Huzzah-wuzzah-wah?! The Screen Actors Guild is seeking a strike authorization vote from it’s members.
They have been operating without a contract since July, and informal talks only recently resumed in the presence of a Federal negotiator. However, those talks broke down Saturday morning, and out of it came word that SAG leaders would send a vote to their members to authorize a strike.
Now? You want to send a message to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers by bankrupting an already beleagured industry, in a state already facing budget shortfalls amid an over-all econmic downturn? The DGA, WGA, and sister-acting guild AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) have all signed new contracts as of 2008. To understand why SAG would risk crippling the industry (which some would argue never fully recovered from the Writers’ Strike), we need to look at some facts:
- 97% of SAG members make less than $5000 a year. So the majority of people these new contract talks involve have to fight for every penny, especially when it comes to residuals, to suppliment their income. As viewership declines on broadcast networks, you can understand why they would be protective of their stake in New Media productions.
- SAG supported the writers during the WGA 100 day strike. They started staking their claim to be angry since last year, so they have a lot of face and pride invested in coming out strong.
- Ignore the DGA and WGA contracts. SAG residuals are substantially less than what the other talent receives; imagine that the WGA get’s 1.5% of gross, and SAG gets twice that. Now, divide that 3% by how ever many actors/background extras/voices get. Per person, the percentage is far smaller.
Those points aside, SAG got egg on its face over the summer when they alienated their sister guild, AFTRA, who went on to sign an agreement, based on the outline of the WGA agreement. That looked like it would have put a stop to SAG tactics to prolong the contract talks. But the actors have since held elections for board members, and the new leadership has continued demanding a better agreement for it’s members.
Does a strike authorization vote mean the Actors will strike? Depending on how you look at it, they have been working in good faith with no contract for the past 5 months, in an effort to not stop production again. But SAG has continued pressure on it’s back to sign an agreement already, and not kill the second half of the current television season. A season which was suppose to be a do-over for all the networks, and so far the only thing they’ve done over is fail.
AMPTP will point to the other 3 agreements they have already signed. All fingers will point to SAG leaders when the cameras stop rolling. The ball is unfortunately in their court. However … would it be so bad if they signed a 2-year agreement, a typical length, and just did this all over again then, when hopefully the economy and the industry is in better shape?
