If It's Online, Give Me Mine

That was the rallying cry of some of the actors at the SAG rally today in front of the office building which houses both SAG and AFTRA. The purpose was to show solidarity in the face of AMPTP's stubbornness to negotiate a decent contract with the actors union. And since AFTRA had already signed the contract the AMPTP has been pushing down all the guilds' throats, it was also a rally to encourage the dual cardholders to vote against the contract when it comes up for vote.

The actors were not standing alone. Just like they came out and marched with the writers, many writers returned the favor and came out to march with them

It was an amazing crowd, considering that it was a workday and the writers had already signed their deals, so they would have to be back in the office and typing away on the computers. The sidewalk was crowded with people.

I must admit that as a non-SAG/AFTRA member, I don't know all the issues. I know that one of the main ones concerns residuals for product made-for and streamed online, in new media, when it is ad-supported. In other words, when you view an episode or film for free online, but have to sit through commercials, the studios are making money from showing those commercials in front and within their episode, film, or behind-the-scenes video. The actors feel that they should have a percentage of that revenue, in the same time-honored format as they do for ad-supported reruns on our free television -- residuals. What has contributed to making these negotiations even harder is that this is one of the issues AFTRA yielded on in their negotiation with the AMPTP. Just like they have done each time they have signed contracts poaching shows that SAG says should be under SAG jurisdiction, and would be if AFTRA didn't undercut SAG requirements in order to line union pockets. After all, it is good bottom line for the studios to go after the lowest contract they can get.

To the left is ALAN ROSENBERG, president of SAG exhorting the crowd to vote no on the AFTRA contract with the AMPTP. Love him as an actor, but here he looks very tired. You can tell the negotiations are taking a huge physical toll on the man.

To the right is KEITH CARRADINE who explained what SAG meant to him and his family. His family is a venerable dynasty of actors - patriarch John Carradine, brother Robert Carradine, half-brother David Carradine and Michael Bowen, nieces Ever Carradine and Kansas Carradine, and adopted brother Bruce Carradine. All are long time members of SAG.

Another issue involves actors being forced to hawk products within the scripts of their shows without their agreement. This might seem trivial when it concerns whether the character drinks Coke or Pepsi, but it can affect an aspect of actor's gainful employment. After all, Pepsi is not going to hire an actor to hawk Pepsi, if his popular character is seen drinking Coke on the series.

What's interesting is that I thought there was a law that said they had to use what they hawk, or at least not be against using it. But perhaps that has also been a casualty of our present government.

What is perhaps of greater concern is that without being able to say yea or nay, an actor can be forced to hawk within the confines of a story something he doesn't believe in. Like guns for someone who is for gun control. Or an abortion pill for someone who believes in Right to Life for Fetuses.

The AMPTP wants actors to have to individually negotiate that right at contract signing time, and anyone with a reasonable grasp on reality knows what happens then. If the actor doesn't sign the way the studio wants, they'll just go on to the next actor.

Of course this doesn't apply to big name actors who can dictate their own contracts. But then they aren't the ones that the SAG contracts are designed to protect, because frankly, they don't need them -- they have their own clout to get the provisions they want into their contracts.

To the left here we see actors GEORGE TAKEI and MARG HELGENBERGER listening intently to the words of WGA president PATRIC VERRONE. WGA negotiator DAVID YOUNG also spoke encouragement at the rally.

I congratulated George on his upcoming marriage and then asked something that has been on my mind. If the AFTRA contract was a bad deal, and George assured me that it was, why weren't the 44,000 dual-card holders speaking out against it?

He assures me they were, but they were being shouted down by the other members of AFTRA who weren't actors, but radio performers or broadcasters.

To the right are some of my favorite writers marching in support of SAG: GILLIAN HORVATH and ANTOINETTE STELLA.

DAVID CLENNON is also a favorite actor of mine and he was very intent on today's activities -- talking to people about how he could best help.

He was one of the actors who was out on the picket lines for the WGA Strike as often as he could.

Hopefully, this contract negotiations will get settled soon, for everybody's benefit. People are really hurting here. Many people who got laid off during the writers strike are still not back to work because of this defacto lock-out. And while the union which goes on strike has a Strike Fund to dip into to help out its hurting members, the other unions can not use their Strike Funds to help their members, because they are not on strike. Even though there's no question that their members are affected by a Strike or a Lockout, legalities won't allow them to open up their coffers to help their people. Hence people are losing their homes and jeopardizing everything they own and hold dear.

Pray that both sides come to a fair and equitable deal sooner rather than later.

Strike Ends

The strike is over by a 92.5 % vote. Showrunners were allowed to return to work yesterday, pending a positive outcome of the vote which happened today; the rest of the WGA writers will return to work on Wednesday.

I was pleased that Patric Verrone and the negotiating team allowed the membership to vote to lift the restraining order which sent the membership out on strike, even though their guild rules say the negotiating team can do so without a vote from the membership.

From what I heard of the deal presented to the membership Saturday night, it wasn't a great deal... I'm not even sure it was a good deal. It didn't seem like much better than the DGA deal, except for some window-dressing, and it seemed to lose sight in some areas that I don't think the DGA deal did.

However, it does come down to something Patric said when the strike started... when he took the DVD issue off the table to accommodate the AMPTP and they still walked: that it would come down to how much the membership was willing to fight for.

In an earlier post here, I talked about how much I admired Russell Means for standing up against bullets and possible death for his beliefs concerning his Native American people. I'm not sure I could suffer the pain of injury he went through nor the fright of possibly dying for a cause. So he looms large for me.

Here, writers were not facing bullets, but they were facing financial hardship and even ruin for themselves and many other people in the industry. So they have to decide how much they are willing to risk to keep fighting, will continuing the fight gain them more, and if the deal they got is good enough.

I don't think anyone likes the 17/24 free window in which the studios can run content, with paying adverts, without paying residuals, and I was surprised that the writers caved on this when Patric and others insisted that this was so bad in the DGA deal. I thought a much fairer window would be 7 days... like to the next episode of a series. Or to the next weekend premiere of a movie. That to me seems like real advertising. I'm surprised that the majority of writers figured in the end that three-four weeks was okay. Perhaps it was something that the studios wouldn't budge on, but I don't see that there was anything that they gave the writers in exchange.

But worse than that, in my opinion is the lack of a sympathy strike provision and the changing of the expiration date to May 1st which essentially takes away all future leverage of holding the Awards season and TV season hostage. If people thought that the studios and conglom owners could starve out the strikers now, then they have just given them the tools to starve workers out even better in the future. Strikes only work when THE SIDE BEING STRUCK HAS SOMETHING TO LOSE BY THE STRIKE and the change of expiration date takes away all the leverage the writers had. In three years, the writers and rest of the industry will be starved out long before the studios feel even the pinch that they felt today. But I know it's hard to suffer hardship now for a future day which may not come to pass. It requires fortitude and courage of the kind that people who shed their blood in the Revolutionary War and Civil War had, that all freedom fighters have.

Although I'm glad that they tried to get the sympathy strike clause, I never thought there was a snowball's chance in hell of them actually getting it. Just think, if all unions could have walked out at the same time, all the screens would go blank across this country. The moguls wouldn't know how to put a TV show physically on the air or have the time to drive each can of film to the theaters, let alone know how to thread it into the machines. How long would the strike have lasted then? That kind of solidarity between unions is something management will never allow again.

That has been the real tragedy of unions in this country and how their effectiveness has been blunted. I can't imagine why they allowed their effectiveness to be eroded thus but I also can't judge why it was given away by so many unions, because I suspect that was the only way they could get decent contracts in the past, and they had to make the same decisions that the writers have to make today: is it worth more suffering to keep fighting for what you believe in or is the offer good enough to live with? While one can understand that it might have been an impossible fight, for management might let the strike continue to doomsday rather than allow that right, it certainly makes it harder for working men and women to stand up against management today.

The other thing that bothers me about this deal is the neglect to get the favored nations clause written into it. Much has been touted that the DGA couldn't have made their deal even as good as it is without the WGA striking and that the WGA did better, however slim that was. And now the way I understand it, the DGA will get the better deal through favored nations. For those who have the hopes that SAG can build on what the WGA got and make a better deal, and hence it will trickle down... they are in for a surprise... there is only a handshake deal on new media favored nations and on no other area -- and we know how good handshake deals made in secret rooms with no paper trail or public/press attendance are. I suspect that if SAG makes a better deal on DVDs or even new media or whatever, the DGA will get that deal through favored nations and the WGA will be left out in the cold, wondering what happened. And that 7.5% of the membership who voted no will tell them -- you caved too quickly.

So, because this is a contract where writers have to decide if the deal is "GOOD ENOUGH" for them to end the strike, I'm glad they were given the opportunity to vote on it, so that the results become really the will of the membership. Apparently, it was good enough -- the vote was overwhelming. Now the writers have ten days to ratify the deal. Obviously, it will be -- how could it not? They gave away the last of their leverage... the Oscars are going ahead as planned, episodes to finish out the season are starting up... and there is no way they can jump-start another walkout if somehow enough decided the deal wasn't good enough and voted no. So it's pretty safe to say that it seems a done deal.

The above photos of Patric Verrone walking and the still united crowd show how elated people were on this last day of picketing at NBC Burbank Studios. Through cold and rain, they had kept the faith and now this would be the last time they had to do it. Spirits were definitely up.

I loved Patric's sign, which said, "I'm not talking." That's because he was walking the line on Friday and the big meeting was on Saturday night, where everything would be explained. He looked exhausted and I don't think he wanted to face bombardment. And he shouldn't because goodness knows, he put up a helluva fight for the writers.

Interestingly, this is the first time that I'm actually happy with the way I look in a photo from this windblown, sunbaked, exhausting three months. I even think I look cute, although my friend, Joe Reinkemeyer is much cuter. We've run into each other on several of the pickets, but this is the first time I've taken a photo of him or with him. Now that it's over, I wish I had done more photo-taking as a remembrance of those I stood shoulder to shoulder with.

Now the days I hate are back, that is the days of looking for work again. This is the one industry where outsiders don't understand how difficult it is to keep working... or should I say, to keep working for pay, because I don't think we ever stop working.

On Thursday we had our last big rally day, this time at Disney. The great thing about the rallies are that you not only get to meet new people, but you get to see familiar faces who may have been picketing at other studios and at other times. Part of me had hoped that I would run into Carl Binder, whom I met back at a story meeting on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and who is now on Stargate: Atlantis, which I enjoy watching. I had heard he was picketing at Disney, but I also heard he was doing the 6 am shift and no way was I coming for that. So consequently our paths never crossed, not even at the same picket line.

My friend, Pam, came out again to picket with me. And it was a delight to meet David Clennon who is most well-known for his role on Thirtysomething, although he has a ton of credits to his name. He saw my little WGA Strike sign sticking out of my hat and stopped to ask where he could get one. That led to a delightful long conversation.

I saw David also on the picket line at NBC Burbank on Friday and since we now were 'acquainted' with each other, meaning he knew my name as well as me knowing his, I was able to introduce him to a writer/reporter for Starlog Magazine who was interested in interviewing David about some of his prior Sci Fi work at a later date. I hope it works out for them.