Actors Finally Act: SAG Calls for Strike, Oscar Boycott Card Played
Actors pull the trigger on a strike vote
By Jeffrey Jolson
SAG strike could pull a punch
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/22/08 — The Screen Actors Guild is calling for a strike authorization that would halt Hollywood — saying even Federal mediators could not help.
SAG said early this morning that all has failed in negotiations with producers (AMPTP) and they are finally sending out the strike letter. It seems like an odd time to call for a strike when their contract was up back in June and economic times are difficult, to say the least. Added to that, fall TV shows and 2009 films have been completed, assumedly giving a strike less clout.
The Writers Guild of America had strike authorization from its members long before negotiations even began in what turned out to be Hollywood’s deadliest strike, as budgets and stakes have skyrocketed in the years. SAG waiting this long has puzzled many. Producers and moguls have said they settled with WGA and the Directors Guild - and that should be enough for SAG - yet actors have a different set of residual and general payment issues un-addressed by other Guild’s negotiations.
Even with the late strike authorization, not a given deal yet, SAG has a trump card that worked for WGA. The Awards Season. If the strike goes, no actor — big or little — who wants work in the future, will cross picket lines to attend The Oscars, Golden Globes, Grammys, and more. The last time SAG went on strike in 1990, only one actor of 65 nominees crossed the picket line at the Emmys, Powers Boothe, who has been paying for it since.
After two days of 15-hour-plus negotiations, SAG issued the following statement in response to the failure of federal mediation:
“Our leadership was optimistic that federal mediation would help to move our negotiations forward, but despite the Guild’s extraordinary efforts to reach agreement, the mediation was adjourned shortly before 1:00 a.m. today.
Management continues to insist on terms we cannot responsibly accept on behalf of our members. As previously authorized by the National Board of Directors, we will now launch a full-scale education campaign in support of a strike authorization referendum. We will further inform our members about the core, critical issues unique to actors that remain in dispute.
We have already made difficult decisions and sacrifices in an attempt to reach agreement. Now it’s time for SAG members to stand united and empower the national negotiating committee to bargain with the strength of a possible work stoppage behind them.
We remain committed to avoiding a strike but now more than ever we cannot allow our employers to experiment with our careers. The WGA has already learned that the new media terms they agreed to with the AMPTP are not being honored. We cannot allow our employers to undermine the futures of our members and their families.”
No timeline has been set for the mailing or return of the strike authorization ballots.
The Screen Actors Guild and the majors have started their second consecutive day of face-to-face talks under the supervision of a federal mediator.
Neither side had any comment about the session, which began at mid-afternoon today at the Sherman headquarters of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.
Federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez has insisted on confidentiality about the talks, which launched Thursday with a 12-hour session lasting until 11 p.m. No timetable’s been announced yet for additional sessions.
Early indications were that progress appears to have been negligible, according to people familiar with the meeting. Most of Thursday’s session was devoted to each side re-stating its positions.
Both sides have remained far apart on the key issue of compensate actors for work made for the Internet and for programs and features re-used on the Web.
Before turning to mediation, SAG unsuccessfully attempted to restart negotiations Sept. 30 by announcing a trio of “threshold” issues: new-media jurisdiction for all productions, rather than the $15,000-per-minute budget threshold the majors propose; securing residual fees for made-for-Internet productions when those productions are reused on new-media platforms; and continuing force majeure protections for actors, which the majors have sought to eliminate.
For its part, the AMPTP’s insisted it won’t change the final offer to SAG — issued June 30 as SAG’s master contract expired — and stressed that the offer’s terms are similar to those in deals with the WGA, DGA, AFTRA, IATSE and casting directors.
SAG and AMPTP negotiators achieved minimal progress in more than 40 sessions between April and July before talks broke off on July 16.
SAG’s negotiating committee has the power to ask the guild’s 120,000 members for a strike authorization, which would require 75% approval by those voting for the guild to go out on strike. The final decision on striking would rest with the national board, where control shifted to a less assertive coalition in September elections and away from the more aggressive Membership First faction.