HOLLYWOOD ACTOR PREP by Dana Kaminski

Robert J. Elisberg is a writer; and he is WGA; he’s worked on the editorial staff there.  He went through the Writers’ Strike against the same opponent that SAG is, now, up against.  The AMPTP. 

If you missed the overview about SAG and what the Actors Strike is all about, please click here on, and Hollywood Actor Prep-”Actors Strike Explained, Simply” and, a  new window will open with information for you.  You can also go to the SAG website, for further details.

The Huffington Post ran this experiential post, with it’s utter ugly truth, on Dec. 4, 2008–and I think it’s the most accurate summation I have found.  Versus: The Los Angeles press, and in all the industry papers. I am very disturbed by the coverage that I have read.  It rarely provides any factual information, which I thought was the point of journalism.  Rather, it does provide lots of “smear”, but only against the actors side.  A side, which by the way, I have yet to see, validly, described.  

Basically, the press coverage on SAG (and only SAG, they don’t even bother to put in an opponent) makes actors appear, to the public: greedy, brainless, nuts, narcissistic, clueless.

I am printing Mr Elisberg’s post entirely.  

Because…I think it’s something that everyone should know. It is the truth of this situation.  And it’s not getting out to the rest of the world. And that’s a shame.

 

 

                                                              The AMPTP Strikes Again

                                                                   by Robert J. Elisberg

                         (Reprinted from The Huffington Post  December 4, 2008)

 

After over four months negotiating with the AMPTP conglomerates, the Screen Actors Guild announced they were finally asking their members for a strike authorization vote.

I can feel their pain.

Admittedly, I know more about the writers negotiations than about the actors. But the response from the AMPTP was instantly familiar, pure déjà vu, and equally swaggering, posturing and manipulative bullying. Even by AMPTP standards.

“SAG is the only major Hollywood union that has failed to negotiate a labor deal in 2008,” the AMPTP blustered. “Now SAG is bizarrely asking its members to bail out the failed negotiating strategy with a strike vote – at a time of historic economic crisis.”

Of course, what the AMPTP conveniently leaves out is that it took writers 100 days on strike to get their deal. And the reason SAG has no deal is because the AMPTP corporations have blocked them for four months. This is like blaming someone for not dating you, when you’re the one who said ‘no.’

Worse, though, is when some corporate PR whiz ludicrously floats the buzz words, “bail out,” to invoke public antipathy of government loans. Not only isn’t it “bizarre” for a union to approach its membership, it would be malfeasance if they didn’t.

But mainly, it is the very point that we are in an economic crisis that every worker specifically needs the basic protections the conglomerates are refusing to give.

The challenge for SAG is that it’s being pounded in a perfect storm. Economic conditions make this is a dismal time to strike. A related union, AFTRA, caved early and signed a very weak agreement. And other unions have settled.

Yet many issues SAG is fighting to get are unique to itself. And writers bettered the deal that directors got.

Ultimately, though, it’s terribly scary to even think of striking. During the three months that the seven AMPTP conglomerates refused to settle with the writers, the entire city of Los Angeles took a huge hit.

For SAG, it’s equally scary to think of the alternative, because of the risks to their future.

Consider: much of old media is shifting to New Media. TV will eventually blend with the Internet. It’s already long-since begun.

(Though the AMPTP corporations cry no profit from the new-fangled Internet, the other day CNET reported that Hulu.com – a joint venture between NBC and News Corp. – just made a $12 million profit, streaming video.)

So, consider all this when you understand what the AMPTP multi-national corporations have offered to SAG for its future in New Media -

The proposed minimum rate is zero.
The proposed residual structure is zero.
The proposed overtime protections are zero.
The proposed “forced call” protections are zero.
The proposed protections for minors are zero.

As I wrote back during the WGA negotiations, the public understands “zero.”

Here we go again.

It is not for me to speak to SAG needs. I can speak to AMPTP history, however. And as George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Back 24 years ago, the AMPTP offered only 4-cents for videocassette payment, because it needed “studying.” A quarter-century later, when writers finally asked to increase this paltry amount for DVDs, the corporations demanded the request be removed. In good faith, the writers did. The studios got what they wanted – and then walked away.

Through the strike, the AMPTP companies kept insisting they needed time to study the Internet. Afterwards, an online interview with a Warner Bros. president was discovered from two years earlier, showing that their Internet division had already cleared 15,000 TV episodes.

Today – the AMPTP companies have repeatedly tried to subvert their agreement with writers. They’ve failed to make proper payments on streaming, blaming “technology problems.” They’ve even claimed that the new rates for downloading doesn’t apply to any material produced before the strike – and therefore insist they owe nothing on the studio libraries.

That is the history of who SAG is negotiating with. It is wise to keep such history in mind. At the very least, it makes four months of getting nowhere understandable.

It’s likely that during these past four months, the AMPTP conglomerates have been playing theater games with SAG. After all, the AMPTP only negotiates seriously when CEOs themselves show up. Negotiating lawyers are only authorized to say, “No.” The Writers Guild had 100 days of “No.” Then, two CEOs appeared, and it was settled in a week.

After that settlement, AMPTP negotiators acknowledged in private that there was a 100-day strike only because they underestimated the writers’ resolve; noting they would have otherwise settled beforehand.

That may be the biggest hurdle SAG faces now. A strike authorization shows that the SAG team has strong support, in hopes of avoiding a strike. This is the only time the AMPTP takes you seriously. Whether SAG members are willing to show that unified support during difficult times is what we will find out.

No doubt, through all this, some will paint the picture that Actors are Rich and Greedy – in reality, most actors scrabble at the edges, slowly pursuing their career, lucky to get a single speech in a single production. There are 120,000 members of SAG. Count the number of Big Stars you recognize. Now, subtract that from 120,000. That’s the picture. It is a union trying to save itself and its middle class. Like most of America.

SAG faces grueling decisions, balancing its interests and future with AMPTP hard lines. Myriad voices in SAG will argue what is best for them. But making those arguments based on the goodwill, good faith and good word of the AMPTP conglomerates is a guarantee of eternal disappointment. The only voices in SAG worth listening to are theirs alone.

A SAG CONFLICT MEANS IT IS BETWEEN THE ACTORS AND THE PEOPLE WHO PAY THEM

The conflict is between the **ACTORS** and the **PRODUCERS/MOVIE STUDIOS**

Actors union: is called **SAG**  (or the Screen Actors Guild)

Producers union is:  known as **AMPTP**  (Yes, the movie studio bosses and producers have a union, also).

It’s called the “Actors Strike” and “SAG Negotiations” because it is about a “contract” renegotiation between the actors and the producers/studios.  It is an, overall, “general contract”, which contains all agreed upon working conditions, as negotiated and agreed upon, between the two unions.  All actors, in SAG, are covered by the terms.

The AMPTP, in real terms, are the bosses.  They are the bosses of the industry, the bosses of Hollywood.  

(**AMPTP** stands for Alliance-of-Motion-Picture-and-Television-Producers)

The“Workers” , in this case,  are the Actors. 

It’s still the same as any other worker-boss struggle…big guys vs little guys…

 

Why do actors need a union?  

Basically, a union’s job is to make sure the worker gets a fair and just payment for the work that the union member does, and that the work conditions are safe and decent.

Almost everything in entertainment, in Hollywood; and on location, even; is most likely “union”. Nearly all the workers, from the crew, the camerapeople, the sound, the directors, writers, and actors, have a union.

When any actor is hired, no matter  what, if they are in the union, and it is a union job…then they will be paid.  And they will be paid, at least, what the “current contract” scale base pay deems.

“What about those actors that get those high salaries?” Well,  if an actor has an agent that believes the actor can earn more, and that the actors work has a value of a higher amount, that agent can negotiate for a higher pay for that day.  Or the amount of time the actor is working for.  Even though those salaries are the ones that make the news, the overwhelming majority of professional actors never, ever earn anything like that.  Far, far, from it…

 

Why Is SAG Suddenly In The News Again?  

“Haven’t they been without a contract for months?”

1. SAG has been working “without a contract”, lately, because there has not been any agreement made. SAG kept trying, anyway, to get the AMPTP to meet their demands some.  The negotiations continued on, (long past the original strike deadline) –and even a moderator came and attempted to forge an agreement; but on November 22, 2008 all talks stopped.  
2. When the Writers Strike was going on, the Writers were striking against the same bosses, and the “deal-breaker” was over one of SAG’s same issues: the one concerning payment in “New Media”.  It was this particular contractual item, and the lack of agreement,  that, broke down all talks, just recently; between SAG and the AMPTP.

Part of what recently ”broke the camel’s back”, and stirred this whole new chapter up– was the current realization and announcement from the Writers Guild:

According to the Writers Guild, the AMPTP is not upholding the terms that they agreed to, the ones that settled the Writers Strike!  They aren’t paying, what they promised, for work in New Media.

…So, when you read or hear some Actor-bashing hogwash, like SAG is just trying to take away everyone’s Academy Awards…by doing all this now…please let them know about the Writers Guild’s current discovery, and announcement.

 

 

 

 

“THE CONTRACT” = Working Conditions That Productions Must Provide On Every Set

There are general rules that govern all movie sets.  All television shows. 

They are often referred to as “Union Rules” or “SAG Rules”, on a set.

You can see these rules in action, always, on union sets.  Anything of quality, whether film or TV, is shot on a union set.  Most likely.  

Once in place in “the contract”, the rules aren’t variable.  They are written, with the understanding, by both sides, that they will be rigidly followed.

Why are these rules always followed?  

 

• Both unions know that at one point they had discussed and agreed upon them
• The rules were written into a contract, and signed by both sides
• They are, generally, based on a logic of what is considered humane; they are agreed-upon, decent, and fair, working conditions
• There are penalties for NOT adhering to the rules, and they usually involve paying money.  However, with too many violations, the penalties get harsher.  
• No one wants to jeopardize their union status. 

 

Examples of these SAG rules, in the “general” contract, are:

Allowing an actor to go home and go to sleep after a very long shooting day, instead of continuing to do more scenes.

There’s always a nurse on set, in case someone gets injured.  

Lunch is always a certain number of hours from the “call time”, or start of a work/shooting day.

All kinds of things are in the ” union actors’ contract”; like dressing rooms, kids and their hours allowed and tutors on the set if they are missing schooling, little babies can only work a little bit of time and are allowed their mother nearby, per diem pay for those on location and not having their own kitchen and food, transportation to the set when working on location..and so on.

 

Are The Actors Creating All This Now?  Or, Are They Reacting?? 

The news media, in calling this an “actor’s issue” makes it appear as if actors are the only ones involved.

I find that most people don’t even know what is being negotiated, even actors, have no clear idea of what this is all about.

Worse, the whole thing has been presented by the press (and the AMPTP) as either unnecessary, greedy, or worse, intentionally harmful to the rest of the industry.

 ”Actors out to harm the economy!!!”  (Whaa?)

Other words have been freely slimed: “stupid”, “mad” (as in crazy),  ”crazy” (as in, yes, kee-raa-zzy), and other free-flinging ugliness.

Just like bullies, in a schoolyard.  Some of the press joined the charge.  

(Whatever happened to the journalistic code of fair reporting? Presenting both sides?)

Some of that “PR” has been even been presented to the media, by the most outspoken members of the AMPTP.  And published on the AMPTP site….(see fake-movie-review-poster, below…)

Just today, they took out a full page ad in the Los Angeles Times. 

 

This isn’t a conflict that has been over-dramatized.

Neither histrionic, nor illogical; this conflict is similar to most conflicts that take place in a worker setting, between boss and employees… when a situation becomes untenable, and a strike becomes imperative.

The bosses, who are represented by the AMPTP, will not budge on a few very critical points, on the new contracts for the actors, and how they will treat the actors in their future employ.  How, or how they won’t, pay the actors.

Actually, they say that they don’t want to pay the actors, or devise any pay strategy, until they see how the internet revenue will come.

…Anyone see any commercials or advertising yet, on the internet?  Isn’t that the same way they get money on television?

 

There Is One Main Industry, In This Very Big City

This is a “one-factory” town.  The bosses, are the big bosses.  You don’t hear a lot of outspoken opinions from celebrities and famous actors, even.  Not even low level activist types. Why?  Because the Producers are the ones who pay. AND hire.  It’s hard enough to work in this town, but no one wants to blacklist themselves, by simply asking for their rights. Or rather, for what is right.

Actors make art, businessmen plan, and make money.

All of the major studios, the heaviest players at the top, in this town, have made some very large investments on the future of the “New Media”.  For their very powerful and business-like bosses, who didn’t come from the movie business.  They came from well, business–worldwide, big business.

If you do keep up with business, then, you know that the internet is evolving, at the speed of lightning.  Just a few weeks ago, the Los Angeles Times ran an article that stated that the economy is affecting people so, that they are cutting back their budgets, dramatically. They are even getting rid of cable.  But not internet.  That is correct, we are in a “new day”.  (Link to LA Times article.)

The big businesspeople of this country don’t read business journals first, and then follow.  They are the ones that are making the news in these papers.

All the film studios have invested in securing their futures, on the internet.  Some ACTUALLY assured their stockholders that the economy won’t affect their business, and the future is securely theirs, because they have a solid stake on the internet.

You can look this up, easily, on Google.

How many millions of dollars, do you think they have invested?  So far?  Billions? Maybe a reporter could do some homework, and find out…

Unabashedly, these businessmen, who are making the plans,  are set on not paying the actors. They strategized everything, except that?

 

Variety published an article today, presenting both sides.  (Link to the Variety on SAG here.)

AMPTP:   ”We are standing firm behind our offer because it represents a pattern of hard-fought agreements over the past year, and its construct is vital to the future of our industry,” the CEOs said. “No single guild or union should be allowed to undermine the hard-won consensus over how our industry can experiment and then prosper in the speedily changing new-media marketplace.”

 

Why Is This Setting A Precedent For All Actors…And For All Talent In The New Media?

SAG is especially concerned about setting the precedent, for how actors,  and all talent will be paid, on the internet.  They feel that if they don’t establish the right way, now, it will never be righted.  

When they mention cable, and homevideo (video and DVD’s)…they are referring to the bad deal that was made with the same notion, way back when. No one expected VCR’s, DVD’s, or cable, to become what they did, eventually.  

SAG didn’t either, and so did not negotiate a proper payment “schedule” for what was known as the new and future media, then. It was never recouped.  Or corrected.

Once in place, it wasn’t able to be changed.  And, the profits, from VHS, DVD, Cable reruns and even made-for-cable productions, didn’t provide actors with a decent pay.  Certainly not compatible with network pay, or residuals payment.  That also means that the studios got to keep all the profits, from those areas, mentioned above.  

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In summary, I just find it hard to understand, that in this current time, when we just elected a President because we all voted that it be a time of “Change” and “Hope”… that, still,  business is tromping on the little guy, the artist…Which in this case, are the actors. 

 

There’s an elephant in the middle of this room.  And… he’s not the caterer.

 

 

 

For more and better details: Please go to the website of the Screen Actors Guild. 

I do welcome comments, and especially from those that have something to say, “from the other side”!  I invite to enlighten, please…!!

So please click on this link, because temporarily, all comments need to be posted on Facebook, on Hollywood Actor Prep Group page…You don’t even need to be a member!

Best,
Dana

Follow me on Twitter!  ( __dana__ )

 

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Andreas Stenschke is a successful actor in Germany.  He put a video, on YouTube, about how important acting residuals are.  American actors count on residuals, as part of their “living”. 

 

 

 

Actors don’t get residuals in Germany.  No one does!

Imagine what it would be like to not be paid, at all.   That is what may occur, and soon.  

It appears that the internet will be the entertainment medium (media?) of the future.  No question…it’s evolving at breakneck speed.

As I’ve stated before, all the major studios have made major investments… developing for the ‘net. They are assuring their stockholders that they are going to be at the helm of entertainment there.

So why don’t they want to pay actors, for “New Media”?  It is over this particular point, which this strike is being assembled.  SAG is maintaining that it is imperative to actors and their future.  I agree with them.

And it’s also the one that the AMPTP doesn’t want to give…

This video was made during the Writers Strike, but it’s even more pertinent, now–with  the looming SAG strike.

 

 

Best,

Dana

 

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