SAG: Over 130 Stars Against Strike

Over 130 stars have weighed in on the SAG strike authorization, coming out firmly against. Citing the economy, the A-listers "strongly" urged SAG members not to authorize a strike, and instead "take the high road ... unite with our brothers and sisters in the entertainment community and ... three years down the line ... make a great deal" when all the union contracts expire roughly simultaneously.

Finally, we're hearing from the A-listers, and it may be enough to pull SAG back from the brink. Meanwhile SAG Board members in NY and Chicago came out against the authorization over the weekend.

In addition, SAG President Alan Rosenberg was forced to cancel the emergency in-person National Board meeting he had scheduled for this Friday, after SAG activists pointed out in the strongest terms that Rosenberg had no right under the SAG constitution or state law to require that the meeting be in person, rather than by videoconference. (SAG uses videoconference for many of its meetings.)

Here's the A-listers' letter.

Dear SAG Board Members, officers and staff:

We feel very strongly that SAG members should not vote to authorize a strike at this time. We don't think that an authorization can be looked at as merely a bargaining tool. It must be looked at as what it is -- an agreement to strike if negotiations fail.

We support our union and we support the issues we're fighting for, but we do not believe in all good conscience that now is the time to be putting people out of work.

None of our friends in the other unions are truly happy with the deals they made in their negotiations. Three years from now all the union contracts will be up again at roughly the same time. At that point if we plan and work together with our sister unions we will have incredible leverage.

As hard as it may be to wait those three years under an imperfect agreement, we believe this is what we must do. We think that a public statement should be made by SAG recognizing that although this is not a deal we want, it is simply not a time when our union wants to have any part in creating more economic hardship while so many people are already suffering.

Let's take the high road. Let's unite with our brothers and sisters in the entertainment community and prepare for the future, three years down the line. Then, together, let's make a great deal.

Sincerely,

Alan Alda

Jason Alexander

Dave Annable

René Auberjonois

Diane Baker

Bob Balaban

Alec Baldwin

William Baldwin.

Barbara Beck

Ed Begley, Jr

Maria Bello

Barbara Bosson

Bruce Boxleitner

Josh Brolin

Pierce Brosnan

David Boreanaz

Blair Brown

Lizzy Caplan

Jennifer Carpenter

Steve Carrell

Mark Cassen

Erika Christensen

George Clooney

Glenn Close

Scott Cohen

Jack Coleman

Stephen Collins

Peter Coyote

James Cromwell

Billy Crystal

Matt Damon

Ted Danson

James Darren

Bruce Davison

James Denton

Brian Dennehy

Danny DeVito

Cameron Diaz

Garret Dillahunt

Larry Dorf

Minnie Driver

Olympia Dukakis

Patty Duke

Charles S. Dutton.

Shelley Fabares

Bill Fagerbakke

Mike Farrell

Sally Field

Kate Flannery

Morgan Freeman

Jennifer Garner

Teri Garr

Melissa Gilbert

Sara Gilbert

John Goodman

Christopher Gorham

Heather Graham

Kelsey Grammer

Jennifer Grey

Michael Gross

Christopher Guest

Annabelle Gurwitch

Michael C. Hall

Tom Hanks

Tess Harper

Mariette Hartley

Ed Helms

Marilu Henner

Cheryl Hines

Felicity Huffman

Helen Hunt

Jeremy Irons

Kathryn Joosten

Carol Kane

Diane Keaton

Jamie Kennedy

Mimi Kennedy

TR Knight

Sarah Knowlton

John Krasinski

Diane Lane

Michele Lee

Lucy Liu

Rob Lowe

Tobey Maguire

Janel Maloney

Camryn Manheim

Marlee Matlin

Melanie Mayron

Andrew McCarthy

Mary McCormack

Chris McDonald

Neal McDonough

Rob McElhenney

Ewan McGregor

Eva Mendes

Debra Messing

Helen Mirren

James Naughton

Edward Norton

Michael Nouri

Gail O'Grady

Kaitlin Olson

Sam Page

Eva Longoria Parker

Adrian Pasdar

Steve Pasquale

Rhea Perlman

Jaimie Pressley

Jason Ritter

John Saxon

William Schallert

Adam Scott

Tony Shalhoub

Armin Shimerman

Christian Slater

Kevin Spacey

Jerry Sroka

Mary Steenburgen

Marcia Strassman

Brenda Strong

Donald Sutherland

Kitty Swink

David Tadman

Jeffrey Tambor

Charlize Theron

Ally Walker

Tracey Walter

Belinda Waymouth

Bradley Whitford.

Lee Wilkoff

Brian Wimmer

Kevin Zegers

Louis Zoric

Follow Jonathan Handel on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jhandel

Comments

[Clennon]

UNGRATEFUL ACTOR THROWS SHOE AT WEALTHY THESP

At the SAG Town Hall meeting last night, I threw a verbal shoe at Jason Alexander. Mr. Alexander's open letter has generated considerable discussion among undecided actors. Mr. Alexander's tone is humble and sincere.

This is from Mr. Alexander's seventh paragraph [Mr. Alexander does not employ the upper-case]:

"i cannot in good conscience vote to take a stand that i know will stop good men and women from earning their livings at this time. i cannot stand on a picket line and prevent grips and gaffers and technicians and operators and caterers and office staff from earning their livings."

Mr. Alexander's expression of empathy for the crews and the staffs demonstrates public relations savvy and is probably sincere.

My wife is a member of IATSE. She worked for eight years as a second camera assistant. Along with many other actors, I picketed with the crew of "Hearts of the West" in their successful fight for a union contract. The crew of "thirtysomething" expressed their gratitude when I was the only cast member who refused to be photographed by a non-union stills-shooter from ABC.

I'm not bragging -- I wish I had done more -- but I think I can claim as much worker-solidarity as Mr. Alexander.

So, while I applaud his expression of empathy for crews and staffs, I must ask:

Where is your empathy for your tens of thousands of less-fortunate fellow actors, Mr. Alexander? (TobeCont'd)

[daveclennon]

UNGRATEFUL ACTOR THROWS SHOE (continued)

Mr. Alexander: This struggle isn't about multi-millionaire performers who generously endorse a "No" vote, out of concern for staffs and crews. It's about your brothers and sisters in your own profession who haven't been as fortunate as you. Surrender to the AMPTP won't affect you negatively, Mr. Alexander.

But the surrender you advise will affect thousands of your fellow actors whose yearly income falls well below the yearly average income of staffs and crews. The number of actors directly affected will exceed the total membership of IATSE.

You might not know many actors whose yearly earnings don't qualify them for the health insurance you receive. Did you know that your health insurance was a right that was won for you by a previous generation of actors who had to go on strike to win it?

And, yes, that strike affected crews and staffs.

Your "Seinfeld" residuals are the result of another labor action by courageous actors who sacrificed for your generation. Would you consider donating your past and future "Seinfeld" residuals to the craft unions' Pension and Health Fund?

In his tenth paragraph, Mr. Alexander declares:

"we can survive a few years of less than perfect compensation ...."

Plagiarizing from the old Lone Ranger and Tonto joke.

"we can survive a few years of less than perfect compensation ... "

What do you mean, "we," Jason?

[jaundicedview]

As a SAG member who makes his actual living on the technical side of the film industry, I see first hand the damage that will be done to the working people in this industry. The threat of strike has already driven television programming away from scripted shows, and lowered production stars on feature films. Those of us working on set, in prop and scenic shops, effects studios, sound studios, equipment rental facilites, are nervous. Many of us stand to loose our homes, and many of us are members of SAG, in fact I would wager there are more SAG members out here than the handful of middle class actors, considering the ninety-something percent SAG unemployment rate.

Damage has already been done by the ham-fisted handling of this negotiation by SAG leadership.

When a number of contracts come up for renewal in 3 years, that is the time to use leverage SAG simply does not have now. A strike now will do more harm than good, for us in the industry, and for viewers and moviegoers. THe AMPTP makes out in any scenario, let's not be quixotic when there are homes at stake.

[SimplyBilly]

The main issue surrounding a potential SAG strike is RESIDUAL payments to actors on New Media, i.e. digital deliveries of shows/movies on any platform (cell phone, PC, TV via PC, video-on-demand over cable).

What are residuals? Since it's impossible to know how many times a show or film will be aired before it's shot, actors are paid an amount for their work and initial airing (on a film, for domestic release) to minimize their upfront payment. Any further distribution, such as re-airings, VHS, DVD, pay-per-view, airlines, foreign markets, etc. will bring in further revenues to the studios and trigger residual (leftover) payments to actors, writers, directors and crew proportional to the increased revenue.

If a show stinks, no residuals. If a show has success, only then are residual payments made. This model has been in place for decades. But now the Media Giants say "no residuals for New Media." Period. They continue to make money via advertising or by credit card on iTunes, but no residuals. This is very much like the studios taking a song from The Who (CSI: Miami) and not paying royalties for its reuse. Would never happen.

Residuals are essentially payments for re-use of performers' and writers' work compensating for their reduced payment upfront. The studio position is that they will not pay and or even negotiate payment for re-use in digital deliveries. Sounds alot like the Southern Republicans in the Senate to the UAW.

[Vutan]

Simplebilly, it's not a question of the merits of the goals, but more a matter of how the current SAG leadership pursues those goal. And, quite objectively, they suck at it. I'm sorry but they do.
I mean, a union like SAG needs some political savvy in dealing with these things. These guys look from day 1 like an angry bunch determined to "stick it to the man", hitching for a strike and willing to run over everyone they perceive to be their opposition, even when they're people and organizations they would definitely need on their side during the negotiations...I have the feeling that Rosenberg was hoping for the WGA strike to last until June, and then when they settled, all of a sudden he didn't know what to do.
I mean look at the recent events: they start the whole star support thing, with their solidarity letter on the website, only to be trumped at their own game just a day later, because there's no support for their course of action in the industry. Why would you open yourself this can of worm, when you know it would bite you in the ass...and if you don't know that, how the hell can you not know what such an important part of your membership (not only "stars", but also established people in the industry) feel about it?
You need them, they're part of your membership, and they give it visibility...

[JRsNana]

I don't see Julia Roberts on this list. Is she for the strike? Inquiring minds.....

[richchaplin]

I know these are important matters...but on the lighter side: Jason Alexander's an A-lister? Half these actors I'd have to look up on IMDB to know who they are.

Quite selfishly, i HOPE they don't strike since the last strike totally &%*$#ed up my viewing schedule.

And actors -- like journalists these days -- have to read the writing on the wall and understand that the economics don't bode well for their profession. The Jay Leno move will put, what? a couple hundred actors out of work that would have been in those 5 hours of 10pm NBC dramas? Be happy you get any work. You aren't the UAW; we CAN have more reality shows and game shows if you force the issue.

[zitlight73]

There's alot of people out of work and many of them might give acting a shot. Best think about it before you go on strike.

[SimplyBilly]

It's very nice of these people to put up their opinions. But since none of these stars work for scale and quite a few are multi-millionaires, they don't speak for me. Residual payments are a major part of a middle-class actor's income regardless of what the above people say.

On commercials, SAG actors are given buy-outs for unlimited Internet use for a period of time due to the new nature of the medium. This has been the case for a few years now. Yet the studios and networks, who are putting all of their content on the Internet, continue to plead poverty to the unions yet speak of grreat growth and profits to Wall Street.

Sorry stars, I'd love to work with you for a fraction of what you make but please, don't tell me how to vote. It's insulting. And I'd love to see you report the other side of the issue Handel - this way you won't be seen as a mouthpiece for the AMPTP.

[publanski]

I can't say I'm up on the issues, but for SAG to strike now would be a public relations nightmare. I can't see the average American extending much sympathy to actors the way the economy is right now. They are probably right, but timing would be very, very wrong.

[emjay1954]

I'm as far from Hollywood as I am from the moon, and I can't pretend to have any expertise in the particular issues affecting SAG. But of this much I'm certain: There is no WRONG time to strike if important matters are at stake. In fact, the bad economy makes it all the more important for unions to stand up for their members. Every act of unified action both achieves material improvements for the workers and helps to inspire the rest of us.

Should SAG strike? I don't know. But IF they strike, I support them.

[JohnDewey]

Exactly right. Solidarity!