SAG president Alan Rosenberg sent this statement to striking writers Sunday:
Dear Writers Guild of America Members,
I am writing to you on behalf of 120,000 proud members of Screen Actors Guild who stand with you in solidarity as your strike continues. We believe that now more than ever, we must remain strong and even more committed to achieving our common objectives. We are proud to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with you and SAG will be there for as long as it takes.
Your fight is our fight. Our National Executive Director Doug Allen and I are working around the clock with Patric Verrone and David Young to coordinate our strike support efforts. I'm sure you have seen some of the thousands of Screen Actors Guild members who've been walking the picket lines in Los Angeles, New York and around the country for the last six weeks.
I and other Screen Actors Guild representatives have attended your negotiations and your negotiators have been reasonable and professional. The AMPTP put draconian rollbacks on the table, wasting months of negotiating opportunity. The AMPTP walked out of negotiations twice...most recently after an unreasonable ultimatum that WGA withdraw six key bargaining proposals including several relating to new media compensation.
It is time for the AMPTP to return to the bargaining table.
I salute the cast members and rank-and-file SAG members who are so much a part of this struggle and have made their opinions known to the press, the public, and our employers. As most television shows and motion pictures have shut down, actors are not working. But we know that this fight is for the rights of all creative artists, and our collective future is at stake. We share your sound and reasonable goals for fair compensation for new media formats and we believe you are doing the right thing by taking a stand.
As 2007 comes to an end please be assured, Screen Actors Guild will stand with you for as long as it takes.
I wish you and your families peace, perseverance and patience during this difficult time.
In solidarity,
Alan Rosenberg
President
Screen Actors Guild
:cough:
That’s how you unite, DGA take notice. In your letter you made it look like the WGA was just as unreasonable and equally to blame for the stalled talks as the producers were, shame on you. You sold out tons of people. You showed no support for your fellow workers, shame on you!
Comment by Audio Verite — December 16, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
whoo-hoo!
and i hope this means that SAG member won’t go on shows that break the picket line without getting a waiver first (late night shows, Golden Globes, Ellen, anyone?)
the support is awesome and much appreciated!!!
Comment by WGA Writer — December 16, 2007 @ 11:08 pm
Yeah, this is truly something I am thrilled to see. The writers need support and I am glad someone is stepping up to the challenge when it seems others wont. Now, if the DGA followed suit (not follow suits, as it almost seemed they were saying), than this will be quickly and easily solved. You get the three groups to combine, and they can’t be stopped. You outnumber the studio heads and are the only reason they make any money. Stand strong, hit them where it hurts, and this whole thing will come to a close.
Comment by A Nobody — December 17, 2007 @ 12:10 am
“i hope this means that SAG member won’t go on shows that break the picket line without getting a waiver first”
Shannyn Sossamon, a SAG actor, has appeared on the Carson Daly show during the strike, so there will be no collective refusal by SAG to do the shows. Only conscientious actors like Jason Bateman will avoid the shows. Actors like Sossamon who are either forced to do the shows or have zero support for the strike will do them.
Take note of whoever appears on the late night shows. They will all be rectal slugs that crawled out of AMPTP’s anal cavity. I’ll be watching/recording all of late night and making a listing of the douchebag guests beginning 1/7.
Comment by Thank You SAG for Your Support — December 17, 2007 @ 4:45 am
thank you SAG! Please take note Mr Short and Mr Apted, solidarity is the strongest clearest message we can send. Thank you again actors!
Comment by muchos gracias — December 17, 2007 @ 5:04 am
Actually, if the writers and actors stay together, we don’t need the directors. The DGA can cut their typical pRIson trustee deal, and lunch with the studio guys all they want. Without actors and writers, they’ll have a lot of free time.
God, how embarrassing it must be to be a member of the DGA: your leadership doesn’t have the balls to say what everyone else knows, that the AMPTP has yet to try negotiating with the WGA.
For such a strong guild, with such close ties to management, you have to wonder why their Below the Line guys still routinely work fifteen hour days until they die.
Gil Cates, it will start to get lonely soon.
WGA/SAG United
Comment by Anonymous — December 17, 2007 @ 6:25 am
Very classy, much better than the weasely statement from the DGA.
I’m also curious about actors making appearances on talk shows and award shows. Hopefully they will follow the lead of those who have made statements already and stay home.
Also, assuming the late night shows come back, I hope the actors appear on Dave and other shows that reach an interim agreement, and stay away from those returning without writers. Those refusing to give the writers what they deserve need to feel the financial pinch.
Comment by mike — December 17, 2007 @ 6:50 am
THANK YOU SAG we love you!
Comment by happywriter — December 17, 2007 @ 8:43 am
I just can’t wait for the AMPTP’s response. It will likely come somewhat along the lines of we are more united than you and will include a whole mess of cancelled deals and shows.
Comment by Jessy S. — December 17, 2007 @ 9:01 am
Based on that letter, no member of SAG should show up to work again until this is resolved. Stringing this out by crossing the picket lines and finishing up your order for 13 does nothing but hurt members of SAG because you too will be striking mid-summer if this isn’t resolved in a fair manner. The WGA agreement will set a precedent for what is “reasonable”. Most of their requests are fair and there is certainly a deal to be made. So at this point I say hit them hard, stand united (that means ALL of Hollywood) and this will end so we can all go back to work. The more members of SAG show up to work, the more they are hurting EVERYONE. As far as the DGA is concerned, I believe they too shouldn’t cross the picket lines, but that said, they should have their fair chance to negotiate in a timely fashion just as the WGA had. If they get a fair deal, it will lay the map for the WGA deal and again, help define what is “reasonable”. The only people that stand to loose if the DGA close their deal is the WGA leadership and negotiating committee because they will end up looking ineffectual. But at least it’ll all be over. As more and more people see pink slips, I think we can all agree that it’s time for this to be over.
Comment by Anonymous — December 17, 2007 @ 9:17 am
Look, the AMPTP are tools, we have to win, and the strike will go on as long as necessary. But can we please cut all this BS solidarity language? The prose of the Writer’s Strike is worse than that in a ISO newspaper.
Comment by Sammy Glick — December 17, 2007 @ 9:25 am
SAG will only support strike so long as paychecks keep rolling in. They have busted every picket line in town for the last 20 years and counting. Keep in mind that their prez speaks for next to nobody, that the last “strike” against the commercial producers was never supported by their membership and the Guild was reduced to “hiring” people off the street to picket by offering a free SAG card. The stars run the union through their system of “classification” in which the rich contribute exponentially higher dues than do the “poor” so that when the rich stars talk everybody shits their pants: no huge dues, no union.
SAG and only SAG will dominate the “negotiations” because they can really shut things down completely and their goals this time are like everyone else’s: they want a piece of a pie that is shrinking by the day from a business that is losing money—reported losses in 2006 were 1.5bln—and nobody sees it turning around any time soon.
Comment by Howard432 — December 17, 2007 @ 9:28 am
Wow its funny to see SAG standing in Unity while their members are all at work. Really is handing out donuts for film cameras on your lunch break really standing together?
Comment by Confused — December 17, 2007 @ 9:44 am
SAG members should refuse to audition for shows that are non-union for writers (”Dancing With the Stars” anyone?)
Comment by jennifer — December 17, 2007 @ 10:23 am
If there’s anything that illustrates what a studio tool IATSE presidnet Tom Short is, it’s this letter from SAG. Way to ruin the suits’ Aspen ski holiday! Woo hoo indeed!
Comment by JB — December 17, 2007 @ 11:26 am
Dozens of striking writers are now negotiating with venture capitalists to create internet companies that would bypass Hollywood studios.
(Copyright ©2007 KABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
Way to Go …….
Comment by ???? — December 17, 2007 @ 11:29 am
Is this for real, or is this Hollywood speak for: We’re for all for you now, but we will sell you out without a thought if we get a good deal. Nothing personal, it’s just a business decision and we have to look after the best interest of our members.
Looking at it from a distance, this looks too good to be true.
I hope it’s a statement of fact, not something that has no worth, and it will truly help to end the strike so the writers can go back to work.
I read this blog because it has good information, but I’ve learned the hard way to take anything from people ‘in the business’ with a large tablespoon of salt.
Comment by curiously yours — December 17, 2007 @ 12:34 pm
Now that the SAG President has written the right sort of letter, the DGA’s mealy-mouthed leaders, if they are truly surprised that many writers feel the DGA letter gives the impression the DGA is not truly standing with them, need not ask: “What would you have liked us to say?”
Comment by Screddy — December 17, 2007 @ 1:43 pm
Notice that this annoucement came after most TV shows have stopped production and the TV actors do not have to worry about technically crossing picket lines…while the movie actors still are
Comment by Kevo — December 18, 2007 @ 6:10 am
How much can the actors be behind the writers when they’re running off to do movies left and right? Edward Norton just dropped out of State of Play but Ben Affleck was quick to fill the slot. Greed will get the best of everyone so I won’t hold my breath when it comes to the actors standing by us. Then again, I suppose, why should they? When was the last time the writers stood by the actors during one of their strikes?
Comment by Sherilyn — December 19, 2007 @ 12:44 pm