SAG Takes A Page From AMPTP Trade Ad

26 Comments »

1. While I would like for them to keep talking and come up with a mutually beneficial deal, I don’t think it’s going to happen.

   While most folks like to compare studio moguls to sharks, they are actually more like cats. Sharks have to be constantly doing something, while cats would prefer to do nothing, and if it can get what it wants by doing nothing, it will.

   The moguls just have to sit back and do nothing, and let money get tight, and thanks to the very obvious divisions inside SAG and with it’s sibling AFTRA they will probably get what they want. And that’s by doing nothing and letting their massive parent companies cover them.

   I hope, in a cockeyed optimist kinda way, that a good deal can be brokered, but I doubt it.

   SAG may have to eat dirt this deal, then assemble a war chest, fix the divisions both within and without, and get ready for an all out battle for the next contract.

   Comment by Furious D — July 6, 2008 @ 3:44 pm

2. SAG can talk about there not being a de facto strike all they want, but as someone who works in a talent management office I can tell you it’s been eerily silent the last 10 days or so because MOST projects have shut down on their OWN.

   The ones pushing on are the ones (like 24) that have been gone for over a year because of the WGA strike that MUST keep their ‘face’ out there or be forgotten forever.

   Nice touch of them adding ‘national negotiating committee’ considering SAG West has effectively shut out all other branches of the Union since they are perfectly fine with the deal on the table.

   More Hollywood greed, just a different side.

   Comment by manny — July 6, 2008 @ 6:11 pm

3. Please don’t tell me the crane ride is …. “Off The Table”

   Comment by #44 — July 6, 2008 @ 6:15 pm

4. The WGA strike and de facto strike (mostly reflected in film, not yet in TV) have really divided actor against actor, agent/mgr. against agent/mgr., and the list goes on. This coupled with the current state of the economy makes for a witch’s brew of little patience. (Add a major S. Calif. earthquake onto that, and we’re all doomed — I’m not the first person to say this.)

   This little patience doesn’t help us for the long haul. Instead, it’s quite likely that if we don’t stand up for what could or would be honorable and necessary in SAG’s negotiations this time, then we would have largely decided to pursue a slippery slope with both feet forward that can only change course if media consolidation is reversed.

   We are going backwards, not forwards, in the arts. Let us value ourselves more.

   Comment by Working Actor — July 6, 2008 @ 7:05 pm

5. Who is this ad directed at? Not SAG members because they could just continue to cold call them or send mail. What’s the purpose? Branding the SAG name as some quixotic entertainment union?

   Don’t buy the de-facto argument? OK somebody tell which studio to low budget(at least 10 mil) feature has a July start date? I guess SAG employment is actually up now. I guess there’s a record number of film permits issued for July. SAG should call payroll companies and the permit offices and get those numbers to bolster their credibility. Permits numbers are available to the public. Let’s find out how July stacks up against any other month in the last 3 years. Why would they use something that is so public and so easy to disprove??? Why? How many member dollars are being payed to this PR firm? This is the advice they were told to go with? So that they could publicly get their pants pulled down around their ankles?

   Join the committee as it works everyday? SAG was asked to the table months prior then they decided months later that they were ready. Didn’t work for the WGA and isn’t working now. Just like those kids in college that wait till the last minute to do their term papers, no wonder they want to stay up all night now.

   They have no support. They should have hired a polling firm not a PR firm.

   Comment by NotgoingtoTip — July 6, 2008 @ 8:04 pm

6. LOL, now they want to negotiate? That’s what they should have been doing for the last month or so while they were debating AFTRA’s deal publicly. Well, at least its a step in the right direction, seems they have finally moved on from AFTRA and are starting to focus their energies on the AMPTP.

   Comment by Its About Time — July 6, 2008 @ 8:27 pm

7. Wow! Antother direction for SAG to piss in the wind! Attack AFTRA for a year, blame the DGA, blame the WGA, blame the studios, blame corporate owned media, hire PR firm to come up with slogans and spin, ad nauseum.
   What the fuck ARE they actaully talking about behind those doors?

   Comment by transpo — July 6, 2008 @ 8:39 pm

8. People outside the entertainment industry must know that there has been no increase in dvd residuals for the past TWENTY YEARS, and since the studios have constantly lied in previous contracts when actors were left with future deals to be penned later, there is no way SAG should negotiate to trust that to change. Everyone looks at the WGA strike as a barometer that writers caused huge losses for people in the business, but it was the congloms that own the sudios and also own the internet that didn’t bargain fairly that caused the labor dispute. Funny how people believe the media, by the way, are also part of the congloms system, without truly knowing the facts.

   Comment by johnny williams — July 6, 2008 @ 9:39 pm

9. SAG leadership is being disingenuous: 1) As long as there is no contract, there will be no (signatory) projects beginning; from where I sit (a craftsperson looking for work) that is very much like a “de facto strike”.
   2) SAG leadership says there will be no strike; they are seriously negotiating. How seriously can they negotiate while spending so much energy publicly trying to torpedo the AFTRA contract and waiting to learn the results of their efforts? And how can union leadership honestly remove the only real weapon in their arsenal, the withholding of their labor?

   Management is, of course, beyond disingenuous. I pity anyone sitting across the table from the Spawn of Satan, I mean Nick Counter, for his last hurrah.

   I feel like a passenger on an out-of-control bus, hoping that the maniacs up front fighting over the steering wheel don’t drive the thing
   over the rapidly approaching cliff.

   Comment by Goletano — July 6, 2008 @ 10:41 pm

10. What does the average “middle class actor” make these days? $25-$50K like non-Hollywood actors make? Or is it Hollywood middle-class which is $150-$500K?

    Comment by SteveC — July 7, 2008 @ 4:44 am

11. When production stops because management shuts down on its own, that’s not a strike, that’s a lockout.

    And I’m sure there are differences of opinion on the AMPTP side as well– they’re just accustomed to standing behind their negotiators. That’s part of being successful.

    Comment by Anonymous — July 7, 2008 @ 7:18 am

12. It’s a shame you can’t force yourself to be a more objective source of news about the negotiations.

    Comment by John — July 7, 2008 @ 7:48 am

13. No De Facto Strike? Sure Angels and Demons and a few others are finishing but NOTHING is starting. The only studio film that I can think of that is pushing forward with pre-production is Ang Lee’s Woodstock. That’s it. There is a de facto strike. That is a fact.

    Comment by DGAmember — July 7, 2008 @ 8:00 am

14. To SteveC -

    I am a middle class “Hollywood” actor. I have been for 10 years. The most I ever made in one year - that was having six national commercials and a recurring spot on a hit TV show was — $60,000! So yes, we middle class actors in Hollywood make just as much as those of you not in Hollywood.

    Comment by MiddleClass — July 7, 2008 @ 10:17 am

15. @DGAmember : they are not starting because the studios are not pushing the projects forward, not because the actors are not willing to work. There is a major difference. Noone is stopping new projects to start shooting except the studios which are just waiting for a non existent strike to start. A strike that has not yet been authorized and will not be in any case.

    So if there is a slow down on films, there’s a reason. It’s been pinpointed by every media : studios are not willing to push projects forward because they think a strike is coming. Even during the WGA strike, news article were already saying that due to a impending SAG strike, movies productions have been postponed.
    I’m willing to bet SAG won’t go through that route. So, if you really need someone to blame, blame the studios, not the actors.

    And as someone said, it’s only affecting movies, TV production is actually on hyper drive right now.

    Comment by skyfleur — July 7, 2008 @ 10:17 am

16. Kind of a biased article, here. Don’t you think? I am a SAG member, and I can tell you that SAG has never said they do not plan on striking. Though it is obvious, it would be difficult now to get a strike autho (since LA SAG has backed itself into a well deserved corner). SAG members are not better or more important than DGA or WGA members, or even the people who dry clean your clothes. We are not being treated unfairly or being offered unlivable wages. So I would like SAG to stop acting like they are being ripped off, step foot back on Earth, and accept the deal everyone else did.

    Comment by Success — July 7, 2008 @ 11:10 am

17. A day late. A (lot of ad) dollar(s) short.

    Months of undermining another actors union. Dividing and conquering its own colleagues. Taking a page from Karl Rove and belittling anyone who dares to have a difference of principle with them.

    Now our leadership is the voice of reason?

    Nice going. Not believable. Not useful.

    The current SAG leadership and negotiating team has backed itself into a corner and we, the “middle class” are the ones who’ll pay for their mix of incompetence and arrogance.

    Tomorrow when my union’s official “strategy” of trying to defeat the AFTRA agreement comes to a crashing halt (when the deal will be accepted by AFTRA actors), they’ll have nothing to offer or bargain with. No leverage except a strike that the AMTPT can ignore and do an end-around, armed with a new, approved three-year AFTRA contract.

    Yes, the leadership can spend more of our dues money on Trade ads and PR firms. But weeks later it will necessarily have to engineer a hollow “peace with honor” with the producers (with, I fear, a zero-sum gain for the oft-mentioned “middle-class” actors).

    The SAG leadership’s strategy and tactics on this labor negotiation have been as bad, misinformed and disastrous as anything Don Rumsfeld could come up with.

    Will Rogers once said we get the leaders we deserve. I’m trying to figure out what we did to deserve this turn of events.

    In the future, leave the negotiating to a team of dispassionate hired professionals. A man who represents himself in court has a fool for counsel. A group of actors who think they can outmaneuver the hired guns of the AMTPT is either in denial of ignorant of the way business is done in the 21st century.

    Months ago (and I mean months ago) SAG should have hired not only Sitrick & Company (as it did last week) but also a team of professional negotiators, made peace with AFTRA and then devised a clever, targeted, unified and strategically-thought out campaign to maximize what leverage the unions have in this era of mega-corporate, global entertainment companies. Doing so now, just days before the contract expires is simply improvising on the fly. Something that rarely pays dividends in any kind of negotiating scenario I can think of. Next time leave the driving to someone else. Please.

    Comment by Christopher Grove — July 7, 2008 @ 12:47 pm

18. Correction on my previous post:

    Before the flamers get me I said “AMTPT” when I meant the AMPTP. My typo. My error.

    Thanks.

    Comment by Chris Grove — July 7, 2008 @ 2:56 pm

19. W-A-Y too little too late. This ad is what my dues money bought? Who in hell is Hollywood SAG leadership trying to convince?
    Union Power 101/Leverage. Got leverage? Whine about the AMPTP to the tune of my SAG dues money at this date when SAG could have gone to the table in March?!? Play the victim after 18 months of grabbing AFTRA’s face guard and whining to the ref?!?

    I’m a working, activist member of three unions and even studied Industrial Relations, and I’ve NEVER seen this level of incompetence, hubris, and blind anti-unionism practised by a union.

    The Membership First fringe of the Hollywood SAG Board is a study in Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Tell us, oh fading stars, what DO you see when you gaze at your own image in the pond?

    I’ll tell you what you’ll see this September…pink slips.

    Comment by Working SAG/AFTRA Actor — July 7, 2008 @ 4:30 pm

20. I am a middle class “Hollywood” actor. I have been for 10 years. The most I ever made in one year - that was having six national commercials and a recurring spot on a hit TV show was — $60,000! So yes, we middle class actors in Hollywood make just as much as those of you not in Hollywood.

    Comment by MiddleClass — July 7, 2008 @ 10:17 am

    whatd you decide to just work 15 days that year and sit on your ass the rest? get a real job ya dope.

    Comment by patcracks — July 7, 2008 @ 4:37 pm

21. Seeing the “logic” some of you espouse I finally understand why almost no one in this town can figure out that very complex turn signal thing when driving.

    Wake up. Production is in full swing. It’s a conceptual art piece called: BOILING FROGS.

    Comment by zackery — July 7, 2008 @ 10:56 pm

22. Working SAG/AFTRA Actor - Why don’t you get some balls and sign your name?

    Hmmm… I didn’t think so.

    Comment by Scott Brown — July 8, 2008 @ 12:19 am

23. Much as I’d love to see the SAG board get everything they’re asking for, sad to say I think they blew it.

    One of the key reasons the WGA strike was ultimately so effective is because the board was extremely effective in both educating and rallying their membership while at the same time eliciting public support - again by doing a great job of explaining the issues in language everyone could understand and identify with.

    This led to the tremendous solidarity and commitment by the members which sent the clear signal that they weren’t going to back down. Of course SAG’s support was a huge factor as well.

    (Does anyone remember what kind of support AFTRA lent to the writers? Correct me if I’m wrong, but they seem to have been very silent during the WGA strike.)

    Here’s what I see. First, everyone is still drained and recovering from the 100 day WGA strike. Secondly, thanks in large part to the rift between SAG and AFTRA, the actors are nowhere as united as the writers were.

    If AFTRA members ratify their contract, that will be a strong indication that SAG may have a problem mustering the votes they need for a strike authorization.

    Needless to say, if SAG does, in fact, hold a strike authorization vote and it fails to pass OVERWHELMINGLY as the WGA’s did, they lose tremendous leverage in negotiating and everyone knows it.

    If it were my decision, I’d make the best deal I could with the AMPTP for now - essentially taking a variation on the WGA and DGA deals - and then lay the groundwork NOW for the 2011 contract negotiations, starting with member solidarity, building a war chest and getting the WGA, DGA and even AFTRA to agree to negotiate as a block.

    After all, if the studios and networks can come together in the form of the AMPTP to negotiate as a group, wouldn’t it give the talent guilds considerably more leverage if they were to do the same (with the understanding that the contract will address a combination of shared agendas and guild-specific objectives).

    One of the great labor lessons of the WGA strike was the strength of a union that is truly united and elicits public sympathy and support in concert with subtle pressure to the financial and advertising communities.

    What would be better for SAG’s members in the long run? A humiliating defeat (assuming the AFTRA contract is ratified)? Or a strategic, face saving agreement now while laying the groundwork to successfully take on the moguls (and make up at least some lost ground) at the next contract negotiations.

    Just one supporter’s humble opinion.

    Comment by Interested Observer — July 8, 2008 @ 12:45 am

24. whatd you decide to just work 15 days that year and sit on your ass the rest? get a real job ya dope.

    Comment by patcracks — July 7, 2008 @ 4:37 pm

    No, the rest of the year I was busting my ass on auditions - That I don’t get paid for. I did not decide to just work 15 days. I would love to work as an actor 365 days a year - it doesn’t work that way. Do you think actors just go out and get acting jobs? That I can go up to a casting director or producer and say “Hey, I’m a great actor, I would like to be on HEROES today or I would like to do a major national commercial for Coca-Cola today.” and the rest of the time I sit in my million dollar home playing XBox? F*ck you, YA DOPE!

    The point I was trying to make is that not ever actor is a rich pampered baby. Most of our “work” is actually trying to get WORK.

    Comment by MiddleClass — July 8, 2008 @ 9:50 am

25. and thats exactly why theres no such thing as middle class actors middle class. get a real job ya dope, the same goes for the rest of you SAG middle class actors

    Comment by patcracks — July 8, 2008 @ 4:17 pm

26. Patcracks,

    What do you do? Should I come and take your “real job”, because I could if I wanted to. Unlike you who could never do my job in a million years.

    And I do have a real job. When I don’t make enough money through acting I go get other jobs. I’m glad you are so understanding, ya douche.

    Comment by middleclass — July 8, 2008 @ 5:29 pm

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