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
