Ed Asner on SAG's choice

"I now fear for the future of the Screen Actors Guild and for the acting profession."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-asner28-2008dec28,0,2233934.story

Do you trust the AMPTP?

A generation ago we cut the AMPTP slack in crafting a video deal under the assumption that it would be revisited and made fair once the technology took off.

But for more than two decades the AMPTP continued to give us only a tiny sliver of the billions of dollars of windfall revenue they made selling videocassettes and DVDs. For SAG members, the question is this: As our colleagues at the Writers Guild of America are learning, the AMPTP has its own interpretation of the deals it makes. SAG does not want a strike. We made the decision to seek a strike authorization only after the AMPTP continued to stonewall through negotiations and mediation. Now, the AMPTP is attempting to use today’s economic uncertainty to intimidate us into signing away our future for decades to come. Meanwhile, they spent $100,000 on an ad! Obviously, we have their attention. Send the AMPTP a message by approving a strike authorization to empower SAG’s national board, so the AMPTP knows that we mean business

Message Regarding the CEO's Open Letter

Eight entertainment industry CEO’s whose annual salaries and bonuses exceed the amount needed to achieve labor peace for our industry asked why SAG wants a better deal than the other Hollywood guilds.

What they conveniently left out is the fact that the deal they are offering includes rollbacks no other guilds had to accept. Those other deals also included new media loopholes that would prevent SAG actors from sharing in the studios’ success in any meaningful way when this technology inevitably explodes. To find out how our proposals are different — not better or worse — but simply different than other unions’ deals, go to http://www.sag.org/tvtheatrical-negotiations and download “Questions and Answers Regarding Negotiations” and “Fact Checking the AMPTP.”

How Far Have we come since January

A few different classes of actor in this town;
Group C...The Stars
Group B... those that hope to make a Modest Living
Group A...those who work for Free.

Which group are you in? Which group would you like to be in?

I'm barely hanging into group B. Group A makes that even harder. They work under "fiancial core", they work non union, they bark and moan that the leadership is fighting too hard for us. That's our dividing line, some want to bargain for more and others want to settle for less. AFTRA is a perfect example, they were willing to settle for less.

Now the people fighting for less are being backed by Sally Field, group C. Can you honestly say that Sally Fied has even a single idea what being a working class actor means. She probably hasn't worked for scale EVER. See the stars are fighting not for minimums but just to keep the show rolling so they can keep rolling in it!

Only 6000 actors have signed on supporting our unions negotiated pledge. To the Producers that looks like about 6 % of us care......Powerful.

Welcome to Working Actor LA Bloggers

Wow...you found it. Now take advantage of it. IT is a magical conversation that takes place any time. I'll give you an example. My WA (working actor) buddy Chad and I were having a conversation after an audition Monday. It was about personal worth in the context of our Business negotiation. i.e. Are you worth the $15,000 that a decent national commercial will pay you? Yes, no, maybe, they could find someone else, but you're unique, I'm no Michael Jordan, but you are, well if it's this or that. Wow. Are YOU worth $15,000 for 1 day of work and 365 days of auditions, no auditions, callbacks, parking tix, classes, beating your head against the wall, starving.

The conversation is to be an Informed Working Actor.