E. Barry Haldeman
Hollywood in limbo … once again
Hollywood is under siege and it is not letting up. The biz has been on strike or under threat of strike from one union or another since before November. That’s almost nine months.
During that period, the contracts for writers, directors and actors have all come up for renewal. The only union to actually go on strike, however, was the Writers Guild, and that was a doozy; it lasted for 100 days, during which time the town came to a virtual standstill.
Now everyone has settled, except for one of the actors unions. Yes, there are two actor unions. The smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) with 70,000 members, and the giant Screen Actors Guild ( SAG) with 120,000 members; about 44,000 belong to both. AFTRA represents live radio and television performers, newscasters, soap opera stars, musicians, as well as actors on a small number of TV and cable shows shot on digital. SAG represents actors on all other filmed and digital motion pictures, TV/cable shows and some other areas. The SAG and AFTRA agreements with producers both expired June 30.
SAG and AFTRA have had a love/hate relationship for years. Recently they have been sniping at each other over digital TV and cable productions because they both have jurisdiction in that area. Since more and more shows are being shot on digital there is constant competition between the two unions.
But, realizing the power of showing a unified actors’ front, the two unions have always jointly negotiated their agreements with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP, the trade association that represents studios, networks and major production companies. Not this year. Things got so dicey between the two unions over several issues that SAG chose to go it alone for the first time in 27 years.
So after the writers and directors settled, SAG demanded their close-up and commenced negotiations with the AMPTP. They wanted a better deal than the writers and directors. Of course, the AMPTP loved that.
After negotiating for several weeks and getting nowhere, the producers told SAG to exit stage left and they allowed AFTRA into the spotlight to negotiate their own agreement. AFTRA made a deal fairly quickly and recently submitted the deal to their membership for ratification.
SAG was livid. They felt that AFTRA had rolled over on certain important issues and in an unprecedented move in the union world, actively lobbied AFTRA members to vote down the new agreement. SAG took out ads, called their joint members and sent e-mails. Not all SAG members agreed with this approach. Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin and about 600 actors signed a letter in support of the AFTRA agreement; the likes of Jack Nicholson, Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen urged members to reject the deal. George Clooney tried to get the two sides together but struck out. It was crazy, actor against actor.
The result: last week AFTRA members voted to accept the AMPTP deal by 62 percent. So SAG is now the only Hollywood union without an agreement.
Will there be a SAG strike?
Their agreement expired June 30, so SAG actors are now working without a contract and could technically strike at any time, although it takes about three weeks to get authorization for a strike and requires a 75 percent vote to do so. Meanwhile, the AMPTP announced they have given SAG their “last best offer.”
In fact, there is a de facto strike. Many studios are not starting production of pictures for fear they will be shut down if there is a strike. Some TV series seem to be continuing on a week-to-week basis. About 500 independent producers (who have no studio financing for their picture and have no studio distribution deal) have signed an interim agreement with SAG That allows them to start or continue production with SAG actors and provides that they will have the benefit of whatever deal SAG eventually makes with the AMPTP. But that only tends to cover smaller, independently produced pictures. Of course, AFTRA members can now work on AFTRA productions.
SAG is not wrong about the issues they are holding out for, like higher royalties on DVDs and more jurisdiction over downloads, but the question is whether they can achieve any more gains from producers in this economic climate.
Unfortunately, SAG and the AMPTP have no talks scheduled, so Hollywood is once again in limbo.
What’s next? Film at 11 … or maybe not.
E. Barry Haldeman is an entertainment lawyer with the firm of Jeffer Mangels Butler and Marmaro LLP in Century City. He represents writers, producers, actors, authors and companies in the entertainment business. He previously served as executive vice president of Business and Legal Affairs for Paramount Pictures.