Actors, Generally, Hate Taxes

It’s not just the paying-money aspect, it’s the tedium…

It’s a different part of the brain, acting and record keeping, numbers. Personally, the thought of doing that kind of task gives me real chills. It’s like chalk on a blackboard; can’t stand the idea of it, let alone do it! But, we all have to.

I have some tips for ways to make it easier on actors. I’ll put that down at the bottom of the post.  First, I’ll put the itemized deductions allowed, and some dangerous areas to avoid.

IRS and Deadly Audits

Why is getting audited so bad?

Well, I know an actress-friend who got audited one year, for declaring too many deductions, or ones from the “red-flag” area… She’s such an organized person, and had kept meticulous records.  But once audited, she was filling out and writing down for weeks, it seemed, and looking for receipts from other people even!  (That’s how I found out about her audit: she was calling everyone she knew asking if they happened to have a blank date book from the prior year! And restaurant receipts that they don’t need! She was trying to avoid a very big bill and additional penalties from the IRS.  Also, she had to hire someone to go with her and defend her at the audit; and they made her come back, with more evidence that they requested.

Subsequently, year after year, she got audited again and again.  She was certain she was on a kind of IRS list…

So if you dread doing taxes and think they are bad now, it is an absolute nightmare to be audited.

There are some myths, and some ‘good’ deductions. (Meaning that the IRS doesn’t give them a second look.)

Then there are those that call attention to you, and you can get by with deducting them, if done correctly. It’s up to you to take the chance.  Most likely, when you really see how much your deductions amount to in this area…that amount that you will save or get returned, probably isn’t worth risking an audit.

Actors Allowable Deductions, and The Particulars of Certain Ones

Click here for a list. But, know these few things:

Absolute yes, total amounts, are all agent and manager fees. Rentals of studios. Supplies such as headshots, postcards, postage for mailings of them, reels, etc.

But, overall, if something seems like a deduction that is too good to be true, it is. I suggest that it is best NOT to take those types as deductions.  The IRS isn’t new to actors-doing-taxes, even if you are.

Clothes, as far as tailoring, and drycleaning; are deductions.  Buying clothes, not.

When I first started, I was told there was a category called “Beauty and Glamour Deductions”. NOT.

Absolute NO’s, Except In Special Circumstances:

Makeup, unless you hired a makeup artist for your headshots, or unless it is stage makeup and cannot be worn in the street.  (Example: Blasco.) Even then, don’t overdo.  Minimal expense, because declaring makeup is a “red flag”. Don’t even consider deducting hair gels, hair brushes, etc.

Certainly not mani-pedicures.  Not even haircuts or haircoloring.  That can only be in very special instances, such as for a character role that  you are hired for, and you can try to get away with it once for an audition that you changed your color for, but–uh why?  I think  it’s loopy to change your color for an audition, anyway.  And it can’t save you that much, in exchange for red-flagging yourself.)

Costumes. No: jeans that you pay $250 for and claim to wear only to auditions are not allowable. No regular-wear clothes are, altogether. Not even your business suit that you really don’t need nor wear, except for auditions, in truth. The IRS doesn’t care.  Clothes that are truly costumes do count, such as doctor scrubs, period clothing…

Gas mileage deducting is like saying “Hey Target me, IRS”.  Unless you want to keep records everyday, for an entire year.  That means you must check your mileage at the start of the year, and every time you do something for business, you need to write down the mileage.  You can’t go anywhere else, from that specific trip you are declaring,  because if you do, you need to make sure you don’t include that too. Now, this isn’t regular record-keeping, as I suggest below, which should take almost no-time, daily, at home.  This is record-keeping from the car; and it involves lots more records; and regular, specific details.

A group called ‘Actors Tax Prep’ thinks that it is a good idea, if you can keep the records.  Especially, in Los Angeles, because actors cover a lot of ground and use a lot of gas.  It appears to be almost fifty cents per mile that you can take off.  (I think they think it’s a good idea, because they are accountants.)

Here’s an excerpt from what they say.  (I, myself,  could never do this. For a few years I made a New Year’s Resolution that I would, and then I had a few auditions where I was obsessing about them on the way  home, and neglected to write them down and look at the mileage.  Gave up everytime, and then simply let myself off the hook. That doesn’t mean you can’t. I guess…)

For most actors, especially those based in LA, your car is a major source of expense and at the same time, a major source of tax deductions.

To qualify your mileage as a deduction, you MUST have good records. We have found, in almost every case, that the Mileage Method of determining your deduction works best.

You don’t have to have receipts for automotive expenditures, but you do have to have–you guessed it–good records.

This means keeping a mileage log–and although it’s a pain, it will dramatically increase your possible deduction, because you won’t overlook miles driven for business–and you will have all necessary records if required to produce them.

Let’s start with what is not deductible–commuting miles and personal miles. So driving back and forth to your day job is not deductible–but going from you day job to an audition is. So is almost any trip you take to get work. That includes auditions, call-backs, casting visits, trips to acting classes, to agents and managers, to the post office to mail submissions, etc., etc.

At this year’s rate of $0.485 a mile, that adds up quickly.

You will also need to know total mileage for the year. Make an odometer note in early January, and another in late December, or find a mechanic’s receipt that lists mileage from those two times.

Mileage is an important component of any actors deductions, and especially so in an area of such wide geography as LA.

 

Entertainment expenses count as another big “red flag”. If you think you can have a glamorous nightlife, on the IRS’s dime, then you’re high right now. You can take off taking out your agent, to lunch. (But if you are a worthy client, your agent will take you, and the agency will reimbuse him or her. I don’t remember a time where an agent ever let me pay.)

Maybe you have a manager, and you haven’t made money for them yet, and you want to keep up the relationship and/or talk about how you can play a certain type that he may not be aware of, or you just haven’t gotten any appointments, or similar.  You offer to take them out to lunch or dinner.  That is deductible, but only half. You can deduct 50% of the bill, not the entire bill. If you go overboard, you will get audited.

The Fifty-Percent Allowed Rule

• Entertainment Expenses
• Cable and Satellite Television
• Movie and Theatre-going expenses

As a matter of fact, your deductions, in total,  shouldn’t be more than 50% of your total income. 

Receipts and Ledgers, A Quickie Lesson For Actors

It’s fairly easy to keep all that  you need, and to even do it in an organized fashion that can save you the end-of-year time and dread:

Go out to Staples and buy a box of white letter envelopes, in business size. (That’s just longer than a regular size). Keep them in the box. Label each envelope with a deduction item. Put a notebook in the box also, to denote each receipt that you put in the envelopes, as  you file them. And the reason for such. 

You will be doing this everyday that you have done an activity that involves an itemized deduction. When you come home at the end of the day, every day, you will put your receipts directly in their particular envelope. You will then write in the ledger the date, the deduction category, what it was for, etc.

Keep your receipts and a notebook of any kind, all together, in an easily-accessible  place in your home.  (Very easily accessible, I mean.  Because if you can’t get right to it, then you will put it off…)

Keep a ziplock in your bag or backpack, if you can, with some post-its.  That is, unless you have room to write them down, and you carry them in your datebook. If you don’t carry a bag or book everywhere you go, after work hours, then keep a designated pocket just for this stuff… It’s important that nothing gets lost; so if you forget one day, or sleep at your new love-interest’s , etc, you will be able to still come home and easily locate the receipt, and the post-it will remind you what it’s for, in case falling in love just obliterated your memory of everything else…etc.

The consistency and discipline of regular record keeping, was what I found the most challenging.  Actors lives are not routine, yet this is a routine that is required.  Every year, I found myself separating into bitty little piles that became big piles, and then toppled over into other piles. And every calculator total seemed to vary upon second add-up, of piles. Meticulously, I would do it again, and again.  It would take days, weeks. Stupidly, I would apply for “extensions”, which only meant more dread. Later dread.

But, I saw a friend do it, successfully, every year, with no dread. And tax time was a breeze for her. She just added up one envelope at a time, wrote it on her tax form, and on the outside of the envelope, and sealed them. Then sealed her tax forms in the main envelope, and she was done.

Look at it this way…when you get to be very successful, you can hand over all your receipts to a business manager, and they will do all this tedium for you.

…(Frankly, I don’t suggest that either.)

Best, 
;~Dana

The public thinks one-of-two-things about what acting professionals earn:

1. Actors make millions.  Actors are rich…20 mill, per movie.

                                             **OR**

2. You’d have to be a nut to choose acting as a career. Ever hear: ’starving actor’?

 

Many actors think this about their chosen career’s earning promise:

“I don’t care. I don’t even want to hear about money. I just want to w—o–u–u–r-r-k!

 

Before you see the video below, I’d like to bring up some things.

Below, is Frances Fisher (‘Unforgiven’, ‘Titanic’, ‘The Shield’) busting the actor salary myth.  I filmed her at the SAG Actor Rally at CBS, Los Angeles, on March 18.

The topic of money makes most actors change the subject.

It may be because the creativity section of the brain is far away from the portion that deals with nuts-and-bolts stuff.  Like money stuff.  (Remember when I said that “actors are different”, like a different breed? Especially from those that are the “money-people” in our culture?  Well, it is biologically true, in a sense.)

Another explanation can be that when you choose a goal, such as an acting career; because an overriding passion propels you, it isn’t a choice that is based on logic. Or sense. Not anything to do with dollars and cents.

Professional acting careers are so difficult to create, that denial almost seems necessary.  Do actors fear that logic, and dollars-and-cents, will create too strong of a rationale against pursuing the dream? A creative career?  

I can tell you it isn’t so. Learning about the money; taking care, in advance, of the money aspect of your acting career, as much as you can…

…Will actually assist you in support of your professional acting career. It will relieve your nerves and some of that natural actor anxiety.

Preparing for your future is always a solid way to go about getting there.

For many actors, choosing acting isn’t a conscious choice at all.

For me, it wasn’t a choice in any way.  When I started acting, there was just nothing else I would’ve done. Could’ve done.

I’ve always said: It chose me.

That’s right, acting chose me.  I don’t know if that is true for all actors, but I have talked about this, over the years with other actors. For many it is the same.

It is not a decision.  More like a recognition of a “calling”.

It also feels good, this recognition.  And it feels great to go and get it, to make your acting career happen.

Part of being a professional, though, involves being paid.  The definition of ‘professional’ means to be paid.

Deny, or  not; money is part of the whole package.

You may not want to read on.  I would like to ease you all into being a little more aware about money, and actors salaries.  In the long run, I think you all will be grateful that I did.  I know that my vantage point, as an actor, is very different from most of yours.  

Additionally, I  do ask that you show up at the Actor Rallies.  (No, it will not hurt you in your acting career, there are far more famous faces that will be noticed, and remembered there, if that is what is stopping you.) I will post some information about the rallies, as they are announced.  You, then, can be responsible for the outcome of your future.  

(It won’t all take care of itself, once you get work.  Go to the rallies, so you can take care of it now, for later. )

You don’t have to be in SAG to attend an Actor’s Rally.  You’ll learn a lot, just by hanging out with the 100 or so other actors that will be marching and hanging with you. They are always talking “Actor Talk”, and sharing professional-level information there…

The more you are involved in the security of your future, the more secure you will feel, as you pursue your career.  That means, that you will be more solid when you go to get auditions, agents, etc.  

You can make your career.  That’s in your ability. If you get involved, now, about how you will be paid in the future, then you are making a commitment that you are going to have a future, in this business.

It says, to yourself, and to the universe, that your connection, sense of responsibility, and commitment to your professional acting career is so solid, that you know there will be a future for you as an acting professional.

I am telling you, that I know that’s how acting careers happen. It was always those actors, that had that kind of commitment, that succeeded.  I can name names, but I won’t right now. (Later on, when I get into specific career-path stories + examples…)

“Household names”, as these actors are now known; but way back when, they had a clear level of commitment that set them apart, from the other actors that were also starting out at the same time.

I am not saying that they all had a clear idea of the dollars-and-cents of acting.  No, but they all had iron-clad commitment.  

And the dollars-and-cents stuff is what is current, right now, in the business.  At conflict.  So take a step now, and involve yourself, so you can be more secure later.

If you think you love this business now, and then you do start to get a career going, but you can’t make enough to stay in it…even after you get working a lot…well, at that point, it really will be a hopeless career.  Monetarily.

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Stay in touch.

Follow me on Twitter.  To sign up there, all  you need to give is a name and email. Here’s a link to sign up: Twitter.

Then, click here to get to my page there, so you can be a part of the actor clan I have going there…almost 1200 people, as of today! 

I post all kinds of actor notices and news to my people on Twitter, including when I  post a new blog piece.  

I converse with people there too.  In real time.

Keep the faith,

:~Dana

I sincerely say:  If you find this blog worthwhile, then you can give value back, to me, by telling at least 3 friends about this blog.  This weekend. 

I really only want to do this, and spend all this effort and time, if this is reaching a lot of actors.  And, that’s just the truth.  

I am saving quite a bit of the best information and experience, for when we get a large community going.

Would you please do your part to make that happen?

WARNING-NOT FOR THOSE UNDER 18

It  contains, what some consider, offensive language.  If you are under 18, don’t watch.  (This is a family-usable site!)

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Now … all my readers…ESPECIALLY ACTORS…

There are rules on a film set that everyone follows. For good reason.

I am not sure why the Director-of-Photography  was doing what he was, when he was; on the film set where Christian Bale had such a spectacular meltdown.  

Because, for anyone who has ever worked on a film, uh.  What the DP did is just not common, on-the-set, behavior.  As established, and carried out, on any movie or television set, that I’ve ever been.

….For  more  about common on-set rules and ettiquette, go to the following Hollywood Actor Prep post, The Best Way An Actor Can Act…(link)….

Now.  I know that Christian Bale’s rant is being passed around the globe; and everyone and their mama, is commenting, and judging.

I will only say that if you don’t know the rules and ettiquette that are followed on a film set, then it is good that you read this blog.

Because I have talked about it here, and will continue to post about it.

It’s very important, because these unspoken rules are followed by all professionals…

There are good reasons for the (unspoken) “film set rules”.

If you break them, it’s not bad  because you may cause a leading man to curse you out.

No.

The “rules of a film set” exist so that the movie can get made. Period.

And, so that everybody can do their job. And do it well.  Without  interference, distraction, or interruption.

Often, there’s a tremendous amount of pressure and stress on a movie set.

Expect, for example, long hours (sometimes 16 or 17 hour days)

• tight schedule
• technical glitches and problems 
• environmental problems
• re-shoots and mistakes
• health issues that interfere or compromise
• script changes
• budget problems
• unexpected, unexpected, unexpected (zillions of possibilities)

There’s stuff that the public can’t understand. And, you will only know about it, when you work and experience it. 

Sometimes, working on a film, is back-breaking-ly-hard.

For example, for scenes that are shot at night: the whole schedule gets suddenly changed.  Flipped. You may work that week, each and every night, from 5PM to 5AM. This happens when the prior week was all-day-shooting. With overtime.

Movie schedules, in general, are exhausting.  No matter what the budget.  There are often problems with “fitting everything in” to the time allotted.

You’ve heard the phrase: “Time is money”??   Well, time, on a film set, it costs a fortune.

…So, let’s just say that you are suddenly doing night shooting, after some time of  working a daytime schedule.  

(BTW, everyone on the set, is struggling through this flipped around schedule.)

And then, all together, you all…”go into overtime”.  (Yes, thanks to SAG, everyone gets paid more for the “overtime…but, that doesn’t help the strain, at the time)

As the hours go by, it gets more and more exhausting.
Now, you are working 17 hour nights, shooting until, past dawn…
And, perhaps, during the daytime, you have a hard time getting a full eight hours of sleep…

Maybe this night shoot is outdoors,  and it’s freezing cold.  But, in the scene, it’s not supposed to be…so there’s no jackets.
Or it’s really humid and hot, and the mosquitoes are biting at your ankle,  in the middle of your love scene.

Or your co-star may be drunk.  Or keeps changing the lines and, therefore, changing the scenes…

“Film Is Forever”***

This is one of the most important things I can share with you.

No matter how you feel or what is going on around you…

(…your personal relationships, your relationships on-set with the cast and crew, your relationships off-set with the cast and crew, or your trainer, or your agent, or whomever or whatever…)

That stuff will all disappear into your memory—but what goes on that film will last forever.

You need to make sure, as all kinds of things go on around you, before during and after each shoot, on set and off-set…

…that…what goes on that film is done to the best of your ability.

And that you are totally present, aware, and not distracted.  No matter what.

Not only is your career, your future,  and your professional reputation, dependent on that; but so is the success of the film.

…And the effectiveness of the story in the script.

…The other actors’ performances are depending on yours, as well. It’s all teamwork.   

I say it again, film sets are all teamwork.

Everyone must do their part to make sure they are doing everything they can to their own personal and professional best; as well as doing eveything possible to support the synergistic cast, and crew, in doing theirs.

That’s how trust is built.  The amount of trust on a movie set, is in direct correlation to how successful the finish product appears.  It’s holistic.

A set…where there’s war, or chaos…makes a stinker movie, in the end.

It’s all just too hard, like that.  There are 100’s of people that make a movie.  It’s all gotta work together.

Movie stars bear the blame, when a movie ends up a stinker.

All actors do.

I don’t know if you follow me on Twitter (and if you don’t, you are missing out, because I post a lot of little news items and pertinent stuff in my twitter tweets, so here’s a link) …but if you do, you’ll know that I pass around questions.  One question I asked was if anyone knows what a producer does??  I’ll post the answers in the next few days…(even have a funny response, from Michael Bay, a-hem)

Producers, directors, they may accept the Oscars, when their movie wins a “Best Picture” award…

But it’s the actors that get the public blame when a movie tanks.

And, it’s the films’ lead actors, the stars of the movie, that take the career hit.  Because the movie stunk.  

The acting might be good, but if the movie doesn’t sell tickets, the stars’ careers get affected.  

Sometimes, stars lose their careers, soon after a bad movie opens.  Completely.

As I said, I have no comment on what Christian Bale did.

(I’m not big on ‘judging’.)  

I do know that anger is a normal human emotion.  

As actors, we need to be comfortable with all authentic emotion, the gamut.

Even the uncomfortable ones, the less socially acceptable ones.

Anger is something that you must be sure you are comfortable with. Hearing, and expressing.

Because as an actor, you’ll be called upon to play it.  (In a script.)

It’s best, to be at a point, where you even enjoy it.

Wanna start now?

Shall we dance?  

___REMOVED VIDEO OUT OF RESPECT FOR CHRISTIAN BALE, ESPECIALLY SINCE WE ALL HEARD IT WAY TOO MUCH. Originally, I put the music remix up, because I simply thought it was funny. That was before I saw just how serious people took Bale’s outburst.  My own reaction was not as extreme, perhaps because I live in Hollywood!!

Update: I forgot to give proper credit to the artist who made the Christian Bale remix!  His name is Revolucian (Lucian Piane) and, by clicking on his name, you’ll reach his MySpace page…he’s about to mix RuPaul’s new jam.

(I have an additional update that will be coming up, in the next post…It’s also about actor, Christian Bale…)

Best,

;-Dana

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And thanks, especially to the ones that have been spreading the word, about this blog… and Twitter…(where I’m   __dana__  )

My Advice To Actors Hasn’t Changed, Nor Has Any News About A Strike Authorization:

When you see “SAG news” in the press, ignore it.

It’s not news.

At SAG, they must be so busy, just trying to combat all the false reporting.

The good part of this is, for me, is that I felt the press was representing SAG, and it’s actors, as overly-dramatic and off-center. And that’s not all…

And, I thought that they were doing that, not only out of ignorance to a culturally-accepted bias; but because they needed to make some drama, in order to have material to publish.

They pulled us down, but not only do they look overly-dramatic and off-center, too…

But they look absolutely unprofessional, amateurish, and incompetent.

Really, how much can they continue to make up?

This Is How Real This False News Appears On Google, As It Does In The Papers It Is Published

It ISN’T!

On Google::Non-SAG-News

Here’s SAG’s Press Release Regarding This Latest, Just-In, False News

SAG Statement Correcting an Erroneous Wire Service Report

Screen Actors Guild has taken no action to suspend the national board of directors’ October 19 resolution regarding the strike authorization referendum.

National Executive Director Doug Allen has proposed to the national board that the strike authorization referendum be suspended and that management’s offer be put to the membership in a ratification vote after meeting with the AMPTP to determine to what extent, if any, they are willing to improve their last offer, to maximize its chances for ratification.

The National Board has not yet acted on NED Allen’s proposal.

SAG’s national board of directors has not suspended the strike authorization referendum and the board’s October 19 resolution is the last national board decision on this matter.

This Hollywood Actor Prep Cheat Sheet lists only the 2009 Academy Award Nominees, in the Acting Categories.

Doesn’t everyone always talk about the “Best Acting” categories, primarily??

Or only??

I mean, everyone, everywhere.

Okay. Also, they talk about the “Best Picture Nominees”. Right?

Then, the other categories

…Maybe.

I’ve found…that is, to your average American ticket-buyer…the acting and best picture categories ARE their whole definition of “the movies”, when it comes to the Oscars.

Most movie-goers are in the dark …about what directors do…

And, about what producers do, fugedabowdit …total mystery. Like invisible… Right?

People watch the Oscars for the categories they are rooting for, the ones that they care about. It’s emotional…If they cared, while watching the movie; then they “care” during the Academy Awards. A–lot.

Acting + Best Picture: There are no other Oscar categories, to most.

Scientifically, I can prove it.

Monitor your own plumbing, during the Academy Awards television broadcast.

I’ll wager that almost no toilets are flushed, in any bathroom, in the entire USA…

…on February 22nd 2009..

…during the announcing of Oscar wins for any acting category, or best picture.

Okay.

The brilliant acting performances of this year….

The nominated actors are in alphabetical order, and not in order of my own favorites.

(…Come back to Hollywood Actor Prep this this weekend, for that…)

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

ACADEMY AWARD ACTING NOMINEES 2009

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
Kate Winslet in “The Reader”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Amy Adams in “Doubt”
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis in “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”
Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn in “Milk”
Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Josh Brolin in “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”

Please share the Hollywood Actor Prep Blog with your friends, especially those who are actors.

Please put this blog on your Facebook and MySpace Pages. (*Thanks to those who already have!)

And wanna follow me, on Twitter? I “tweet” there, to announce new blog posts; and to communicate news that pertains to actors, in real time…On Twitter, I am __dana__.

;Best,

Dana

You want it? Take action, then.

Kevin Spacey wanted to act in a play, in New York. He wasn’t, yet, a “known” actor; he couldn’t get an audition.

He did have agents, and they couldn’t get him an audition. He had a manager, and, she neither.

Eventually, Kevin Spacey did get the role in the play. How?

Accept limitations, and don’t work.

Don’t accept limitations, and do.

‘Nuff said.

Best,

;Dana

Please share on Facebook and other social sites. Thank you.

Follow me on Twitter. User name is __dana__ .

Better news for all actors: Now a win-win-win situation?

New SAG Plan: instead of putting out a “strike authorization”, for the professional actors, of SAG to vote on…they are sending out something different…an AMPTP contract authorization. Directly, to the SAG members, to see it for themselves, and to vote on whether to accept it or not.

What IS the AMPTP CONTRACT, actually?? Well, it states the “bottom line” level, (the lowest pay scale) that they are proposing: to pay for acting…now and in the future.

(….What they are ‘offering’ is “bupkus”…)

It’s not much different, now, it’s just a direct choice for actors, instead of the representative leadership.

(This is according to Nikki Finke’s column: ‘Deadline Hollywood’ and if you really want the skinny on the underhanded moves of the AMPTP during this, and during the prior Writer’s Strike (WGA), she’s the one with the real goods, and the guts…)

Alan Rosenberg

The SAG Strike would’ve been about whether or not to accept the same contract.

If the SAG strike is what is causing such terror and public uproar, then…

My own vote, on this changed-SAG-vote, is that it’s brilliant!

So much wasted energy, and actor leverage/actor-power has been spent on internal arguing and blaming. Blaming the people that are available and safe to be blamed. (Can’t bite the hand that feeds, right?)

Ridiculous, I have always thought…for actors to blame the Alan/Allen leaders of SAG.

(BTW…SAG Leadership didn’t compose the AMPTP CONTRACT ! That was created by the hands that won’t feed you, Actors. Those that think you will do anything for a job, and actually…besides not paying you for your work, the AMPTP contract —the new “final” contract, according to the Producers/Movie Studios side—literally takes away meal breaks. While working. So, under the new terms, not only will you not be able to afford food, to eat at home…you won’t even get a food break on a 10 hour day, on the job. Is it okay, with you, not to eat? Dieting, aside, I do mean.

It’s called “French Hours” by the way, having no set meal-breaks. You just nibble when you can, if there’s time. Apparently, they film that way in France…Fine, I’d agree to it, here, if they’d start serving fine French food on movie sets.

You know what would really win me over?? If the AMPTP started to give actors a teeny tiny bit of the honor that France gives to their actors, and artists of all kinds. Or how about just a bit of respect. (Even a false showing, that would be better than anything I’ve seen yet. )

Oh, and if they create a national, official government office called “Ministry Of The Arts”–Just as they have in France…

Ahhh, oui, I digress. I rannnntttt.)

I do think that SAG’s new tact is a great turn of events. Let all the actors read over exactly what they won’t have. Let them see who the real boogeyman is. Let all see the real numbers..I mean, the real money offered. And who is not willing to spread it around, to those who they even call: “the Talent”.

Doug Allen

…Some actors may not ‘get’ how this all applies to them, at all…

And I urge you, all, to-think-as-successful-working-actors. And if you are not one, now, then think “as-if”.

(Because I know that part of this conflict has to do with all different economic levels of actors, all trying to agree on the same contractual items, and they all mean different things to different actors

Example: For an actor who has never worked, the $28 dollars that the AMPTP is offering for per-show (with no residuals for any re-play)…well, that may seem great to a young actor who has never had a paying job. Or who has spent a year, breaking their back, suffering indignities, and maybe doing “background”/extra work, so as to get their “3 jobs” so they could qualify for eligibility for a SAG card…)

To them, a real job, any job, feels like reward enough.**

It’s not.

I’ve been on both ends of the acting career spectrum.

And all in-between….Trust my words: time keeps moving. And so does your acting career, with the right amount of determination. You can get acting work, with the right amount of skill, determination, and intelligent focus. Yes, you can, and you will, then.

And…if and when you make that happen… you will want to earn a living, and even live well…you will want payment, adequate, just payment…for your work. For your talent. As an actor.

It’s hard work.

Almost certainly, you will still love it.

And…because you will be eating, too; you will be glad you did.

Best,

:Dana

Here’s recent excepts from SAG’s website:

Subject: Message from Doug Allen, SAG National Executive Director

January 14, 2009

Dear SAG National Board Members and Alternates,

Because the executive session of our recent extraordinary National Board meeting occurred without my presence in the room, I want to directly communicate several points to all board members and alternates.

I began and ended my report to the National Board on January 12 by stating that I have followed and always will follow the directives of the National Board expressed by a unanimous or majority vote. Under my leadership all SAG staff has complied and will comply with those directives as well. I also said that I am by SAG constitution and by employment contract accountable to the board for my performance.

I welcome your review of that performance and respectfully request only that, in the interest of fairness, such review include the opportunity for me to discuss with the board any comments, questions or issues you wish to raise, not in lieu of executive session discussion, but prior to such discussion.

It is unfortunate that the important matters contained in the National Board meeting ag enda were not accomplished at the meeting January 12 and 13. I know that opinions vary sharply on why that happened. From my perspective, to the extent AMPTP positions or actions are the problem, the solution cannot be determined by how intensely you fight among yourselves.

Regarding the TV/Theatrical negotiations, and the sharply divided opinions on the board about how to proceed, I offered the following suggestion to a cross section of Guild leaders during the period of the executive session. I asked that they discuss the suggestion with other board members in attendance. I proposed that the strike authorization referendum be suspended and that management’s offer be put to the membership in a ratification vote. I also proposed that, before that membership ratification vote, we meet immediately with the AMPTP to determine to what extent, if any, they are willing to improve their last offer, to maximize its chances for ratification. I further proposed that the offer then be sent to the members with Pro and Con statements from National Board members and that otherwise the Guild would remain neutral during any member debate regarding ratification. This process will give Screen Actors Guild members the opportunity to formally express themselves on the bargaining issues.

This suggestion was communicated to some, but not all board members in attendance, and apparently was rejected by some who heard it, at least in part, because they believe I could not be “trusted” to implement it. Since I am the one proposing it and since I have never acted contrary to the directives of the National Board, that is not a reasonable objection. In any case, if it is the decision of the National Board to proceed as I have proposed, I assure you that the staff and I will carry out your decision faithfully and diligently.

I will convene an Officers’ call this week to discuss this suggestion and how it might be considered and implemented. I encourage all board members to discuss these issues with the Guild officers or with me in advance of the call.

There are no more important issues before us than the conclusion of the TV/Theatrical Contract negotiations and the initiation of the Commercial Contract negotiations. Super-heated rhetoric through the press will not contribute to our success on behalf of the members. Working together to resolve your differences will.

Doug Allen

Two days before, Alan Rosenberg sent out this to the SAG board members:

Los Angeles, (January 13, 2009) — SAG National President Alan Rosenberg sent the following message to Screen Actors Guild national board members and alternates today:

“At the end of the National Board plenary meeting this afternoon, a group of board members submitted a document to the Guild that purports to deal with the employment of the National Executive Director and the continuing approach to negotiations. After analyzing the document, Screen Actors Guild’s in-house and outside counsel have concluded that the document does not constitute a valid written assent, for several reasons, including a lack of sufficient signatures and the absence of any language on the document demonstrating the intent of the signers to grant their assent to the proposal. Guild National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Doug Allen and the National Television and Theatrical Contract Negotiating Committee remain committed to advancing the cause of actors and our crucial contract negotiations.”

No substantive actions were taken by the Guild’s national board, which met at SAG’s national headquarters January 12 and 13 for almost 30 hours straight.

No mailing date has been set for the previously approved TV/Theatrical strike authorization referendum.

We have no further comment.

ABOUT SAG, FROM THEIR WEBSITE;
Screen Actors Guild is the nation’s largest labor union representing working actors. Established in 1933, SAG has a rich history in the American labor movement, from standing up to studios to break long-term engagement contracts in the 1940s to fighting for artists’ rights amid the digital revolution sweeping the entertainment industry in the 21st century. With 20 branches nationwide, SAG represents over 120,000 actors who work in film and digital television, industrials, commercials, video games, music videos and all other new media formats. The Guild exists to enhance actors’ working conditions, compensation and benefits and to be a powerful, unified voice on behalf of artists’ rights. SAG is a proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Headquartered in Los Angeles, you can visit SAG online at www.sag.org.

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How Casting Directors Cast Actors

Watch this audition-on-tape.   It’s Ellen Page and Michael Cera auditioning for “Juno”.

If you ask a casting director, they’ll tell you that actors get awarded roles when they ARE the character.

Now, that may mean:

#1. The actor is so clearly the specific type they are looking for, and so ‘right on the mark’ on how they (casting people + producers + director) envision the character from the script…  that the person in the auditioning room is really just like the person in the script, in real life.

Everyday, every minute, the actor really ‘IS THAT CHARACTER’.

#2. Or it could mean that the actor is  close in ‘type’…but is such a ‘good actor’, that the casting person believes that the actor, during the audition, ‘IS THAT CHARACTER’.

Even if in the car, on the way home, the actor is not the same, at all.  Or, is similar in some ways, in “real life” (as Matt Dillon used to say…)

I prefer #2, myself.

Often, if the actor that is auditioning, really IS that person in life, they may not be able ‘to act’.  Which means that the movie or play will suck.  Why? Well, the simplified answer is that he or she won’t be able to deliver all the different emotions or facets that may be called for, in the script, or scenes.

The longer answer is that, in the finished production, there won’t be any art to the acting.  Nor in the movie, nor in the play, at all. There won’t be anything worth watching.

 (Unless we are talking “documentary”, of course.)

All Actors Use Pieces Of Themselves In Creating Characters.  

There is far too much competition in the acting profession, to try to play something that is so far away from your actual type…It’s just too easy for casting people to find, and cast  an actor who fits what is described in the script, and on the “casting breakdowns”….to play the part.  

#3. It is nearly impossible, without a tremendous amount of acting talent, acting skill, and acting craft, for an actor to “play himself or herself”.

Whaaa??

Yep.

That’s why I blow-a-gasket when people ask me why acting class is necessary.

It’s foolish to assume that “anyone can act”.  Yes, talent is something that is innate.  Using that talent, and having control over the talent…control enough to carry out what is required in a script, takes development. Takes dedication.

Great acting is a blend of the two: talent and developed acting craft.  

You don’t want to be just an adequate actor, do you?  Even to be able to give what is required, in a script, is extremely difficult.  To make it come-to-life, is rare.  It is very high-level acting.

To make acting seamless, well, that’s what wins awards.  (That is, if the judges are smart enough to know that it really is acting.)

Great acting fools experts.  It should.

It fools the viewer, too; unconsciously. How?  When they get wrapped up in the story/the movie/the play….when they stop looking at the effects, the acting, the whatever….when they go from being on “the outside”, to experiencing from within:  within the story, within themselves.

It’s what I call “the great acting paradox”.

Great Acting Is When The Audience Doesn’t See The Acting

Really good, strong, advanced acting is hard to tell if the actor is “playing him/herself” or “acting”.

Excellent acting is imperceptible.

Now, you know. And, you know something now, about acting, that most people will never know.  It is a rare jewel. Keep it sacred, because it is.  And use it well.

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And, I ask that you spread the word about Hollywood Actor Prep. That will make our ’cause’ stronger, we can mobilize all actors that way. We can really make things better for actors, together…

Still, she became ‘Greta Garbo’, even with the messy hair.  See, all that stuff we always think is so important…I bet she was thinking “This is going to destroy my opportunity”.  It didn’t .  

Little things rarely blow an audition.  It’s how we let them affect us, that’s what does it.

Sometimes, it works out great anyway.  Look at Ms. Garbo, she is nervous as can be.  Sensitive, and uncomfortable.  

Didn’t matter.

Jump in the game.  

Full on. 

Take the Hollywood Actor Prep 2009 Challenge.

Make your goals whatever you want.

Time is not infinite.  Do it now.  (Your best.)

My best,

; Dana

Rare Television Acting Clips:

One with Paul Newman, and one with James Dean        

      …at bottom of post…( Hey, don’t skip now!  )

 

Acting Residuals Began In Radio Days

Residuals are entirely a “show business” invention, and an American invention. They were conceived in the era of radio broadcasting, when technological advances created a broadcasting dilemma…which arose when recording became possible. 

Prior, on radio,  all American broadcasting was performed live.  And…just like the regular programming we now have on television, there were regularly scheduled programs, on radio.

Except there was no “recording” yet.

Acting :: Radio

All the programs were performed, by actors, live.  

Every show, every time.  Due to the expanse of America, and different time zones; the shows were performed twice a day…Once, for the Eastern part of America,\; and a second for the Pacific Standard Time Zone.

Actors would need to be at a studio, at the time of broadcast, and physically perform the shows over the air. They would get paid for their performance.  Paid for each performance; the same as they would for every live performance in a theater.

Joan Crawford

Technology Evolved, and Acting Was Able To Be Recorded

In the mid-1930’s, they figured out a primitive way to record the shows.  The actors wouldn’t have to act each performance out more than once, per each episode. 

Fanny Brice, Comedy Actress

Or so it was conceived.  But the recording technology wasn’t reliable enough, not at first.  

Actors Still Performed Live, For The First Show, At Least

And it was broadcast that way, with the actors gathered around a microphone, performing in the studio.

But because the recording was such a new technology, and not yet reliable, the actors would have to remain in the studio, waiting around, to be sure that the recording was good enough for the next time-zone broadcast. 

If not, they would act out the entire show,  live, once again.

Superman, Acted Live, On Radio

Thus, the term “residual”.  Actors were paid for their performances for the second show, just like when they performed it live.  Except the residuals were the payment for the recorded broadcast of their performance.   This began in 1941.

 Acting Was Live Only, In Early Television Performances

When television broadcasting came about, in the 1950’s, all performances were live also; the only thing that broadcast on TV that wasn’t live were actual movies: “re-runs”…which were originally made for, and had played first, in movie theatres.

In 1951, the first TV residuals, were paid. They were compensation for the movie re-runs.  To musicians…who had played music in the films, while in production.  (Like “royalties”)  This was set up by the musician’s union, called the American Federation of Musicians.

Actor Ronald Reagan

Kinoscope: First TV Recordings

Until a recording technology called kinoscope came into use.  In 1952, an actor named Walter Pidgeon, was the president of SAG.  He called for the first SAG strike, and it was then that actors received residuals for recorded performances.

Here’s James Dean, acting on television, in  an early kinoscope recording:

Again, kinoscope wasn’t the greatest, but it did allow television to be broadcast and shows to be rerun.

Frank Sinatra Show with Elvis Presley

The following is a kinoscope  called “The Army Game”.  It was broadcast on television, and starred a young actor: Paul Newman.  

Director Sidney Pollack (who passed away in 2008) was an actor before he became a director.  He c0-stars in this theatrical “television  special”.  

More on this, at a later date…

Best,

Dana

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Just a few minutes ago, SAG posted its newly elected board members.

I will simply paste the whole press release below.  I’ll post the exact numbers for the winning candidates on the following post.

I have two comments:

1. SAG members always seem to vote for the most successful celebrity.  Doesn’t it appear that the list of winners, which are actually in ranking order of votes counted;  is also in order by most recognizable?      

 From highest to lowest?

2. Still, It looks like a great and smart list of choices, and people. 

It could be that, if fact, the inner turmoil of the SAG Actor Civil War brought a whole lot of good candidates to the ring.  Perhaps we wouldn’t have had such sparkling, fresh choices to choose from, and then to get elected to be at the top.  Suddenly, we have a modern and vibrant cast for the SAG board.  

Well, hey, that turned out quite alright, didn’t it?  I am looking forward, toward the positive future…

Here’s SAG’s press release, with the SAG Board winners:

The SAG announcements, today, will state the results of their new board members.  I don’t ever remember a SAG board election as wildly and publicly anticipated.  

(And, I am a SAG “vested”…  Vested, in SAG union terms: means that I have been around long enough that I earned a pension which I will receive when I am old and bitter-er.)

Why are the SAG Board Announcements so exciting? 

Right now, in Hollywood, there is far more drama within the actor ranks, than in any theater. 

There’s practically a SAG Civil War, amongst Professional Actors. Within the SAG membership group of the real, authentic, working, actors.  And, actors from the two opposing sides of this war, are competing for Board of Director seats.

What this war concerns, at the heart, is what actors feel is critical to their career.  And, to the future of what is commonly known as an ” professional acting career”.

 At issue, is the concept of the Working Actor; and the decisions and actions of the SAG leaders, for the union.  The decisions that are on the table, right now.  

Plainly:

that group, which has been traditionally known as the Working Actor, the Professional Actor, and in the theatre, called the Journeyman Actor –

…unfortunately, that profession is headed for extinction. Here in Los Angeles.

Truly.  The middle-class actor is almost a no-more thing. Even was reported in the LA Times.

But, you might say, you just read that that that  Dr. House ‘s new-season-salary broke records…and that is true.

Stars do make a lot; AND they are a very small minority, compared to the rest of the group.  The group of professional working actors out here. 

 Two ends of the actor spectrum, actually, can both earn a living and benefits: stars and extras.  

(Extras weren’t always in SAG, but now they are; and there are some that work quite consistently, and do make a very good, regular income and even qualify for SAG benefits that include an exceptional health insurance plan.)  

A lot of  the heat of the drama within the SAG membership of real authentic working actors, has to do with the suddenly almost-defunct professional actor middle class. 

Obviously, always, throughout history, actors have scrambled for work.  The numbers of available actors compared to the amount of work that was available, has always been so extreme, it’s like a silly joke.  It’s always been an almost ludicrous career choice, by “normie” standards.  By regular working joes. An acting career has never been regarded, by outsiders, as a CAREER.

But, inside Hollywood :

 (that term, of course, I use “tongue in cheek’—I mean in “the industry”)

what was once regarded as a career, an acting career,

has radically changed. You probably “know”  all of these people, if you aren’t in the business.  They are the actors you recognize while you are watching a show, and you know you’ve seen them before, in a different show. From things that they’ve been in before.  And, when you visit here, and you see one of them, sometimes  you ask them if they were in your high school because they look “familiar”…They can be, also, sometimes, people you remember who had a great role in something and it knocked you out, with how wonderful they were.  Then you didn’t see them again for a while; then maybe you saw them later, in something else, completely different.

When they say from “career” to “hobby”, they aren’t kidding.

It really used to be like this: a professional actor went from job-to-job.  Even with months in between, it was possible to make enough to live decently, middle class.

Yeah, right, I know: there were never great guarantees in the acting business; and right again, there could be a big period of “nothing” where no auditions were won and the actor went broke for a while.  Bank account to zeee-ro, I know.

But there also was the flip-side, a professional actor could get one plum role or a steady stream of solid middle credit-list roles, and do very well.  Or do a steady trajectory upward, and garner juicy raises in payscale along the way.

(I really DO know, I’ve lived through both parts, again, and then again…)

For as long as I can remember, guest starring on a television show was a nice delicious job. Chunk-a-money job.

But this isn’t true anymore, it’s disappearing. That type of actor life, the real solid career actor.

 Enter the “hobby”.

And a “hobby” actor, instead, isn’t even a viable idea.  I don’t think it is. 

At any time, the nature of the art is this, as well as the nature of business:

To be a professional actor,

to begin a career as an actor,

to maintain a career as an actor,

takes far more effort, time, and sheer investment of self,

than any hobby.

There’s just no way to be a professional of such commitment, in a field that requires such commitment, “on the side”.

In jokes, actors are classically, self-absorbed.  I’m not advocating narcissism, but I do know that a strong sense of focus and intent, is part of what it takes, darn it.  Really. 

There is just no way that… the results are even going to be even decent fare, not a chance. With most of the actors, hobby-ists.

It’s going to negatively affect every production in the industry.  The level of performance that we all take for granted will go down with it.  It has to …

The great ones, the committed ones who may not be stars but are the solid backbone of reliable cast of every show—they will take their talent where it can flourish, and where they can survive.  Where they can earn a living. 

Acting, for the first time, will suddenly not appear easy to do.  It will appear not-so-expendable.

Hobbyists are not people who commit their lives, with their lives:  to their craft, which many professional actors truly do.

Actors do it, as corny as it sounds, for love.  With a overriding passion and commitment. Yet, they need to be able to make a living. Many career actors believe that this extinction is salvageable, if handled correctly by SAG leadership. 

This is at the heart of the strife that you may be hearing about.  Between-the-actors. The competition for work has always made us crazy.  You can imagine what this pressure of the AFTRA mutiny; and the loss of the middle class actor has done to our group, as a whole. 

(If you live in Hollywood, you may want to dig a trench. That’s right, there’s two wars; one is between the producers and actors, and the other is between actors: two factions of professional actors at war, splitting their “group” in-two.)

So… that is why the SAG news announcements coming today…is so extremely major.  SAG will announce  who won the votes to be the new SAG Board Members.  Huge drama, lots of emotion, even lots of celebs…

There are two warring sides, and the announcement will reveal which side will hold the majority weight—and sit, and make decisions, on the SAG board.

Please go to the next few blogs, if you are interested,  I post information from these two warring sides, from their own releases.

Peace,

Dana

Here’s a link for  an article from the Los Angeles Times,

on the disappearing-middle-class-actor:

 http://articles.latimes.com/2008/may/28/business/fi-sag28

I am providing some articles from the web. They give an overview, and foundation, but some of the information may be outdated; you’ll notice it, if so.  

They give a good background, overall.

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

(All in italics is directly from the wikipedia site, their notes…)

The strike would stem from the current handling of royalties from the sale of films distributed through new  methods. This includes royalties earned from Internet distribution services such as iTunes, as well as DVD sales, neither of which are currently written into actors’ contracts. The strike date was set for July 7, 2008, chosen due to its coinciding with the expiration of several contracts between the labor union and the AMPTP. Talks are currently being held on the possible terms of a renewal, but the two sides* are reportedly far from any deal.

[Dana's author note: *AFTRA did, in fact, settle. SAG did not; and the settlement by AFTRA created conflict between the two actors unions.]

 

 

FROM TV GUIDE, BRITISH EDITION:

US screen actors’ guild has no plans to strike: union chief

Jun 29, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The president of the US Screen Actors Guild said on Sunday there were no immediate plans to strike against Hollywood studios, even though a contract with the studios was set to expire late Monday.

“We have taken no steps to initiate a strike authorization vote by the members of Screen Actors Guild. Any talk about a strike or a management lockout at this point is simply a distraction,” said SAG president Alan Rosenberg in a statement.

With the contract due to expire at midnight on Monday, negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have so far failed to produce a deal, raising concerns of another crippling Hollywood strike after a screenwriters’ walkout earlier this year.

But Rosenberg said talks would continue.

“The Screen Actors Guild national negotiating committee is coming to the bargaining table every day in good faith to negotiate a fair contract for actors,” he said.

Entertainment industry press have said most major movie studios had already planned their schedules to complete filming on existing projects by Monday.

And television studios were reportedly set to carry on filming episodes for as long as possible to stockpile material in case of a strike.

Complicating the issue is a feud between SAG, with 120,000 members, and the other major actors union, the 70,000-strong American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), after the smaller union gave tentative approval to a deal proposed by the studios.

SAG’s leaders say the agreement undermines their own negotiating position, and are aggressively lobbying 44,000 guild members who also belong to AFTRA, urging them to reject the deal when it goes to a vote.

The spat between the two unions has pitted A-list actors against fellow stars, with the likes of Tom Hanks, Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin siding with AFTRA and Jack Nicholson and Ben Stiller supporting the guild.

The disagreement prompted George Clooney to issue a statement on Thursday calling for unity, saying a split between the unions would only strengthen the position of the studios.

“The one thing you can be sure of is that stories about Jack Nicholson vs. Tom Hanks only strengthens the negotiating power of the AMPTP,” Clooney said.