Looks like the Screen Actors Guild is pushing for a strike. We know how well that worked last time.
Yahoo reports
Residuals are payments to actors that are made every time a production airs, such as TV reruns. Many SAG members rely on residuals for more than half of their income, Allen said.“They’re asking us to bless a system we believe would be the beginning of the end of residuals, and that’s a very scary thought for working actors,” he said.
The producers’ alliance condemned the SAG decision and said it remains the only major Hollywood guild without a labor deal this year.
“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,” a producers’ statement said. “The tone-deafness of SAG is stunning.”
Now I assume when he says “working actors” he is talking about the thousands of employed actors who are not making the millions. But still, this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Well this and Knight Rider getting a full season while Pushing Daisies is cancelled…
But seriously… another strike? The previous strike -which accomplished NOTHING crippled the industry and sent thousands of people jobless. They will NEVER make back the money they negotiated in their deal, and this will do no different.
I think it is a bluff. SAG knows that another strike, especially with the economic crisis looming, could hurt Hollywood in ways even the Writers Guild Strike never did.
Bottom line is that Unions suck. They don’t do their job anymore. Unions are supposed to protect the workforce, instead they are lobbyists getting people over paid for jobs, and enabling them to walk off a job without getting fired when nothing was wrong to begin with. SAG is no different.
So they are throwing what I think is a bluff out there, saying they want their way and they will be willing to shoot their own mothers to get it. They throw a temper tantrum and the whining little kiddies get their way.
Who learns what here? Yup… the over paid actors can get even more overpaid now. Good thing they had “protection”.
6 Comments, Comment or Ping
TigerClaw
It is a bad time for them to go on strike considering how bad the economy is this year.
Nov 24th, 2008
Evan Rousso
Maybe I am being a little naive here, but why not call the bluff and start using non-union casts and crews and make movies with them. Just make one or two movies using exclusively non-unions workers just to show them that there are millions of people out there that can act or hold a camera.
Nov 24th, 2008
Orren Jensen
I kind of saw this coming when the WGA strike ended…paraphrased news quotes and rumors…” Could there be more strikes in Hollywood? the SAG contract will be up in late fall early winter and the DGA’s will be up next year, late summer.” I hope it doesn’t happen because half of movie making is actor based. Yet I agree on the fact they get payed way to much but you can’t make a movie with actors. I also agree that they couldn’t afford another strike with the already down word spiral of our economy.
Nov 24th, 2008
Me
I feel only slightly cocky for calling this event before the writer’s strike ended. Union contracts were ending and it was only a matter of time the fallout from that strike would repeat itself.
Rodney, may I point out that about .5% of actors make 98% of the money all actors make, so while “the overpaid actors”, as you say, are lumped into the union as well, please don’t ignore the the small 99.5% group that AREN’T overpaid - and that’s a massive understatement.
Nov 24th, 2008
Rodney
@Me, if you noticed, I mentioned something to that effect in the post.
Just sayin.
Nov 25th, 2008
hania
It is strange to do this during a sagging economy, one should think. However, during this financial crisis, the actors need money from the residuals. It’s really a Catch-22 - you strike,you lose revenue, you don’t strike, you continue to lose revenue.
Unions are there to protect workers against unfairness in the workplace. Without them, we are back to the days of the Industrial Revolution. What really needs to take place is a total restructuring of the system into a Fair Play System. However, that may be unrealistic, given that greed seems to be such an ingrained characteristic of the human psyche. Until man learns to curb his greed, to temper his ego (which means “I am” in Greek), and play fairly, the only solution is a union to protect rights. While it is not the best of systems, it is the only one that provides a united voice for those being taken advantage of by corporate Fat Cats.
Do not be surprised if this does not snowball - UAW, AFL-CIO affiliates may all show solidarity. Be prepared to home school and grow your own food if that should occur. I am not kidding.
Nov 28th, 2008
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