiny increase, which in turn would not justify the destruction it would entail.

   With the SAG negotiations beginning in the morning, I agree that the leadership could definitely do worse than to listen to the angry post-strike comments of hardliners like Writer Bob. They could repeat the mistakes made by David Young and try to play hardball tactics rather than negotiating the fair contract that working actors need and that can keep the rest of Hollywood at work rather than at home.

   J. Nordling,

   I should have stated that the working actors, standins and background artists with whom I have worked over the past month all think that a fair contract can be reached, and HOPE that the SAG leadership will achieve it. I believe they can, and that it will represent a positive step for working actors everywhere. It’s not a matter of the AMPTP thinking the actors aren’t willing to strike. It’s more of the rest of Hollywood hoping that the SAG leadership isn’t predisposed to striking, particularly after how the WGA strike turned out. In the end, what is the real goal here - a fair contract for everyone, or a festive picket schedule?

   I honestly don’t know the full extremes of what the hardliners on the sidelines think about all this, but I do know what working people in episodic television have been saying on the sets I’ve been on in the past month - everyone from the actors, directors and writers, to the transpo guys, to the prop people, to the craft service people, etc. Most of the people I’ve dealt with are still trying to recover from the last strike and are really hoping that another one will not be in the offing. Some are very angry with the WGA and have said things I have challenged to their faces. Some, like me, feel that the WGA and SAG deserve a fair contract, even if there is the possibility of a strike to get it. That distinction is crucial, but the hardliners miss it every time.

   And just to be fully honest, my real name is Kevin.
   And I really do work in episodic television as an AD.

   Comment by Kevin — April 15, 2008 @ 12:41 am

10. Glad to see SAG has finally released its priorities list…hopefully AFTRA will do the same sooner rather than later.

    From the audience it looks as if what SAG is asking for from the AMPTP is reasonable and something the public can get behind.

    Good luck and godspeed to the SAG Neg Com this week.

    Comment by VDOVault — April 15, 2008 @ 5:37 am

11. Strike Captain,

    I never said that the WGA was entirely responsible for the strike. I agree that the AMPTP bears some responsibility as well. I have repeatedly stated that the WGA and everyone else deserve a fair contract.
    But to say that the WGA has NO responsibility would be inaccurate. And to say that the AMPTP refused to bargain would be to ignore the fact that both sides were having issues. The AMPTP removed a bunch of its more outrageous proposals, and the WGA removed its DVD conditions. The AMPTP removed more stuff and made an internet offer, and the WGA called it a 90 percent rollback. The AMPTP insisted that six items come off the table (four of which stayed off in the final contract), and the WGA balked at responding. Counter made clear to David Young that he could resume the negotiations at any time if he were to send a letter on the matter indicating a willingness to negotiate. Instead of doing this, Young began talking up the interim deals being made with independent producers and David Letterman. And then we had the fiasco at the LA Dept of Public Works. And then the health care mess went public. (I should note that the moderate WGA members who were talking to me at that time said that they only found out about the problem via their picket captains. Assuming that you actually were a picket captain and that you’re not just using that name as an anonymous title, I hope you were one of the ones that told the truth to their group.)

    I stand by my comments. If you’re saying that David Young was not trying to play hardball with the AMPTP, I strongly suggest you look at the facts and think about it again.

    Comment by Kevin — April 16, 2008 @ 11:27 am

12. Even if the DGA did undercut the WGA by not waiting its turn (with many months to go on its contract, yet), we writers were dumbasses for essentially cloning the unilaterally-regarded-as-crappy DGA deal. We should have held out for the things we actually struck for, DGA or no DGA (fuck pattern bargaining), but we caved.

    Comment by Another Strike Captain — April 16, 2008 @ 7:02 pm

13. Another Strike Captain,

    I’m sure you and the people you know feel that the DGA pattern contract is “unilaterally regarded as crappy”, and I’m sure many of the hardliners here would agree with you. But that’s about as far as the unilateralism goes. The rest of Hollywood, particularly those people who work regularly, accepted that deal and moved on.

    And I ask you the same question I asked Writer Bob - if you feel that the DGA should have continued waiting past the 2 months they had already stood by, what would be your solution to the fact that the WGA was not at the table with the AMPTP and didn’t look to be going there anytime soon? The AMPTP wasn’t about to return unless David Young sent that letter, and there was no indication that he had any intention of sending it. The interim deals were regarded as interim only, and the other tactics being employed had little effect other than to shut down the Golden Globes. Unless you have a magic solution that could have brought the AMPTP back to the table without the WGA conceding anything, we’d be looking at the strike still continuing today.

    As for the WGA not holding out “for the things we actually struck for”, I’d have to ask what those would be. It was known before the strike began that there wasn’t going to be a DVD increase, and putting that back on the table would have automatically extended the strike. Reality and Animation? Many WGA hardliners, including Robert Elisberg in his columns, repeatedly stated that the WGA was NOT on strike over Reality and Animation jursidiction. The No-Strike Clause? Certainly you didn’t think the WGA would get this out of their contract when no other Hollywood collective bargaining unit including the Teamsters could. And surely you could not have thought that the WGA could achieve all of those things in a single contract.

    Comment by Kevin — April 16, 2008 @ 9:03 pm

14. The AMPTP wasn’t about to return unless David Young sent that letter.

    The AMPTP wasn’t going to return until someone was willing to take a shitty deal. That’s where the DGA came in.

    Comment by Writer Bob — April 17, 2008 @ 12:04 am

15. Writer Bob,

    Even now you still haven’t presented an alternative way to end the impasse and the strike. Just yelling at the DGA to “stay out of our ####” does not constitute an alternative. Staying on strike for another six months does not constitute an alternative. Making interim deals with some producers does not constitute an alternative - particularly when those scripts could easily wind up with the majors after going into turnaround.

    I’m sure it’s nice to stay hardline and angry about this, but the large majority of the WGA voted to end the strike, approve the contract and move on. Simply complaining about it holds no impact unless you have an alternative with a better outcome. Since you don’t have one, this really sounds like sour grapes.

    Comment by Kevin — April 17, 2008 @ 9:24 am

16. Kevin, the WGA leadership clearly took actions that hurt their own bargaining positions, but by negotiating so early the DGA trespassed on the WGA negotiations and forced the WGA into a poorer contract. The DGA violated core labor principles and its leaders and defenders should be ashamed.

    And the “impasse” wasn’t theirs to end.

    Comment by Strike Captain — April 17, 2008 @ 11:17 am

17. Kevin
    Why do you feel like you have to defend the DGA to these writers. These people well know that the DGA was going into early negociations. Too bad they waited so long. The mistake that the WGA made was they didn’t wait until this June to strike.Now their buddies over at SAG have no leg to stand on. AFTRA will make a deal in three weeks and when SAG strikes all these shows will sign a deal with AFTRA leaving the ME FIRST group screwed.

    Comment by just a thought — April 17, 2008 @ 3:35 pm

18. Strike Captain,

    The WGA was not “forced” “into a poorer contract.” At the time the DGA began its customary negotiation period, there were NO negotiations going on between the WGA and the AMPTP. No negotiations, period. Instead, we watched some interim deals get signed, watched the Golden Globes get shut down (no big loss, in all honesty), and watched the WGA try to stop the LA Dept of Public Works from issuing permits. You cannot argue that the DGA “trespassed on the WGA negotiations” when there was nothing going on, and nothing scheduled for the foreseeable future. As Michael Apted made clear at the time, the DGA waited a full two months after the time it would have chosen to start its talks, specifically to give the WGA every possible chance to restart talks.

    An argument can be made that the WGA’s timing of the strike was designed to head off the usual early DGA negotiations, and thus allow the WGA to set the pattern this time.

    There is no evidence that the DGA violated “core labor principles” or any other principles in negotiating their contract. Had the WGA been able to get their talks going again, or had they negotiated a new contract, the DGA would have held off, as they had been doing.

    The impasse needed to be ended by someone. The WGA, after two months on strike, showed no sign of being able to do it. While it continued, thousands of non-WGA members, including many DGA members, were left unemployed and helpless in the situation. To say that “the ‘impasse’ wasn’t theirs to end” is to add insult to the injury suffered by the crews who were the collateral damage of this strike. And if anyone should be ashamed of themselves, it’s the people who attempted to perpetuate the strike for their own aggrandizement, the people who took advantage of the situation for personal attacks, and the people who to this day continue to spout hardline rhetoric that did not prevail then and does not prevail now.

    And I’m still waiting to hear an alternative solution to the impasse that does not consist of fantasies of sudden AMPTP capitulation or gloomy stories of yearlong pickets. I’m shocked that the only solution that gets offered here is another jab at the DGA.

    Comment by Kevin — April 17, 2008 @ 4:48 pm

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