Another strike?

Golden Globes and 81st Academy Awards in Question: SAG, AMPTP and Federal Mediators working diligently to resolve contract dispute

By Brian Frederick

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/01/08 – “SAG and federal mediators schedule November 5 Meeting,” SAG wrote in a statement. In a positive sign of “Hope and Change,” federal mediators are bouncing between the Screen Actor’s Guild headquarters and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producer’s headquarters trying to negotiate each others grievances. The threat of a SAG strike or actual strike would be the second to last act before the guild throws its members into picket lines. A strike threat by SAG may not be enough for federal mediators to convince the studios that a richer agreement would get signed. The strike by the writer’s guild last year took 100 days to resolve right after writers extended an “olive branch” to the studios by not striking against the industry’s single most important event – The Oscars.

With the holidays just around the corner, striking could prove painful for many SAG members.

SAG’s last act could be to wait for the 81st Academy Awards on February 22 and at the least boycott the Oscars and shut the Academy Awards down completely. This single one day boycott could cost the studios tens of millions in lost revenue over the course of the year.

The Oscars can make a mediocre film into a mega hit wonder and bring zillions to the producers and they can take an already mega hit wonder and bring in some incomprehensible amount of money that only winning an Oscar can do. The studios are fully aware of how important the Oscars are to the entire industry. Winning an Oscar can affect, agents and lawyers as well, not just actors, writers, directors, and producers. The writers understood the power of Oscar and for this reason they let the Academy Awards go on the air uninterrupted last year.

It is possible SAG may not be as generous during next year’s Oscars.

Because the Oscars are so important not just to studios but to actors themselves, boycotting the Oscars could be like shooting oneself in the foot. On the other hand it could be financially worse for the studios. The downside of SAG boycotting the Oscars that the WGA understood is that the studios could use the money loss against them in bargaining after the Oscars. The second issue with boycotting the Oscars would be causing a higher level of animosity towards each other that may never get fully resolved for years thereafter.