strike

Well, it has only been five months here in the Entertainment Capitol of the World and we are on the eve of (or should I say dawn of) yet another strike (or two). The good news is they keep extending the deadline. Even Mayor Richard Riordan has been publicly appealing both sides to reach an agreement. Not bad for a republican. But then he lives here, (and is retiring, so isn't concerned about re-election) and knows how devastating the last strike was. That strike, which only reached agreement October 1st after a six-month walkout by SAG regarding commercial contracts, cost this city billions in lost revenue. These new impending strikes, The Writer's Guild followed by another SAG contract dispute, this time over film and television contracts, could cost the city much more. According to an article in the LA Times

Friday, April 20, 2001 Study Estimates $6.9 Billion as Cost of Strike

A prolonged strike by writers and actors this year could result in the loss of 81,900 jobs and $6.9 billion in income for Southern California, which "could plunge our city and our county into recession," Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan warned Thursday.

It's not enough that many business are closing because of the energy rape going on here, but the producers are now in the same corporate greed feeding frenzy as the utility companies and refuse to extend/increase residuals to cable, video sales, overseas distribution and the internet.

In last summer's strike the producers not only wanted to deprive SAG of Internet jurisdiction, and cable residuals, but wanted to roll back network residuals as well. Basically asking us to take a PAY CUT at a time when they are making RECORD PROFITS. (Gee, this is starting to sound familiar, eh?) The same basic themes are on the table now for both the writers and the actors, with the writers also wanting one more penny per DVD/Video sale (they only get about 4 cents now) and more creative credit - who can blame them? It's their material! What happened last summer was a lesson hard learned. The city lost billions, and many businesses closed. Not to mention runaway production to all points beyond (read: Canada).

You see, it didn't affect just the actors. In fact, actors were most likely the least hard hit, which was a bitter disappointment to the opposition since they were out to bust the unions. The truth is most actors in this town already are forced to have regular 'normal' work due to the lack of acting work because of the record number of actors here to begin with. Only a very small percentage work at all, and of that small number, an even smaller percent are able to eek out a living by acting. It is only a miniscule fraction of the working percentage that make the BIG BUCKS. The same is true with the writers. The non-employment devastation occurred in the supporting production businesses, like craft services, camera operators, make up artists, hairstylists, sound engineers, gaffers, and grips. People who work on set every day supporting the entertainment industry. Even some smaller agencies, which concentrate on mostly commercial contracts, were forced to shut their doors. The entertainment business is after all, this town's largest employer.

So what exactly is the stalemate about? Well, the producer's argument is this: An employee should get one's day's pay for one day's work. That isn't too bad of an argument - IF there was only a ONE TIME USE (airing) in only ONE MARKET (city) of said performance. But then they don't seem to see it from that angle. They want to pay once for UNLIMITED use. So basically they want to make TONS of money out of the actors/writers and not share the wealth.

They also want exclusivity rights. What is that you ask? Let me explain - If you are contracted to be in an ad for, let's say Diet Coke, exclusivity rights mean you are not allowed to even audition for a competitor (any other soft drink/non alcoholic beverage) for as long as your contract lasts, even if they aren't running the ad. So - you are excluded from taking more work. An additional problem to turning down work (that is rare to begin with) is the recognition factor one can develop with a certain product. Remember Leonard Nimoy? Now what is the first thing that comes to mind? That's right! Spock! Funny how Mission Impossible didn't pop into your head first. The same thing happens to actors who appear in commercials. If you are too easily identified with a product, like Orlando Jones and 7-Up.... do you see Coca-Cola hiring him anytime in the future? Thankfully he is exceptionally talented, cute, and funny as hell, so he will be able to go beyond the 7-Up orbit, but that is a rare case indeed. The producers PAY for that exclusivity. They PAY to re-use the spot. The fee depends on where and how the spot airs. Basically, Pay Per Play for a national broadcast airing, with much smaller lump sums for unlimited use within a thirteen-week cycle on Cable. Due to the success of Cable television, SAG wanted to expand residuals for cable use to near the level of broadcast television. Hence the disagreement In the end, we managed a small increase for all existing contracts, and a very vague stipulation for the Internet. Basically we got nothing. Most actors were happy because at least we didn't get a pay CUT. Whoopee! It all may seem exorbitant - until you realize that the budget for "Talent" (actors) and writing are but a small fraction on any given production, roughly 2 percent. That's it. The major cost is all the rest - marketing, air time, post-production (CGI, etc), technical, and such. Yet there have been record profits - just like in the energy and oil businesses.

The nice thing about this time however is the actual press coverage, considering there was little to none during the summer for the last strike. Well, no surprise really, the commercial strike made the producers look bad, and they thought they could get just anyone, like their receptionist, to sell their stuff. (That was until they realized their receptionist was unintelligible because she isn’t in the habit of annunciating all of her consonants.) But if film and television production stop, then there won't be any shows to air commercials on, or films for product placement!

Are you ready for the 24 hour Survivor Channel?