The author is a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
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Media moguls are raking it in while insisting that actors take a hit, because “the economy is bad.” On Feb. 1, MediaByNumbers.com reported January was a benchmark month for Big Media, with North American grosses at $1.028 billion, compared to January 2008’s $867.2 million. NBC set another record, selling its Super Bowl ads for $201 million.
Normally, the corporate entertainment media splashes these eye-popping numbers across their headlines. But lately, they have been busy focusing on the massive layoffs taking place at the studios, claiming that “greedy” actors and their “unreasonable” negotiating committee are responsible for the loss of work.
One of the issues at the heart of the battle is the residuals for what is called “new media.” Residuals are monies paid to actors for reuse of their work. New media includes the Internet, cell phones, PDAs and other devices where people are now able to view films, TV shows and commercials.
Residuals are the bulk of what actors live on in between jobs. Payments from residuals make up over 50 percent of SAG’s pension and health plan. SAG members won residuals after four strikes in the course of four years, the longest of those strikes lasting three months.
The AMPTP insists that non-union work be a part of SAG’s new media contract and that residuals be slashed. The income for a day player—a working-class actor—for one day’s session and two re-reruns would be cut by 66 percent. Additionally, producers would make no contribution to SAG’s health and pension for this work, as they are required to do now for reruns on network and cable television.
FOX COO Peter Chernin has declared Hulu to be a “replacement for re-runs.” Hulu is an online website co-owned by Fox and NBC that features movies and television shows. The end of residuals would decimate SAG members’ health and pension plans and shatter working-class actors’ ability to make a living.
Companies are posting big increases in new media revenue and promising their investors even more—and they are hell-bent on keeping it all for themselves. Right now, any episode of nearly any show can be viewed on the Internet at any time, bringing in ad revenue while actors get paid nothing for it.
In fact, writers are not getting paid for this reuse either, even though such compensation was part of the agreement that ended the Writers Guild of America’s 100-day strike.
The obstacles for SAG have been many. The writers’ strike had barely ended when ultra-rich stars like George Clooney and Tom Hanks made highly publicized statements proclaiming as anathema any talk of a strike.
Soon after that, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists—SAG’s sister union—broke ranks when it opted to broker its own deal with the AMPTP after the producers walked away from the negotiating table with SAG. Naturally, the bosses used the inferior AFTRA contract as leverage to pressure SAG to sign the same deal.
Contrary to the AMPTP and its media reports, SAG is not the only union in the industry that has not signed a contract. In reality, the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees members has not ratified the contract the AMPTP is trying to shove down its throat.
A particular source of concern has been a provision that would make it impossible for thousands of workers to qualify for health insurance. A worker would need to accrue 400 hours of work every six months to qualify for the health plan.
Although IATSE has never waged a strike, a segment of its members—including some of its national board—are actively campaigning to convince fellow members to vote “no” on the AMPTP-backed contract. To this end, they have employed the use of several Facebook pages as well as a website called www.400hours.com.
During an economic downturn, workers are often afraid to strike—and understandably so. Certainly, there are many within the ranks of SAG who harbor these sentiments. At the same time, there is a strong contingent that is willing to fight. This is evidenced by the results of a postcard poll taken in September 2008, when 87 percent of the 10,000 respondents voted for the leadership to hold out for a better deal and not sign the bosses’ contract.
An ideological battle between groupings within the elected leadership has resulted in a situation where SAG has no strike authorization. The union’s national board and the negotiating team have been recomposed, with a grouping that is opposed to strike talk holding a slim majority in both bodies.
SAG’s president has been barred from speaking on behalf of the Guild. SAG’s national executive director has been replaced by David White, SAG’s former general counsel. White was originally hired by then-National Executive Director Bob Pisano, who is the current head of the Motion Picture Association of America and acts mostly on behalf of the AMPTP.
As the battle for control of the negotiating table unfolds, one thing is certain: Until the rank and file enters the fray, prepared to fight to keep the gains made by our predecessors over decades of struggle, the bosses will continue to encroach on our lives and push thousands of us out of jobs, homes and health benefits. The entertainment industry is no exception to the attack on workers everywhere.
