Will Actors Go On Strike?
Saturday June 21, 2008
In less than two weeks, the contract that covers more than 120,000 SAG members will expire and could very well halt production on dozens of films and television shows. Is Hollywood about to endure another industry-crippling strike?
Negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) began back in April, but talks are reportedly not going well and a call for strike authorization may be under consideration. In order to call a strike, 75 percent of the membership must give their approval.
On May 28, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and AMPTP struck a deal. The results of the contract ratification vote are due July 9. The SAG has made no secret of their disapproval of the terms of this deal stating that, "there are critical issues that remain negotiating priorities for SAG that were not accomplished by AFTRA."
Will a strike delay the fall television season? Series such as 24 and Dirty Sexy Money already had several episodes filmed before production was shut down. When the writers strike ended, the networks had decided to hold on to those unaired episodes for the upcoming season. According to The Hollywood Reporter, more than twenty series (such as Heroes, CSI and House) are expected to have several episodes completed by July 1.
Hopefully the SAG and AMPTP will come to a satisfactory agreement before those picket signs come out once again. The hard working people in this business have already proved how far they're willing to go to get what they deserve -- to the tune of more than $2 billion!
Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images
Comments
a strike!!?? with the money they make and the crap they turn out!!??? Let em strike forever!!!!!!
In my humble opinion. I’d enjoy seeing every greedy actor/actress in California as well as New York City and every point in between walk the picket line until Hell freezes over! Perhaps while on strike;the networks would run the oldies but goodies for the entire summer! Or,perhaps the youngsters of this nation could again use the books in their local libraries better than they presently use their unintelligent brains playing games on the idiot box!
I could understand the writer’s strike, I didn’t like it, but I could understand it because of the royalties involved and the low pay that a vast amount of the writers make.
The actors are a whole different story. I don’t agree at all with another strike. They are well paid and this would be two years in a row the TV season is ruined because of a strike. When will they think of us, the viewer, for a change?
I hope that the actors can vote for a new contract. I agree with Annie that the Actors should think of us the viewers. I was very unhappy when the writers went on strike. And I also hope that the Actors can reach agreement to prevent a strike.
Seriously I agree with most of the people who have commented before. The actors are spoiled prima donnas and I say they can strike indefinitely. It will just drive more viewers away from network TV. I was disgusted with the writers’ strike, but at least I could emphasize somewhat with their feelings–not so with the actors.
hollywood actors and writers are a bunch of talentless hacks- most of which only have their “low paying” positions because of their producer daddies. Trust me- I work with these worthless hacks daily (I am a make up artist). There is no need to have ANOTHER strike.
I hate to disillusion those of you not in the business, but the AVERAGE salary of a WORKING SAG member is $35,000/year, with approximately 2/3 earning less than ONE THOUSAND dollars/year. Only 1/4 earn a ‘middle-class’ salary, and only about 8% earn more than $75,000/year. Actors, JUST LIKE WRITERS, depend on residuals to LIVE. Even those who are ‘famous’ on television, for the most part, do not earn that much more than scale… the ’superstars’ earning millions you hear about and the “Friends”-type of deals are VERY, VERY rare. The majority of your favorite and well-known ‘working’ actors on television and in the movies are earning not much more than scale.
What you HEAR about are the multi-million deals, but that’s a TINY fraction of SAG members– one would estimate less than 2% of the SAG membership. The majority of your favorite television stars are earning scale or close to it unless they are also producers/exec producers, and when that job is over, they may go years before finding another steady gig– and residuals, which the studios want to essentially eliminate, are what pay the MORTGAGE. Acting is a BUSINESS, just like any other business, and the employees deserve decent working conditions and the respect of their bosses for the work they produce.
AMPTP has not offered SAG even the SAME deal they gave the WGA or AFTRA. They want to take away guaranteed meal times, they want to give us even LOWER compensation for ‘new media’ than that of the writers or AFTRA, AND they want to use OUR work (up to 5 to 10 minutes of it) WHENEVER they want to, HOWEVER they want to, without our approval, knowledge, consent OR compensation.
The fact is that the AMPTP is whining about how they aren’t making any money off of ‘new media,’ to US while they’re telling the advertisers and boards just how much they ARE making.
While the writers FOUGHT (and SAG stood RIGHT BESIDE THEM) to get union coverage of streamed media, SAG has been offered something quite a bit less than that… essentially, almost NO streamed projects would be covered by the SAG contract, and the studios would have the right to use OUR likenesses and work for whatever purpose they choose.
Regardless, SAG stood by WGA and WGA will stand by SAG.
Strike are you kidding me…its always some never heard of waiter/waiteress who just happended to make a simple little gig and feel they need to make millions and thousands of dollars. Screw them, actors, ball players are OVERPAID anyways…Remember without the public you are nothing…aside from that get MORE involved that “JUST MEMORIZING LINES!” A true person in the industry get themselves more into scene…my respects to the writters, comedians who WRITE their OWN material!..