SAG Gives Pre-Strike Help To Indie Prods

Screen Actors Guild today announced the immediate availability of Guaranteed Completion Contracts (GCC) for qualifying independent producers of theatrical motion pictures.

The contracts allow qualifying producers to continue production without regard to any uncertainty regarding upcoming negotiations between Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
 
Under the terms of the Guaranteed Completion Contracts, the contracting producer must agree to abide by terms of any interim contract that SAG may offer and to become signatory to the successor agreement that results from the upcoming negotiations with the AMPTP.

Guaranteed Completion Contracts are only available to independent productions of theatrical motion pictures which have neither financing nor distribution deals with any AMPTP-represented studio or company.  Interested producers must complete an application disclosing any financing, distribution or other arrangement with AMPTP-represented companies in order for SAG to determine whether the producer qualifies for the GCC.  The contracts will be offered at the sole discretion of Screen Actors Guild.
  
The Guaranteed Completion Contract policy was approved by the Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors at its October 27-28, 2007 plenary.

“We are pleased to offer Guaranteed Completion Contracts to independent movie producers, who are such an important source of employment for actors. These GCC’s will allow independent producers to continue their work and continue to generate job opportunities for our members even as AMPTP employers decide unilaterally whether or when to greenlight new theatrical productions,” said Doug Allen, SAG national executive director and chief negotiator.

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6 Comments »

  1. Does a Guaranteed Completion Contract mean that even if a strike is declared, actors will continue working on that production until it finishes? And, if so, will it satisfy a bonding company?

    Comment by Richard — March 5, 2008 @ 12:45 pm

  2. I think it’s a smart move on the part of SAG to make nice with the independents, who are in danger of being screwed by completion bond companies, while maintaining a strong hand for any interim agreement that may be required by a strike.

    It’s a nice counterpoint to the public squabbling between SAG members which is like blood in the water to the AMPTP.

    I just hope a sensible, and fair deal is achieved before a strike becomes necessary.

    Comment by Furious D — March 5, 2008 @ 1:47 pm

  3. I, too, hope a sensible and fair deal is achieved before a strike is necessary, but SAG members squabbling between themselves will not encourage the AMPTP to offer a fair deal, especially not in early talks. For every crack in solidarity, the AMPTP will lower the offer in their minds. Or at least I would if I were an entity wanting to keep as much of the pie as I can.

    I can’t understand why there are those who don’t see the wages meetings as necessary. It’s a chance to tell the leadership what you deem acceptable, what you will live with instead of going to strike, and what you will strike for. Even if you want to say, I’ll take any deal but I won’t strike… say that in the meetings, not in the public forum where you guarantee the AMPTP testing the waters with the worst deal they think they can float.

    I don’t think you can go by what people were thinking when they voted the leadership in or even what they were thinking a month ago. The landscape has changed. Everybody has been hurting. It was what the writers had to consider when they voted — would staying out and suffering more give them a better deal or a deal worth the suffering. That’s what SAG leadership has to know, today, what actors are willing to fight for and what actors are willing to settle for, today, under the landscape we have now.

    And it should be done in solidarity, like for the most part it was done with writers, where those who objected did so in private, while maintaining solidarity in public.

    Comment by new to the acting life — March 5, 2008 @ 2:53 pm

  4. Being “newtotheactinglife” you may not be familiar with the histories of those who are currently “leading” the SAG. The phrase “covert personal agendas” would not come close to being an exaggeration.

    Comment by Tom — March 6, 2008 @ 7:12 am

  5. Tom wrote in regards to the SAG leadership, “The phrase “covert personal agendas” would not come close to being an exaggeration.”

    Wow, deja vu all over again… like the quip goes.

    Only two months ago we heard busy little bees spreading the mantra about the WGA leadership.

    Give it a week, and SAG’s leadership will be labeled “organizers.”

    Comment by Writer/Director — March 6, 2008 @ 8:38 pm

  6. A week? You kidding? We’ve already been there a million times, plus, “they’re strike happy, they want to go on strike, someone needs to tell them strikes are a last resort, old school hippy activists,” oh the hits just keep a-comin’.

    Comment by Muronao — March 7, 2008 @ 5:22 pm

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