The two primary acting unions end a 27-year-old deal to negotiate contracts together; marking the ramping up of a turf war over union jurisdiction as the lines between media platforms blurs

By Alex Ben Block

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 3/31/2008 – The dramatic divorce of the two leading American unions for actors over the weekend, on the eve of crucial talks for a new contract with top Hollywood studios and networks, comes with its own trumped up incident to justify tearing the two unions apart.

So to the mysterious sinking of the USS Maine in 1898 used as an excuse for the Spanish American War, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 which sparked World War I and the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 used by the U.S. to justify a ramping up of the War in Vietnam, we can now add the show biz version with the convenient incident – the faux battle over union jurisdiction of the long-running TV soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

Comparing a union battle in Hollywood to real life wars is a stretch, but it is accurate to say that the decision by AFTRA over the weekend to nullify the 27-year-old Phase One agreement with SAG by which the two guilds negotiate contracts jointly was nothing less than a declaration of war. The battle will be over turf in the new world of converging media. The battle will be fought show by show, which is likely to give producers new leverage in making deals.

That is what scares the activist SAG leadership, who have been beating the drums saying they want an even better deal than the one negotiated on new media by the Directors and Writers. Instead, SAG could find itself playing second fiddle as AFTRA moves to be the first to negotiate separately with the AMPTP, representing major producers and broadcast networks. The current contract with actors expires June 30.

As soon as today, both guilds are expected to be on the phone with the AMPTP lobbying to be the first to start talks. SAG is rightly concerned AFTRA might make a deal that is less than what they want, but that could still force them to make concessions. With the threat that shows can migrate to AFTRA for a better deal, SAG will have to make many more concessions. SAG contends it should go first because its contracts bring in the vast majority of earnings.

However, the AMPTP might well see the wisdom of going into talks with AFTRA first. There is no love lost between the AMPTP and SAG in the wake of the writers 100 day strike. SAG was an early supporter of the WGA job action, and Rosenberg was particularly vocal in his support.

In addition, an attempt to hold the kind of early informal talks between major entertainment company CEOs led by Peter Chernin of News Corp and Robert Iger of Disney that worked with directors and writers appear to have floundered with actors, and has now ended.

This rupture is part of a long term shift that has increasingly pitted the guilds not just against those who want to be non-union, but also against each other. It used to be relatively simple to define an AFTRA show from a SAG show. AFTRA was shot on video or was live TV. SAG was shot on film, whether it was a movie or TV show. Now film is being phased out and both movies and TV shows are increasing shot with electronic media, whether it is recorded on tape, a DVD or in the memory of a powerful computer. While the guilds insist they know how to define which show should be the jurisdiction of which guild, there have been a number of incidents in recent months that show the truth is the opposite.

While AFTRA still represents live news, taped programming and radio and such programs as “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” on Comedy Central, “Saturday Night Live” and “The Tonight Show”: on NBC and “The Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS, it has also extended its reach to four dramas and comedies such as “‘Til Death” on Fox and “Rules of Engagement” on CBS.

The skirmishes in this war have already begun. As SAG has tried to unionize reality and game shows, in the end it has been AFTRA or IATSE that has made most of the deals. In other words, faced with the need to affiliate with some union, these producers have opted for the AFTRA contract which is much less expensive for them or in animation a deal with IATSE. Among other things, an AFTRA contract pays lower and fewer residuals to actors.

SAG president Alan Rosenberg called the move by AFTRA a power grab that has been in planning for a long time. He said AFTRA will sell out actors with their low-ball contracts. “I think what AFTRA’s done is unconscionable,” said Rosenberg, “and I’m sick of getting lectures about trust from them. I’m furious about what they’ve done.”

Rosenberg was responding to comments by AFTRA President Roberta Reardon who insisted it was SAG that was trying to smear AFTRA. She called the last straw alleged efforts by SAG to steal away jurisdiction of soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful.” “We can’t trust SAG,” said Reardon. “Their leaders have engaged in a concerted effort to tarnish AFTRA’s reputation and diminish our standing.”

Actually, it seems that AFTRA is the one who has questions to answer. After months of rancor, the two guilds had come together in recent weeks to determine what they would demand in upcoming negotiations with the AMPTP. Now as the process has finally finished, and it is time to start the actual negotiations with producers, the AFTRA leaders bring up the “Bold & Beautiful” situation. AFTRA treats this as if SAG has done them some great wrong suddenly, even though there is evidence they have known all about the B&B situation for some weeks.

In addition, SAG denies it went after the soap opera in any case. The SAG board over the weekend even passed a resolution making clear they agree that AFTRA has jurisdiction over soap operas, including “The Bold & Beautiful.”

What happened is that an actress on the soap has been passing around a petition which if successful would have stripped AFTRA of its jurisdiction, and opened the door for SAG. There was a meeting by some dissident actors from the show with top SAG officials, but those SAG officials insist all they did was tell the actors to take their complaints to AFTRA. The AFTRA execs now say SAG did not promptly notify them about the meeting, and acted against their interests.

AFTRA officials have been fuming for a year over an attempt by SAG to change the way each union was to be represented in upcoming negotiations under Phase One protocols. Under the deal as it has stood since the 1980s, the two sides have had equal numbers of representatives in the negotiations, even though SAG has larger membership, and has much broader jurisdiction areas.

Under activist leadership on the Hollywood guild board, SAG asked AFTRA to scale back its representation so it was more proportionate. That enraged AFTRA and set in motion a battle over whether they would continue to negotiate jointing.

Phase One is the name given to the process because as long ago as 1981, it was intended to be the first step to a combination of the two guilds into a single union for actors. Instead, in a couple of contentious battles, SAG members have voted down a merger over and over. In fact, the current AFTRA management blames the current SAG leadership for the last failure in 2000, when they provided strong opposition within the guild.

SAG has only recently agreed to go back to the original formula, just to keep the two working together. If AFTRA does their own low ball deal, it will be a nightmare for SAG. Not only would it threaten any additional gains, it might even make it difficult to live up to the promises by which Rosenberg and his group came to power.

Even within SAG there is a split over what to do. The SAG New York board sides with AFTRA and blames the Hollywood board for fermenting problems with their demands to change Phase One. For years there has been friction between the SAG board in Hollywood and its counterpart in New York, but things seemed to have calmed down. Now that battle is renewed as well.

This has to be good news for the AMPTP and producers looking to cut deals that will save them money and pump up their profits at the expense of highly paid actors. It may also be the beginning of a long term battle for jurisdiction and market share between SAG and AFTRA that could overtime change the balance of power in Hollywood. Instead of being focused on going up against the producers, the guilds will now be sidetracked by their own intra-guild warfare.

Think of SAG as a big department store that has fine merchandise at premium prices. Then think of AFTRA as the Walmart store coming to town and skimming off cost conscious shoppers. Over time that erodes the position of SAG, and could even threaten the guilds existence as a powerful force in show business. Remember Robinsons, May Stores and Gimbels department stores. They are no longer around to tell the story of what can happen when a competitor undercuts their economic model. Applied to Hollywood, that has to send a chill through SAG. .