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April 17, 2009
SAG Tragedy
I don't have a whole lot to add to what I wrote almost 4 months ago (below).
Expect the threat of am industry shut down forced by an AMPTP lock-out to leak out over the weekend, probably on a blog. The threat will be intended to scare SAG voters to ratify, but may become real, as if a shutdown is coming, it will be before the fall TV season would normally start production for the fall. The AMPTP could deal with a May/June shutdown if it becomes necessary.
This contract is a disaster for middle-class actors and I am going to be disgusted when the anti-Rosenberg forces try, as they already have with some success, to pin it on him. This contract was function of an AMPTP that committed to a strategy that worked brilliantly with all the unions - divide and conquer - and the internal drama at SAG that took the focus off the very real problems with this deal.
As one radical in the union said today, "Now it's up to the membership to take their union back!"
Good luck with that.
===========
The “right deal” died with the other unions, with AFTRA as the killing blow. I am amazed that AFTRA continues to behave in a completely predatory way and still, SAG members are out defending AFTRA as some sort of victim of the current SAG leadership. And when AFTRA eats SAG whole, which now seems inevitable, those same people who fought to give AFTRA more power earlier will blame Rosenberg for that also.
The “No Strike” forces have won… because in the end, the sentiment of no strike is the right sentiment, even if some have motives that can surely be disputed in high decibel levels. And there will never be a strike authorization vote or a strike.
So… what does SAG do now?
The question is, can Doug Allen and Alan Rosenberg be forced into signing the deal that is on the table? That is what I believe membership now wants, in the majority. (Yes, a guess on some level. But how many really dispute this… and is the vote delay anything less than confirmation from within?) Well, Rosenberg says he will do it if there is not support for a strike. So…
AMPTP has the offer of synchronized contract end dates for WGA and SAG in 2011 on the table… but history has shown us that once precedent is set, it doesn’t change much. So the idea that 2011 will bail SAG out is not too realistic. And by the end of 3 more years, it wouldn’t be shocking anymore for SAG to handle movies only and AFTRA to oversee all of television. This is where we have been heading since AFTRA started being more generous to producers of “taped” television that SAG was. This is where AMPTP is heading, it seems to me. It all makes perfect sense… to everyone but actors who want to make a living and will never be marquee stars. A merger will blur this more, but at some point, the interest of film actors will be discarded by a merger actor’s union and a movement to restructure will emerge.
Anyway…
I think it’s all over. A deal gets signed shortly after The Oscars. Doug Allen is marginalized or gets a settlement allowing him to take all the money and go get a job with some other union that’s going out. Rosenberg resigns. And on to the AFTRA merger.
And in all the in-fighting one very simple detail is forgotten. No one at SAG wins. AMPTP wins. 5 for 5.
Fuck.
(EDIT, 11:55a Sat - Date typo of no consequence)
Posted by dpoland at April 17, 2009 06:58 PM
Comments
"I told you so" redux x5.
Posted by: jeffmcm ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 18, 2009 03:16 AM
I don't think there was a SAG back in 1008. No movies, no film emulsion, no electricity either. I believe women weren't allowed to be actors then either.
Posted by: doug r at April 18, 2009 07:28 AM
Julian calendar, even.
Posted by: doug r at April 18, 2009 07:30 AM
"Nothing of value to add" redux x3000.
Posted by: David Poland at April 18, 2009 11:55 AM
Ok, now that the nitpicking is out of the way, I can see a future of many media outlets with smaller budgets giving everyone their 15 seconds of fame. Maybe SAG will morf into a performers rights union that guarantees certain minimums for performances vs times viewed. More like Equity, with far less stringent membership rules. You know, a real union.
Posted by: doug r at April 18, 2009 01:38 PM
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