UPDATE: Tonight I received the news that AFTRA national president Roberta Reardon and officers 
including Susan Boyd Joyce, Denny Delk, Bob Edwards, Matt Kimbrough, Shelby Scott held their national meeting and approved a formal rift with their stepsister actors union SAG. They then went to SAG's national board meeting and declared that AFTRA won't negotiate jointly with the Screen Actors Guild on the new primetime TV contract. This, in spite of a long-time agreement by AFTRA to bargain jointly with SAG and not undercut rates. So basically those "make nice" pronouncements of recent days are out the window. And all because of a blown-way-out-proportion incident involving AFTRA, SAG and the soap opera The Bold And The Beautiful. Now AFTRA has taken such an extreme position that not even the AFL-CIO may be able to rein it in.
The AFTRA maneuver is disingenuous, bordering on slightly dishonest, because I'm told the union has known about the B&B incident for weeks and done nothing until this weekend. Then there's the curious and convenient timing of an obviously planted story in the Los Angeles Times Saturday, designed to give Reardon some protective cover. So it now looks like tonight's announcement was a carefully planned 11th hour ploy by her to get out of joint bargaining and justify AFTRA's going it alone. My sources assure me that AFTRA has false concerns because SAG has no interest in organizing daytime. If anything, the concern is justified the other way around because AFTRA is already treading on SAG's scripted TV turf by repping, for example, both Damage and Dirt.
It was hardly a secret, much less a scoop, that the Emmy-winning star of The Bold And The Beautiful, Susan Flannery, has for some time now circulated a petition to decertify AFTRA as the union representing the actors on the long-running soap. But, suddenly, the LA Times was exaggerating a minor matter whereby SAG's national executive director Doug Allen was approached by two B&B actors for a meeting. 
When the duo launched into a litany of complaints about AFTRA's representation, witnesses tell me that Allen properly turned them aside and sent them back to AFTRA. But it took the LAT until the 11th paragraph to convey that salient point. And the paper never bothered to mention that these two B&B cast members were also SAG members since there are many dual cardholders.
This is, after all, the very same newspaper that took every side but the WGA's when the striking writers were pressured by the moguls and the directors. And the same newspaper that ignored the recent AFTRA-SAG blame game when AFTRA was at fault. Yet the LAT on Saturday was breathlessly reporting how "AFTRA officials were upset at SAG for not telling them about the meeting until two weeks after the fact, according to Reardon." Interesting that she timed her public hissy fit to the very weekend when both AFTRA and SAG national boards were meeting on the eve of the two guilds starting joint negotiations on the primetime TV contract.
I'm told from inside AFTRA's board confab that Reardon "misrepresented the incident to blame Doug Allen for encouraging poaching and raiding even though that's not the case. Reardon said it was the straw that broke the camel's back. She's using this as an excuse because she's wanted to get out of Phase One for the past year."
Reardon acolytes keep claiming that SAG's so-called "Membership First" leadership clique is causing all the current trouble with AFTRA. Don't misunderstand me: there's plenty of petty nonsense going on inside both camps. But it's painful to watch the actors guilds battle amongst themselves (or even the actors inside SAG) with that June deadline bearing down. I sense real concern that dual cardholders may not stay loyal in the event of a SAG strike. Which serves to explain why this latest Reardon move looks like an AFTRA ploy to further encroach on SAG's jurisdiction by offering inferior terms on contracts. While SAG accounts for 100% of motion pictures and about 90+% of television, AFTRA has 3 shows under this primetime TV contract. Now it appears that AFTRA is going to negotiate those on its own, thus continuing the union's shameful history of pay undercuts and residuals giveaways that have compromised actors for years. Lots of casts are still unhappy with AFTRA's basic cable deals, and its penchant for lousy one-time-only pacts, so there will be more when AFTRA folds on primetime contract points. Why, it's a Big Media mogul's wet dream!
But here's what Reardon said in a statement Saturday night:
"AFTRA's primary goal is to improve and protect the working lives of performers. During the past year, AFTRA has fought hard and expended an enormous amount of time, energy and resources to maintain the integrity of our Phase One joint bargaining process with the Screen Actors Guild, so we could sit across the table from the industry with total and unequivocal unity. Unfortunately, SAG leadership has made this impossible. For the past year SAG leadership in Hollywood has engaged in a relentless campaign of disinformation and disparagement, culminating in a recent attempt to decertify a AFTRA daytime soap opera. As a result of this continued and ongoing behavior by SAG leadership, which at its core harms all working performers and the labor movement, we find ourselves unable to have any confidence in their ability to live up to the principles of partnership and union solidarity. AFTRA believes it must devote its full energies to working on behalf of performers, and not wasting time assessing whether our partner is being honest with us. With this in mind, the AFTRA National Board today voted overwhelmingly in favor of suspending Phase One, and negotiating the primetime television contract on our own. We are now prepared to move forward and negotiate a strong contract for our members as soon as possible. This action was taken in the hope that someday, the historic trust between these two organizations can be rebuilt – in the best interests of all performers."
SAG President Alan Rosenberg also released a statement, and sounded pissed:
"We remain focused on negotiating the best terms for actors covered by the TV Theatrical contract. We spent weeks working with our fellow actors in AFTRA on joint proposals to improve the lives of all working actors. AFTRA's refusal now to bargain together and their last second abandonment of the joint process is calculated, cynical and serves the interests of their institution not its members."
Naturally, the AMPTP chimed in from the sidelines, since the Big Media companies have been watching with glee while AFTRA beats up on SAG:
"On February 14th, just after we concluded our agreement with the writers, we called for our negotiations with actors to begin promptly. Today we are pleased that to learn that AFTRA is also ready to begin talks immediately. We are determined, as we have always been, to work hard and bargain reasonably with the actors' unions so that we can all avoid another harmful, unnecessary strike."
Finally, very late Saturday night, Reardon sent this email signed "in solidarity" to AFTRA members:
March 29, 2008
Dear AFTRA Member,
AFTRA's primary goal is to improve and protect the working lives of performers. During the past year, AFTRA has fought hard and expended an enormous amount of time, energy and resources to maintain the integrity of our Phase One joint bargaining process with the Screen Actors Guild, so we could sit across the table from the industry with total and unequivocal unity. Unfortunately, SAG leadership has made this impossible. For the past year SAG leadership in Hollywood has engaged in a relentless campaign of disinformation and disparagement, culminating in a recent attempt to decertify a AFTRA daytime soap opera.
AFTRA recently became aware that leaders of SAG have involved themselves in a campaign to encourage cast members on the CBS daytime drama "The Bold and the Beautiful" to decertify AFTRA as their union. The people leading this drive apparently believe that decertifying AFTRA would further the goal of having one union for all actors. In fact, it would do the opposite. If successful, it would leave the performers on "The Bold and the Beautiful" stripped of any union representation and uncovered by any union contract. This situation is sadly not surprising given SAG Hollywood leadership's ongoing campaign of misinformation to disparage AFTRA.
The truth is that the existing AFTRA contract for daytime series provides players with strong provisions regarding crediting, overtime rates, and vacation days. Year after year, AFTRA has consistently won raises and improvements for daytime players—despite the efforts of networks and producers to cut costs at daytime serials. A vote to decertify would strip the cast of "The Bold and the Beautiful" of all these hard-fought gains. To achieve anything close to what the AFTRA contract offers, the cast would have to negotiate from scratch—perhaps even strike—without the support of performers covered by the Network TV Code.
The involvement of SAG leaders in the effort to remove AFTRA from a show covered by an AFTRA contract violates all norms of union solidarity. But this most recent situation, along with the continued and ongoing behavior by SAG Hollywood leadership, which harms all working performers and the labor movement, forced us to confront on the eve of negotiations the very painful question: how could we sit beside SAG at the bargaining table at the same time that its leaders in Hollywood are conspiring to undermine the gains we’ve achieved for all performers?
AFTRA's leadership believes that our union must devote its energies first and foremost to working on behalf of performers, and not waste any more time assessing whether our partner is being honest with us. With this in mind, the AFTRA National Board today voted overwhelmingly in favor of suspending Phase One, and negotiating the primetime television contract on our own. We are now prepared to move forward and negotiate a strong contract for our members as soon as possible.
This action --suspension rather than termination -- was taken with the understanding that many among SAG's leadership are as troubled by the events that have led us to this point as we are, and in the hope that someday, the historic trust between these two organizations can be rebuilt – in the best interests of all performers.
---
Meanwhile, here are all my recent SAG-AFTRA stories:
- SAG & AFTRA Actually Agree On Proposals
- LA Mayor Tells Hollywood Guilds: "We Must Keep This Town Working"
- AFTRA Ratifies Network News Contract
- AFL-CIO Puts Out SAG/AFTRA Flame War: "Joint Negotiating"
- More SAG/AFTRA Battling Back And Forth
- SAG/AFTRA Contract Talks With AMPTP May Start Week Of March 31st
- Joint SAG/AFTRA Meetings Scheduled
- AFTRA Announces Tentative Agreement On Network TV Code
- EXCLUSIVE: Big Media Moguls And SAG Leaders Meet Secretly
- SAG Board Member Urges AFTRA Boycott
- AFTRA Sets March 10th Deadline To Know If SAG Will Start Talks Early
- SAG's Rosenberg Calls AFTRA Claim "Perplexing" And Wants Explanation
- AFTRA Leader Claims Joint Resolution With SAG "Erroneous"
- Huh? No SAG-AFTRA Lovefest After All?
- SAG & AFTRA Together To Set Talks Date
- Summit Of AFL-CIO, SAG, AFTRA Leaders
*waves from the Totally Shocked By This Move seats*
A heartfelt good luck to the actors in their upcoming negotiation. Seriously, I hope it works out for you guys.
But, damn, that’s messed up right there.
Comment by andthentherewassag — March 29, 2008 @ 6:33 pm
SAG has spent its time and money over the past year making the stupidest moves I have ever seen adults make. The MembershipFirst leadership is to blame. They have now attained what they wanted all along and now they are completely powerless. How could they allow prominent members among them to stage raiding parties on AFTRA shows just at this crucial time?
If SAG members wish to complete the suicide mission they can go ahead and re-elect these Hollywood All-Thumbs.
Meanwhile, make sure your AFTRA card is paid up.
Comment by Tom — March 29, 2008 @ 7:03 pm
What the HELL are you thinking AFTRA? This only hurts actors in BOTH unions. You are playing into the hands of the AMPTP. Think it through and for the love of my dues money, CHANGE YOUR MIND! I am ashamed to be a member of AFTRA. But I will always be proud to be a member if SAG.
UNITED WE STAND…DIVIDED WE FALL AFTRA.
Comment by Peggy Lane O'Rourke — March 29, 2008 @ 7:20 pm
The Allens blew it. You can’t raid a union and negotiate with them at the same time.
Comment by TObvious — March 29, 2008 @ 7:34 pm
I wish I could say I’m surprised, but I’m not.
After going through the joint preparation process with SAG to put together the proposal package, after leaving the folks on the SAG side feeling - just this week! - like AFTRA and SAG are in unanimity on every issue, they go and do this???
Such an action begs questions. Did AFTRA engage in the joint process with SAG all this time, learning all about everything SAG’s members want and leadership is going to ask for, knowing the entire time they had absolutely zero intention of actually negotiating jointly with SAG??? Did SAG, by working with AFTRA, simply (to use a salesman’s term) educate their feet???
SAG needs to ask itself some questions too. Are there compromises in its negotiating positions the guild would not have taken had it not been for AFTRA involvement??? Was the net effect of AFTRA’s involvement in the joint W & W process one of watering down positions that would otherwise have been stronger? Should SAG step back, take a breather, put off formal negotiations for a spell, and revisit W & W sans AFTRA???
SAG totally had the WGA’s back during their recent strike. AFTRA was nowhere to be found.
AFTRA has chosen over the past few years to strengthen itself at the expense of its sister union, instead of doing the hard work of organizing non-unionized workplaces that should be organized. Ask AFTRA what they have done to bring cable news into the fold. Ask them what other organizing of non-union shops they have done. Ask them which scripted shows they’ve gotten over the past decade that wouldn’t otherwise be SAG shows - shows like Damages and Dirt.
Between SAG and AFTRA, who’s been the stronger on workers’ rights issues? Solidarity with the WGA and even guilds outside the entertainment industry???
Going forward, I urge AFTRA to reconsider its go-it-alone position on negotiations. SAG, meanwhile, should feel under no circumstances bound in any way to any provision AFTRA may negotiate separately with the AMPTP. SAG needs to continue to be the gold standard.
Comment by mheister — March 29, 2008 @ 8:34 pm
Amazing the amount of damage a bruised ego can produce. I wasn’t in the room, but I bet this comes down to pissed off individuals not thinking about the good of the members they represent. No question about it, the two companies negotiating as one is better for them (especially better for AFTRA). But, someone needed a hug and now everyone gets a new drama to follow on DHD.
signed - someone who enjoys a good drama, except when it impacts their income.
Comment by it's all ego — March 29, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
Ouch!
And I mean it. I hope the SAG manages to work things out with individual AFTRA actors and screws their leadership. At least I hope so.
Comment by Jessy S. — March 29, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
Hey the summer could get interesting. Like the Writer’s strike made winter. It’s going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Comment by chuck — March 29, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
I’m a member of SAG and AFTRA (pity me) and am thoroughly disappointed with AFTRA’s behavior. There needs to be only ONE UNION for actors, not two. AFTRA is fighting for survival because I’ve been told it’s nearly bankrupt, and so any edge it can get to gain more contracts for actors (with little concern over how good those contracts are) is a desperate attempt to stay afloat. This in no way serves its membership. Note to AFTRA — just give it up. There shouldn’t be any ego involved when representing your members — and the best thing is one union for actors; if that means major changes for AFTRA, then so be it.
Comment by TroubledUnionMember — March 29, 2008 @ 10:44 pm
AFTRA’s leaving joint negotiations with current SAG leadership is like a patient poker player finally deciding to opt out of a game of with a cheater who cadges cards, denies it, swears he’ll quit shamming, and does the same freak/joker dance again and again. Current SAG Hollywood leadership suffers from the tragic aging Hollywood actors’ syndrome of rage-against-the-machine & an accompanying need to find a boogie man to blame. They have taken anti-union shots at AFTRA all year - a union to which all working actors belong - in a vain attempt to hide their having organized no SAG work for members in years and for hijacking protection for actors by cheating us out of an Agency Franchise Agreement. Picture a hybrid claque of the worst of the Bush Admin with a dash of Ronald Reagan’s hubris and middling acting career-turned pol, and you have an idea of who is leading our Screen Actors Guild down a precipitously self-destructive path.
AFTRA had no choice but to go it alone with the AMPTP. SAG & AFTRA members wish them the best of luck. They appear to be the only sane actors union players in an increasingly swampy labor landscape in Hollywood. AFTRA, bully for you. SAG, puleez elect new leaders in the Fall and replace the long-ago footballer who wears the tie & top-hat at your helm.
Comment by Iama Workingactor — March 29, 2008 @ 10:45 pm
Mark this down: AFTRA chooses not to negotiate jointly with SAG. Next AFTRA will bow and kiss the ass of the AMPTP.
The AMPTP will proclaim how easy it is to negotiate with open minded AFTRA.
Next the AMPTP will issue press releases announcing how stubborn and greedy SAG is.
AFTRA’s lips will be mighty AMPTP brown.
Comment by Aftra Clowns — March 29, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
AFTRA,
We will be taking you over from the inside and we will destroy you. Plain and simple. There are more actors in AFTRA than any other category.
WE WILL TAKE YOU OVER AND DESTROY YOU. FROM THE INSIDE.
Comment by working actor — March 29, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
I used to be proud of my membership in AFTRA.
A couple days ago, I got a tiny residual for “Joan of Arcadia.” A couple weeks before that, I got an even tinier one for “Huff.” Both AFTRA contracts.
I’m no expert on AFTRA history. I don’t know why it’s changed so in recent years, but they seem to be selling the work of actors at Wal-mart prices. The AMPTP has got to love them. Our AFTRA session fees are lower than under S.A.G., and residuals are puny to none.
I used to feel a moral obligation to pay my AFTRA dues even though I hardly ever worked their contracts. I’m ready to go on “honorable withdrawal,” and, when I can, avoid working under AFTRA’s jurisdiction.
Maybe AFTRA will be a better union if focuses on representing announcers and newscasters, singers and sportscasters.
Let the Screen ACTORS Guild be the bargaining unit for …. ACTORS.
For 25 years, I thought AFTRA and S.A.G. should merge, until I realized how weak and unfocused AFTRA is, with so many constituencies. Phase 1 was supposed to be a step toward merger, but where has it gotten us?
I occasionally do voiceovers for moveon.org and other liberal to radical groups. The agency that hires me recently switched from AFTRA contacts to S.A.G. The agency is strongly pro-labor and they must have realized that their employees are better off working under an S.A.G. contract.
I may be naive, but I think S.A.G. will be able to focus better on what actors need. They should be able to fight for us without the weak-kneed partner, always ready to play Let’s Make a Deal — Any Deal.
Dave Clennon
Comment by Dave Clennon — March 29, 2008 @ 11:24 pm
To my dedicated SAG board members who’ve been locked away negotiating with AFTRA over the last week- Thank you.
It is now up to the membership, especially dual card holders of both AFTRA & SAG. It’s time to unite and be heard. Whether affected, unaffected, or celebrity; stand up and be heard for what union you want deciding the future of our contracts.
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
— Winston Churchill
Comment by aswinniesaid — March 30, 2008 @ 3:34 am
So if I am Nick Counter what do I do in response to this? Cut a quick deal with the IA based on the WGA/DGA terms. Then offer AFTRA jurisdiction over new media and deny SAG jurisdiction over new media. That forces SAG to strike to get it which will probably be a disaster in light of the exhaustion of public support after the 3 month WGA strike. Meanwhile, AFTRA will be ready to sign up all sorts of deals under its new CBA leaving SAG holding the BAG!
Comment by btraven — March 30, 2008 @ 4:27 am
Pardon me btraven but if you think that the public is ‘exhausted’ by support for the writers and their strike, you are seriously misreading the public. For your sake I hope you’re not currently running for public office with that clear misperception of the zeitgeist we’re feeling out here in the cheap seats.
While out here in the audience we are seeing friends and family members lose houses and all kinds of assets thanks to a few greedy and corrupt idiots in charge of the so-called FIRE (for Financial, Insurance & Real Estate) economy we are increasingly learning that it’s really a greedy few victimizing countless others and looking to the government and the rest of us to bail them out just so they can maximize their ill-gotten gains to the nth degree…take a look at guys like Mozillo of Countrywide or Cayne of Bear Stearns and how they’ve cashed out and left everyone else not to mention their companies high and dry. Does that pattern sound familiar to you? Because it’s the template for Hollywood mogul behavior and you can bet it’s deeply angered a lot of the public.
So when the writers drew parallels about how their big bosses were looting and pillaging Hollywood at the expense of everyone else just so a few moguls at the top could continue to take home tens of millions of dollars each year, where did you really think the public’s sympathy is going to lie? With Rupert Murdoch?
The actor’s story is really just the next act in this saga. And while the (corporate owned) media is going to try to sell this as folks at the level of a Clooney, Pitt, Jolie or Cruise wanting yet another guest house in some suitably fashionable and pricey locale, people increasingly distrust the mainstream media for their real news and how it really affects them.
We out here in the viewing public are increasingly learning that most actors make even less than we do at our ‘real jobs’. Do you honestly think that Joe and Jane Public are hot to see the likes of one union try to undersell another with the net result being the moguls taking home even more ill-gotten gains than they already have?
I am saddened by the fact that the two unions who represent actors can’t figure out how to work together against their common adversary: the AMPTP and its moguls. But I wouldn’t count the public or SAG out just yet.
I would however bet against the moguls because the public is “mad as hell and [they’re] not going to take it any more”
Comment by VDOVault — March 30, 2008 @ 6:16 am
AFTRA’s contracts are a JOKE. Did you know that even the current $425 that Los Angeles actors earn for radio commercials is ONLY because Los Angeles agents adopted that as the pay figure?? AFTRA’s lousy minimum is actually only $200 plus change!! Even voiceover actors would get the shaft from AFTRA if it wasn’t for their agents. There needs to be a vote among ALL ACTORS, under the watch of the National Labor Board, and pick between SAG and AFTRA for ALL WORK once and for all. I guarantee you the only ones who would choose AFTRA are the ones who are sitting on AFTRA boards or committees.
Roberta Reardon is a sorry, sad woman.
Comment by Longtime Actor — March 30, 2008 @ 7:44 am
Et Tu, AFTRA? If I didn’t need to be AFTRA for Voiceover, I’d quit the union. Losers. Counter and the AMPTP Boys are having orgasms over this. Bailing at the last minute was Reardon’s plan all along…if you guys fuck this up, and we end up striking, and MORE people lose their jobs, their careers, because of the monumental incompetence I see from AFTRA and SAG too, because they let these AFTRA fools 3-card monty them,then what the abov poster said will happen. Actors will destroy AFTRA from the inside, any way we can. What SAG should do is cut them off, right now, and toss them out of all the office space they share. They want to go solo? fine. Get the fuck out of the building then. Negotiate from your favorite chair at starbucks, fuckers.
Comment by VOGuy — March 30, 2008 @ 8:38 am
Nikki’s is all over this shiz like white on rice, as usual. Love it. Keep those motha’s exposed and in line, girl!
Comment by Johnny — March 30, 2008 @ 9:50 am
AFTRA OR SAG? HMMM. LET’S JUST LOOK AT THE RATES:
AFTRA ON-CAMERA PROMO $305 +10%
SAG ON-CAMERA COMMERCIAL $567 .10 + residuals
AFTRA TV u/5 $367 +10% (Sometime not even a +10%!)
SAG TV u/5/ Principal $759 +10%
ACTORS WILL GET LESS IF AFTRA TAKES MORE SHOWS, NOT LESS!
Comment by agent Provocateur — March 30, 2008 @ 10:05 am
It’s obvious that AFTRA leadership is trying to take this opportunity to undercut SAG in the upcoming contract negotiations at the sake of it’s membership. It’s like two parents arguing and one parent deciding to use the kids to manipulate the situation for their own gain. And not thinking about how this affects the kids. This is why SAG has been and always will be the stronger and best union. It may not be perfect but it has a strong history of doing its best to represent its kids ( membership ). Of course as actors we need to be strong in order to face the upcoming negotiations. There’s a saying… you’re only as strong as your weekest link. Can you say… opportunistic? Nuff said.
Comment by openmynded101 — March 30, 2008 @ 10:32 am
David Clennon should know more facts before he complains….”Joan of Arcadia” & “Huff’ were both done under contracts EXACTLY like SAG’s - they were co-negotiated. Same small checks under SAG.
It’s just this kind of shooting from the hip, knowing NO facts, that inflames discussions in this town.
Like Nikki, et al, wondering, “Where was AFTRA during the WGA strike?” Aside from the fact that many AFTRA members DID walk the line, AFTRA was deliberately kept out of any processes prior to the strike–at the request of SAG– never invited to negotiations, or to any of the pre- meetings held between SAG & WGA. One might then ask what was AFTRA’s role supposed to be, when our primary bargaining partner engineers AFTRA’s absence?
And no one at AFTRA ‘needs a hug’ (as suggested above). The B&B issue is merely the final straw in what has been a year rife wth lies, abuse, subtrefuge and raiding activity. At some point, you just gotta say enough.
The Guild has wrought this.
Maybe SAG members will look a little more deeply into what’s been going on in their name, and at their elected leaders who planned all this.
Maybe they’ll look at SAG’s cable contracts and wonder why SAG is exporting their jobs with their one-size-fits-all contract.
Maybe they’ll decide if they like being represented by an NED who is thought of by industry as a bully and a liar.
Maybe they’ll decide they prefer organizing jobs to raiding jobs.
I’m a member of SAG and this gives me no pleasure to say….
Comment by Anonymous — March 30, 2008 @ 10:49 am
You wrote–
“Which serves to explain why this latest Reardon move looks like an AFTRA ploy to further encroach on SAG’s jurisdiction by offering inferior terms on contracts.”
Gee–ya think??? Where have you been for the past six years?
But with Doug Allen negotiating, not for the SAG membership, but for the glorification of his own massive ego, why should he care who else he alienates anyway? Can’t he pick this fight with AFTRA another day? Even if it’s deserved?
Looks like the possibility of another baseless strike is on the horizon because of bad leadership of yet another guild. And more innocent people will be hurt in its wake.
Comment by Scottt Barry — March 30, 2008 @ 11:53 am
VDOVault: I’m a WGA member, and I’m firmly convinced that our strike killed support for ANY strike among the public at large. I can guarantee you that the public will not support SAG or AFTRA should they strike. People just want to see their shows or movies–they really couldn’t care less about who’s making what or who’s screwing over whom.
Comment by Can't Take it Anymore — March 30, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
I’m confused now. Wasn’t it Reardon that waved that Phase I documentation at SAG and told them the lawyers said they couldn’t go it alone? And now when it suits them, they plan to go it alone? Aren’t they bound by the same documentation?
Sounds like they are spies for the AMPTP as in find out what SAG will ask for and what it is willing to give up in negotiation, so they can strip that first and then make them compromise on what they don’t want to lose in the name of negotiation, like they did to the WGA.
I think it’s time for the AFTRA membership to be heard… whether they are in agreement to the positions of their leadership. Are the AFTRA membership in agreeent to go it alone and undercut themselves? Is this what they voted on when they elected her? Have they voted and told her what they want now?
I don’t understand Membership First, but it seems likes AFTRA leadership has just been on a power trip.
As for the LA Times, I cancelled my subscription because of their coverage of the writers and every time they call me with a deal to get me back, I tell them why in no uncertain terms they lost me. They actually have the nerve to deny it and calling me a liar is not the way to get my subscription back.
Comment by Confused Now — March 30, 2008 @ 12:58 pm
SHAME on Courtney Cox for producing a show with AFTRA after she made millions on a SAG show!!
Comment by marco — March 30, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
This news will devastate the negotiations with SAG because most SAG members are also AFTRA members. If AFTRA comes to the table and finish negotiations with the AMPTP before SAG starts their talks it will be the DGA all over again.
But, SAG members are not like the WGA members. SAG members will strike for turnip seeds.
Most like me barely work on a regular basis.
SAG will instruct its members to go against the new AFTRA contract and call for a strike. SAG will demand a better deal than the writers did including a DVD increase on top of everybody’s deals. And after Jeffery Zucker just lampooned the 17 day internet promotion window SAG will not be laughing as most of us weren’t either.
SAG will attempt to close that promotional window gap by lets say two days of promotional use.
The AMPTP will never accept these terms and they will walk from the negotiating table.
That would mean hell on earth as we know it.
AFTRA is encroaching on SAG territory/jurisdiction. Late last year I worked as a SAG member on EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS and it was under a joint AFTRA/SAG contract. That’s like a WGA member working on a joint IATSE contract.
I asked my brother who is also a SAG member in New York if SAG leadership recommended a strike would he ratify a strike on their words. His answer was, ”YES, I would strike.”
The only solution I see is that the WGA, DGA, SAG and even AFTRA must work together to bring down the temperature a bit.
Movie stars are not respected by most SAG members like you would think.
Think of it this way, if your cousin won an Oscar and lives in a mansion on the hill and you live in a Kitchenette blow Pico would that not get you to feel your rich cousin’s pain. Even millionaire Hollywood stars and their massive gas-guggling luxury set trailers have to eat too.
Fuck the AMPTP, the union leaders must go directly to the studio heads and network chiefs – yes even Jeff “Shecky Green” Zucker to iron out a deal to avoid a work stoppage.
http://sheckygreene.com/story.htm
Comment by Chris Jackson — March 30, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
“Can’t Take it Anymore” @ 12:20 pm:
Untrue. We’re the viewing public and we support SAG fully.
The public is sick to death of corporate gangster tactics and supports the unions.
As far as the public missing their shows, it doesn’t matter - there’s so little on tv anymore other than reality garbage, or three-peats of shows.
Comment by Viewers supporting untions — March 30, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
IT TAKES A CLOONEY…………
Or a Hanks, or a Cruise to save this union. And now that I’ve calmed down, somewhat, this is what SAG wanted all along, except on THEIR terms. However, after months of meetings and listening to members concerns SAG agreed to negotiate with AFTRA. And now this.
So how does this work exactly. Who decides if Damages or Dirt should be an AFTRA or SAG show? In other words, who is to blame? Is it the network or the producers who ultimately decide if Rules of Engagement will be SAG or AFTRA? Or the biggest joke of all- AFTRA with SAG rates and conditions.
Would Courtney Cox-Arquette have been part of the decision as a producer to go AFTRA? After years of being part of the highest paid and smartest negotiations in television history would she sell her fellow actors down the river to save a few bucks? Or is this decision beyond her? I would think as a producer she would have SOME say in this. As well as Glenn Close in regard to Damages. FX is SO lucky to have an actress of her stature that I would think a word from her could have changed things. Maybe it still could.
Maybe SAG actors could actually join Justine Bateman in her suggestion to not work AFTRA. Certainly the ones that can afford to. Our futures are being tossed away as I type this, and AFTRA is so ready to sign away our futures. I implore the big names here to wield their power and REFUSE to work these productions. For all of us. Then we’ll see some change!
Peggy Lane O’Rourke
Comment by Peggy Lane O'Rourke — March 30, 2008 @ 4:43 pm
This is as petty as it gets. Of course the Bold and Beautiful cast would prefer to be represented by SAG, who the hell wouldn’t? But the network is never, ever going to allow it, so it’s nice to see AFTRA not creating chaos over a transparently phony pretext. Maybe if they stopped this bickering and actually fought for a decent contract, it would solve the problem of desperately fleeing members.
Comment by Muronao — March 30, 2008 @ 5:11 pm
The bizarre thing is people like Peggy O’Rourke spouting nonsense like “AFTRA is so ready to sign away our futures.” WTF?
AFTRA’s working with the same proposals we put together jointly in the W&WC.
A few morons from the looping community want to strike at the expense of the rest of us? Get real…
Comment by not on my watch — March 30, 2008 @ 5:22 pm
When people refer to the public’s lack of tolerance for another stike… It has nothing to do with the TV Viewer’s habits and their support (or lack thereof of their favorite shows). The fact that somebody thinks that is teh issue really shows how out of touch they really are. Its the economic hardships faced by those individuals in the Los Angeles area that are still struggling to overcome the economic effects of the first strike along with soaring gas prices! Those people could care less which side is greedy or responsible they will NOT support another work stoppage that drags the entire LA economy and their financial well-being with it. In fact because of political pressure from all sides plus the division between the two unions, I HIGHLY DOUBT A STRIKE IS EVEN AN OPTION AT THIS POINT! If there is one expect it to be a massive disaster.
Comment by Intrigued — March 30, 2008 @ 5:24 pm
Is this a Napoleon complex on the part of AFTRA? I mean to me SAG is Daniel Day Lewis, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Jackman. AFTRA is…Ryan Seacrest, and bad Soap Opera actors (there are some exceptions, but please). Who needs ‘em then?
Comment by joe — March 30, 2008 @ 5:43 pm
To: Not on my watch
So you’re saying AFTRA ISN’T ready to accept pretty much the same deal the DGA took? It sure won’t be the same deal SAG would try to get.
And I only wish I were in the looping community. I’m a SAG AFTRA AEA member who survived the writers strike solely on residuals from past SAG work.
Peggy Lane O’Rourke
Comment by Peggy Lane O'Rourke — March 30, 2008 @ 6:59 pm
SAG’s leadership and Membership First has failed. They failed to build a comprehensive coalition with their partners in AFTRA and SAG East and the ATA. They have alienated a major portion of the community at a time where unity is key. You can blame AFTRA all you want but the end result is that SAG leadership failed.
How will the SAG membership really feel if there is a call for a strike and their AFTRA brothers and Sisters are working under a new and improved contract?
Tom
Comment by Tom — March 30, 2008 @ 7:03 pm
VDOVault: “So when the writers drew parallels about how their big bosses were looting and pillaging Hollywood at the expense of everyone else just so a few moguls at the top could continue to take home tens of millions of dollars each year, where did you really think the public’s sympathy is going to lie?”
The public’s support is noteworthy. In the WGA strike, they bought some pencils and paid for some skytyping. AMPTP learned something important from the WGA strike. The few among the public that actually care have zero influence. When asked whether they prefer the writers’ position or AMPTP’s, the percentage of the public favoring the writers was as overwhelming as the degree of its passivity.
The public doesn’t care that much about Hollywood problems. They have plenty of their own problems to dwell on. If you take away some of their escapism, they will just do other things.
People might even start reading or exercising more. My God!
I think some of the fanboys out there are praying for a SAG strike. They can’t wait to mingle with their favorite actors on the picket lines.
Comment by Harold — March 30, 2008 @ 8:21 pm
Not On My Watch -
As SAG President Alan Rosenberg just reminded us in his letter to the membership this evening, “AFTRA bargained cable deals at rates lower than SAG minimums and waived residuals. They fully admit this and are now getting backlash from members who are wondering where their residuals went. AFTRA must be accountable for granting these waivers to the contracts we have fought hard to achieve.”
So in practice, who has the actors’ backs and who doesn’t?
Intrigued -
An actors’ strike is most definitely an option. Again from Alan Rosenberg, “Nobody wants a strike, especially after the 100 day WGA strike.” However, it’s the one and only card the actors can play, through their unions, to get a fair contract. Were the unions to pledge to not strike, the AMPTP would have absolutely zero motivation to come to any kind of deal at all. The moguls have to know that we actors, in pursuit of a fair contract - can and will if necessary hit them in the only place they even know how to feel any pain - their bottom line.
As for public support for a strike, it’s up to the actors to make our case the way the writers did. We need to very pro-actively use the Internet to let the general public know what we’re doing and why, and how important their support is to us and how much we value them, as the moguls control the content they stream through mainstream media.
Viewers supporting unions -
Thank you for your support for the actors.
If you’ll allow a difference of opinion, I think there’s some amazing scripted programming on television. We’ve been in something of a renaissance over the past decade or so, and much of the best that television has ever had to offer has been produced post-1995. “Best of” lists in both American and British magazines bear this out, so I know I’m not alone in my opinion.
Comment by mheister — March 30, 2008 @ 9:19 pm
The ’straw’ for AFTRA wasn’t just an SAG NationalBOARD MEMBER institgating raiding/peition activity with a neighbor/member-of-the-cast…..btw, that person was THERE when they all met at SAG.
The ’straw’ was Doug Allen (imagine Rosenberg at his side) refusing to sign the standard NO-Raiding document required by the AFL. HMMM? …..wants to keep his options open?…..ya just never know, the daytimers do well on a regular basis (25 YEARS ON A JOB@#$% - lucky, I would say….))
But Doug gave the AFL…a BIG no-thanks!! A Violation of the cardinal sin in labor…..thou shalt not raid thy neighbors union….and ya gotta guess it’s OK with him….
-
Satursday morning….an appeasing lets-make-nice motion is sent over from SAG….”We won’t take a de-certified AFTRA show for TWO years.”
They so TOTALLY missed the boat. Delete ‘two years’ and write’ ‘EVER’ To do they RIGHT thing, Doug had to write NEVER, EVER.
Small footnote, in between unions, cast of The B&B got nothin’, and in two years, SAG would have had to start from scratch….NOTHING would go forward…..they stuff you don’t like nor the stuff you do.
But NOW, we ALL KNOW who we’re dealin’ with.
He’s supposed to be a good labor leader, we don’t DO that kind sh*t to each other….again, I’m talkin’ busines, not hurt feelings.
SAG must feel like the big dog in the hunt now….UNemcumbered.
That will work for everyone!!!!
Formerly, if SAG-LA didn’t get what it had hoped in co-negotiations — it was AFTRA’s fault, dammit
[That was going to be the scenario this time as well.}
Now, on their own, SAG-LA is totally RESPONSIBLE for the outcome (GOT-ta be a little scary fer em….it’s the first time solo- NO TAR-BABY. all since 1981),
I hope it’s good. (I hope it’s really good [really, That’s real…), But be it a disspointment, one must accept the consequences of how one wanted to conduct the negotiation in the first place….solo.
But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. It will be AFTRA’s fault for cutting their leverage out from under them.
So, dear reader, AFRA is blamed either way. We think it’s better for the world to seen just how they will juggle really rich proposals, to the inevitable end. I’ll audition to be the cheerleader!!
I wish them truly, really good lock, especially since Doug doesn’t know the contract like AFTRA staff does…….But I wish ‘em good luck.
Congrats to the Allens –you got what your board wanted you to go get them….CONTROL of the negotiation, today…….tomorrow the planet!!
And your members will carry you as heros throught the street they call Wilshire.
Or they will experience a betrayal so significant this spring, that Alan will have to wait until Sept for your sentence )(don’t worry, you won’t be alone)…….and Doug, there are so many reason either side of the SAG political divide, well, I can think of think of 3 roads to a Golden Parachute.
How much money has SAG spent in severence packages in the last 10 years? It would be useful to kow.
Again, SAG has wrought ALL of this.
Comment by connie — March 30, 2008 @ 9:41 pm
Well, you’re talking about a weak union (AFTRA) and a strong union (SAG) who somehow have some conflicting jurisdictions. If AFTRA becomes SAG’S butt boy, a lot of AFTRA personnel are out of work. It really comes down to that. Most of these union folks are out of work actors and civilian staff, and maybe one high profile labor guy from outside (Allen/SAG). So it’s a pissing match folks. It’s as much about actors as the current Democratic party pissing match is about us citizens. The fact that SAG let AFTRA in their poolhouse in the first place meant that sometime, down the line, AFTRA would get it’s back so far up against the wall, that they’d pull shit like this, just to survive. They’re a shit union, with shit rates and shit benefits, muscling in on a better union, with better rates and benefits - simple as that. They want to split now so they can get the AMPTP to meet them in a parking lot somewhere and give them more shows. More shows, more power, more power, more money, more money, higher salaries for the union officers, larger staff, better digs, etc. If you organize 20 shows at shit rates, instead of the current 3 or 4, it starts to add up. All of a sudden, you’re in a nicer building. Why? Cause the AMPTP will run to the lowest bidder. Why wouldn’t they? They’re international corporations when you get to the top of the masthead and see the top dog - it’s Sumner-Fucking-Redstone folks, and he couldn’t give a rat’s ass if top of show on “How I Met Your Mother” is suddenly 50% less expensive for the subsidiary of a subsidiary that he owns. He loves it! It’s good business - costs down - profits up! The AMPTP is licking their chops to fuck SAG - they can’t wait! They’ll make a shit deal with AFTRA, tell SAG to go scratch when SAG walks in in June, all swagger and bluff, and ‘ol Sumner, when he gets that conference call from George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts leaning on him to play ball? You know what he’ll say? He’ll say “I’m Sumner Redstone - I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!”
Comment by MrsWakely — March 30, 2008 @ 10:02 pm
Did Reardon really write that statement? The sentence construction reads like some of the Fabriani and Lehane brainwashing we saw during the WGA strike.
Comment by Captain Obvious — March 31, 2008 @ 12:17 am
For all of those claiming this is SAGs fault - uh, were all the horrible contracts AFTRA negotiated SAGs fault also? Keep trying to blame Doug Allen, but AFTRA is a disgrace of a union. They screw actors over every chance they get.
It’s time for all AFTRA actors to go fi-core.
SAG should kick them out of their offices.
There is no reason to take part in this sham of a union.
Comment by Working actor — March 31, 2008 @ 1:03 am
Quoting Harold
“The public’s support is noteworthy. In the WGA strike, they bought some pencils and paid for some skytyping. AMPTP learned something important from the WGA strike. The few among the public that actually care have zero influence. When asked whether they prefer the writers’ position or AMPTP’s, the percentage of the public favoring the writers was as overwhelming as the degree of its passivity”.
Harold the public did a lot more than that, but apparently you wouldn’t know that because it’s clear to me that you only read mainstream media and DHD for your news (and how you came to read DHD is beyond me…you clearly must have heard about it from a MSM source that grudgingly acknowledged the relevance of Nikki’s site).
It’s not your fault Harold, we’re all conditioned to think that way thanks to the corporate owned media that is pushed down out throats 24/7, but you can keep watching the mainstream pablum and verbatim press releases passed off as ‘news’ or you can do a little real work to locate and read real news stories as well as use the same tools we viewers and fans used to get stuff done (and no frankly we didn’t waste our time courting the mainstream press because we knew the moguls weren’t interested in covering what we — their ultimate customers — had to say. They don’t take criticism well at all, even when it’s constructive, and it’s not like they’re hot to share our poor opinions of them with the rest of the world.)
You cannot be blamed for not knowing that we viewers and fans stopped downloading, watching streaming media online and buying DVDs for the duration of the strike (and some people even cancelled their cable or satellite TV because they didn’t want to pay for only reruns and reality shows…not a position I supported because the writers did not dispute their fair payment for reruns, but one that was a blow to the bottom lines of media companies), we called, faxed, emailed and wrote to advertisers to explain to them why they shouldn’t support network websites with advertisements (and how we were going to refrain from buying their products until the writers got paid for all forms of new media)…in the case of S.C. Johnson we got them to pull some of their online ad campaigns.
I could go on about how we showed up to Congressional events and pickets and rallies all over the country (even when there were no famous ‘actors’ there), sent food to the picket lines, donated to the Actors Fund and the WGA’s Industry Support Fund, how we called and targeted the moguls offices (and in the case of Les Moonves got two additional assistants *hired* to deal with the volume of calls) and much more than that but it’s pointless in your case because unless the efforts show up in the mogul-controlled mainstream media to you they don’t count.
Did you know that more than 200 protestors took over the lobby of the Bear Stearns building in NYC on March 26th for an hour and picketed the idea of bailing out Bear Stearns with taxpayer money? Probably not, unless you caught a scant bit of coverage of the event on CNBC…but the story is all over the online financial press and is spreading via word of mouth.
Did you know that there’s going to be a strike/walkout of independent truckers on April 1st to protest high gas prices and also the idea that independent truck drivers are hugely disadvantaged by their corporate counterparts? Or that a lot of ordinary consumers who upon hearing this are supporting them by not going shopping or doing any unnecessary driving on April 1st? Or didn’t NBC, ABC, CBS or Fox tell you about that?
Did you also know that an index of Hollywood stocks is down 22% since the strike began? Hopefully you at least saw that story in the Hollywood Reporter, which is arguably a more mainstream news outlet than most but I find it interesting that some of the same analysts firms we viewers fans & writers contacted to discuss how their media shareholders needed to question the double talk coming out of the moguls boardrooms (when talking to writers, the moguls plead poverty, while when doing presentations for shareholders, the internet was bringing in rivers of cash) did go ahead and downgrade media stocks. And some viewers and fans sold their shares during the strike.
Does anybody want an actor’s strike? I don’t think so. But can most people put up with the vast majority of Americans increasingly making less and less while a tiny minority takes whatever they can for themselves, and the rest of us be damned? Not hardly.
If called upon to do so again and support striking actors we fans and viewers will be there taking concrete action and seeing that the actors get paid while you are clearly riding the bitter bus and mostly relying on the mogul controlled media for your world view. If the MSM deign to wake up and cover what we do, great, but if not we’re still going to do what it takes to keep the talent on our shows and films getting paid enough to ensure our supply of entertainment keeps coming. We can and will entertain ourselves if we have to, but we far prefer to pay professionals to do it for us. The trick is to make sure that they all get paid and that the moguls don’t siphon off the money for themselves.
The sooner you realize that the news that matters to all of us is not appearing in the middle of the crapfest they put on TV (but is all over the Internet and does get discussed around the water coolers and the dinner tables), the sooner you will realize that just like the rest of us are being lied to and manipulated and that you really don’t have to put up with inferior news coverage. Unless you really like subpar journalism, in which case, knock yourself out…there’s plenty of it out there to watch and read.
Comment by VDOVault — March 31, 2008 @ 6:47 am
Maybe the general diminishment of union power in our nation is leading to desperation…
but let’s just say, if you thought the WGA negotiations and strike were horribly managed…wait until you see what the actors perpetrate…
Comment by WGA-er — March 31, 2008 @ 9:37 am
Gee wiz, I wonder who the AMPTP is gonna want to sit down with first???
Really smart move AFTRA.
I can’t wait till I get to vote for leadership again… Your tenure will be short, Roberta.
Comment by K. Henderson — March 31, 2008 @ 10:31 am
Sad really, the writers were united and any problems or complaints were dealt with internally
SAG/AFTRA should learn from this
Comment by dave c — March 31, 2008 @ 11:16 am
VDOVault: You’re a moron. Wow, an index of Hollywood stocks is down 22% since the strike started?! I’m shocked, SHOCKED! The ENTIRE financial market has taken a massive hit since the writers’ strike. What’s your point?
Pull your own head out of the sand and your fingers out of your ears: the public will NOT support another strike of any sort in the entertainment industry, period.
Comment by Can't Take It Anymore — March 31, 2008 @ 1:20 pm
The Aftra president and officers are not elected by the Aftra membership. They are voted up at the Aftra convention.
With regard to major national contracts, Aftra leadership decides each time whether to send it to the membership, or have a vote in member caucuses, in the 5 largest locals.
Lastly, the ATA decision (giving agents financial interest) was not voted on by the Aftra membership in either a caucus or referendum, it was voted on by the Aftra national board.
Comment by Frances Fisher — March 31, 2008 @ 3:20 pm
I’m confused, Nikki:
I’m told from inside AFTRA’s board confab that Reardon “misrepresented the incident to blame Doug Allen for encouraging poaching and raiding even though that’s not the case. Reardon said it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She’s using this as an excuse because she’s wanted to get out of Phase One for the past year.”
That’s too bizarre for words. Reardon and Hedgpeth have been fighting the MeFirsters for a year to keep Phase One in place. They had plenty of opportunity if they wanted to to bail.
Now that the Allens have been caught in the act raiding and won’t back away, except maybe for a while on one show, you want them to say, oh, we bow down to the great Screen Actors Guild?
Impossible.
Comment by Anonymous — March 31, 2008 @ 7:56 pm
@Can’t Take It Anymore
If things are as bad as your name implies, why on Earth are you still hanging out here? I’m just curious.
As for the entire financial market, I’ve been following it for more than a decade at a variety of sites online. The hits taken in the FIRE economy (Finance Insurance and Real Estate) came from the irrational exuberance and malinvestment of money into real estate. I know for a fact that California is on the bleeding edge of a real estate crash that was being predicted as early as 2002 by many online sites. The extremely creative (and often fraudulent) financing of housing is but one cause of a lot of the economic devastation that is currently being acutely felt in California but impacts the whole country.
But that crash’s causes and preliminary effects predate the writers strike. I wish I could say that now that the writers strike is over, the real estate crisis will resolve itself immediately but it won’t because the securitization of that real estate and its repackaging as investments is now also crashing and with it you can expect to see more economic pain (you certainly can’t keep borrowing against the equity in your house when the value of the house is falling and you can’t convince people to invest in securities and exotic instruments that are based upon something that is losing value). So the writers strike didn’t cause any homeowner’s pain, the FIRE moguls did.
The effect on entertainment stock declines is in part due to the writers strike…people got out of their media stocks because they believed that the strike would do some damage to the media companies. And a study released this morning says that prime time ad rates went down while the strike was in progress (you’ll need to register to read the article):
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=79621&art_type=10
“”AS THE WRITERS’ STRIKE CAUSED upheaval early this year, the average cost of a prime-time spot dropped 12%, while even “American Idol” couldn’t prevent a notable slide at Fox.
For the Big Four networks, the average spot in the first quarter–melding prices from the upfront [presold ad spot] and scatter [unsold ad spot] markets–cost $125,634. That’s compared to $142,824 a year ago, accounting for the 12% decrease, according to a new report.
The research comes from independent media agency TargetCast tcm, which culled the data from NetCosts, a service run by SQAD that receives reports on spending from some 390 advertisers and agencies. (SQAD says NetCosts represents 40% of all national TV ad expenditures in the $42.8 billion U.S. market.)
Looking at individual networks in the first quarter, Fox saw its average unit cost drop 9.2% to $237,237. That’s more than double CBS ($112,641); nearly double ABC ($122,509); and more than three times as high as NBC’s $77,893. The figures do include the Super Bowl, which aired Feb. 5 on Fox.
In percentage terms, Fox was down the least in the first quarter versus 2007, followed by ABC at a 9.5% decrease. CBS fell 11.9%, and NBC dropped 24.7%.
With the writers’ strike running through mid-February, networks were left without new episodes of scripted hits, such as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “CSI,” leading to double-digit ratings drops in the first quarter.
Those ratings dips, in turn, led to networks having to dole out makegoods [substitute advertising spots], which caused a spike in scatter [unsold ad spot] prices so severe that marketers opted to shift dollars elsewhere. That prompted a trickle-down effect contributing to the drop in unit pricing, according to TargetCast findings.
“Clearly, the writers’ strike caused uncertainty with viewers and advertisers, which impacted ratings and actual prices paid,” said Gary Carr, senior vice president, director of broadcast services at TargetCast.”
There’s more on how the networks all slightly raised ad rates in Q4 of 2007 but you can read the rest of it for yourself. The bottom line is that the media companies took a financial hit too despite how desperately they want to spin it otherwise.
My point to Harold and to you is that you shouldn’t put as much stock into what the mainstream media choose to tell you and also what stories they choose to ignore covering. If you really want to go on believing that the writers strike accomplished nothing or that the public doesn’t care about what happened or that it had no effect on them, you are free to do so (that mainstream media conditioning is powerful stuff). And while it’s true that the part of the public living in California may be less inclined to support a second strike thanks to the acute economic pain there (which has been building for a long time and has many more causes than an entertainment industry work stoppage), there are a lot of people who can relate to what the actors will be striking for assuming they even have to strike. Which they may not have to…assuming the AMPTP is able to deal with the realization that they have to pay people something for their work. Which is what we’re all still working for even it it doesn’t pan out.
But I still wouldn’t bet the public won’t support what the actors want from their negotiations.
Comment by VDOVault — April 1, 2008 @ 9:29 am
This is simply a culture clash between a moderate group happy to have continued employment working in an expanding market, and a more hard-lined, insulated, and elite older order unhappy with working in their shrinking market. It’s economics - the market has been shifting in the last ten years, and the AMPTP knows where to go to find it.
Comment by Robert Fortend — April 1, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
SAG must really be crushed over the suspension of Phase One. Here’s what Brian Hamilton, moderator of the SAG ACTOR bulletin board, redesigner of the SAG website (with Justine Bateman), and MembershipFirst stalwart had to say about it on his forum:
“… appears to be no chance that AFTRA will begin its talks by the time SAG starts its negotiations April 15. ”
and we will still get the Soaps — starting with Bold and the Beautiful. Let the decimation of the lying poaching scumbag union known as AFTRA begin. Bring it on, mutha-fukkaz!
Classy.
Comment by Anonymous — April 2, 2008 @ 10:43 am
Lets see, in Q1 Fox’s ad revenue dropped 9.2%, ABC 9.5%, CBS fell 11.9%, and NBC dropped 24.7%.
Programming costs of the reruns decreased 100%.
Looks profitable for the networks.
Comment by Sarcastic Cynic — April 3, 2008 @ 10:36 am
This is all really childish and selfish. Both unions have been attacking each other for months now through press releases. This exercise in ego inflation is pointless and serves no one’s interests save those who perceive this as a competition between the two unions with a goal of winning. There is nothing to win here. The focus on representing members (a selfless job) seems to have shifted to petty political games between the heads of each union.
This divisiveness is stupid. Good luck, AFTRA/SAG members - you’re going to need it.
Comment by Eric — April 3, 2008 @ 10:52 am