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.

Reality Television - the Reality is It's Written

Today there were no picket signs at Warner Bros. Studios. Were writers so weak-willed that a little bit of rain kept them away? Were they afraid they couldn't hold umbrellas and strike signs at the same time? No! The reason that nobody was out picketing WB was that there was a rally up the street on Alameda Street for the Reality TV writers among us.

What? Reality shows have writers, you say? News flash, they do. So do game shows -- somebody has to research all those questions and formulate the questions -- they don't just drop down from the heavens like manna.

Anyway, I know very little about that world, so it was an eye-opener. Reality TV writers are not covered by the WGA, consequently, their employers don't have to pay them health insurance benefits, or provide a pension. Residuals are unheard of. Wages are lower than industry standard -- guess the AMPTP won't be trotting out one of these writers saying they make $230,00 a year. And a typical day is 14-16 hours with no overtime. The typical crew member, covered by a union, gets overtime after 12 hours. You say you get overtime after 8 hours? Welcome to glamorous showbiz.

It's not unheard of for a game show to be covered by the WGA. Jeopardy is. Deal or No Deal is not. When reality TV writers approached FOX studios for health insurance, FOX responded that it wasn't their problem, go talk to the production company. One of the biggest suppliers of Reality TV is Fremantle Media of North America, which makes shows like American Idol, Price Is Right, Next Great American Band, and Temptation. Apparently, Fremantle responds to its employees desire for health insurance by getting rid of the problem: firing the writers who request it.

One reality writer and producer, Kai Bowe, formerly of America's Next Top Model, mentioned that reality TV writers are very aware that studios are using them as strike busters -- that they are being forced to work against the very union they would like to get protected by.

Aaron Solomon ran Temptation for Fremantle until he got tired of working 14-16 hours a day seven days a week trying to get 170 hours of programming done and into their schedule with unpaid overtime and quit.

In front of Fremantle, President of the Guild, Patric Verrone vowed to not abandon the reality TV workers in their quest for benefits and unionization. Not knowing much of the subject, I always naively assumed that if a group wanted coverage, then they could just join. I figured if the WGA was having trouble getting the reality TV writers under their wing, it was because the reality TV writers did not want to be unionized. The large group of people who gathered in the streets today, in what started off as rain, told me different. Apparently, once again, it's getting the Studio and production company to agree to the WGA covering the reality TV writers that's the hang up.

Patric had some interesting information to share. Apparently FOX gave health insurance to writers on The Simpsons after the show was on the air for 9 years, but refused to do the same for the Futurama writers.

Since unpaid overtime is a violation of state labor laws for any industry, some of the angry FOX writers threatened to sue and got quiet settlements from FOX. One writer, however, refused to settle and went for the hearing. The state decided he was owed $35,000 in unpaid overtime from FOX because the fact that he wasn't in a union made him an hourly employee entitled to overtime pay. So Patric encouraged Fremantle to unionize its shows because Union writers don't get overtime.

Patric's closing remarks were to read from an email from one of the state senators. The email informed us that the state legislature is going to look into labor violations for Reality TV workers. That brought cheers from the crowd.

Earlier, before the speakers took the stage, we were entertained by American satirical rock band duo, Tenacious D, (Kyle Gass and Jack Black). These musician/actor satirists had a couple of wonderful satirical songs on the Writers Strike. You can hear them on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlgm_rtfQS8.

Once again it was really nice to reconnect with a writer who I hadn't seen in a few years, BARRY O'BRIEN. I met him when we were both working at Spelling Entertainment, he as a writer on Titans and me, the script coordinator of All Souls. I last saw him at the House of Blues where Barbara Hall was performing. She was the showrunner of Joan of Arcadia, for which I was the script coordinator and she was a consulting producer on Judging Amy, on which Barry was a writer. He is now a writer on CSI: Miami.

Additional comment: To anyone who thinks that Reality Writers DO NOT WANT TO JOIN THE GUILD or the WGA is forcing them, please read this article and the subsequent comments:
http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2007/12/reality-writer-responds-to-amptp.html

I also wish to highlight this comment from Raye on the above:
To quote a fellow writer, if we took animation and reality off the table, and DVD residuals, then Nick Counter would scream, "Take off your pants! No pants at the table! I will not negotiate with people in pants!"