SAG Plays Waiting Game on AFTRA Ratification

Jun 12, 2008 - 19:54 PM PST


From my blog: still ACTING after all these years

Don't hold your breath for a resolution between SAG and the AMPTP before the June 30th contract expiration. With SAG lambasting the AFTRA agreement and attempting to derail ratification of that agreement, there will be no settlement until the outcome of the AFTRA deal is known. As Daily Variety says in today's online edition:

With the SAG-AFTRA bloodbath in full fury, don't expect a deal between the Screen Actors Guild and the majors any time soon.

SAG president Alan Rosenberg told Daily Variety that progress at the negotiating table has been elusive at best in recent sessions, and he admitted it's unlikely that a deal will emerge by the June 30 expiration.

"Our progress has really slowed down ever since AFTRA made its deal," he said Wednesday, following the 27th bargaining session with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. Talks will resume this morning.

Rosenberg made his remarks shortly before an evening town hall meeting for members at the Harmony Gold Theater in Los Angeles. The event drew nearly 400 and evoked enthusiastic support for SAG's stance against the AFTRA ratification, according to one eyewitness.

If only the public rhetoric were as measured and laid out as well as was the information received by SAG members in yesterday's mail. The mail piece entitled HERE'S WHAT ACTORS NEED THAT AFTRA DIDN'T GET laid out seven areas that SAG finds deficient in the AFTRA deal.

The seven stated points of contention are: Working Actor Priorities, Full Contract Coverage in New Media, Residuals for Original New Media Programs, Product Integration Protection, Force Majeure, Improving DVD Residuals and An Increase in Mileage for the first time in 30 years.

Here are the issues in this list that I personally consider 'hot button' items:


Full Contract Coverage in New Media

Per the SAG piece, AFTRA has agreed to allow AMPTP signatory companies to produce programs in new media with ALL NON-UNION ACTORS.

Residuals for Original New Media Programs

Per SAG, "With one very narrow exception, management is refusing to pay ANY residuals for original new media programs. If the AFTRA deal terms apply and programming continues to move to the Internet, this could be the beginning of the end of residuals"

Product Integration Protection

Basically the idea is that producers, through product placement in a story line (not just in the background), get an actor to effectively perform a commercial for no additional fee to the performer. This is obviously a problem since many actors make a significant amount of their income from commercial work. If the actor is associated with a product in a tv episode, for instance, they could be unable to take on commercial work for a competing product.

Improving DVD Residuals

Per SAG, " For too long our members have lived with the paradox that the DVD/home video residuals formula is the lowest in our contract, while DVDs remain the producers biggest source of revenue."

The SAG proposal, said to be a 'non starter' by the AMPTP is for producers to pay P&H benefits on DVD residuals which results in a gain of 15% for actors.

While there are other issues in play, these are the main sticking points to a new deal. The fact that AFTRA has apparently agreed to new media production with no residual stream for actors is a major issue. This goes back to the old 'don't kill the infant technology' argument during the negotiation of the cable tv deals. In my own case, since most of my residual income comes from epsodic and film residuals from cable, the terrible inadequacy of that old deal is something I deal with regularly. To accept a similar deal for new media is just not something I can support. If this type deal is made, frankly, I have to question my loyalty to AFTRA and SAG. I'm sure I will not be alone in this assessment.

While I have no stomach for a strike, and while I believe that such a move will be a disaster, I also know that whether there is a strike or not, the results of this negotiation will have a profound impact on my future relationship with SAG and AFTRA.