Producers Queue Up For Online Issues
Considering new-media for membership
"The Guild has made a commitment to adding new-media producers to its membership," says Marc Levey, head of development at Web design and f/x shop Dream Theater ("Armageddon," "The Sixth Sense"), who also serves as chairman for the PGA's recently formed new-media committee. "However, we have not established how we're going to do it."
While the other guilds have focused on their membership working with the Web, the PGA is first deciding if Internet producers could qualify for membership.
In an effort to understand the impact of technology on the entertainment industry, and how it relates to producers, the PGA is asking industry insiders -- "CEOs, marketing execs, producers, agents, technologists, visionaries and journalists" -- to participate in informal summits.
This strategy to define guidelines differs from the other unions that have unilaterally promulgated their contracts.
Some of the issues addressed at the summits will be, deciding on the definition of "producer," membership qualifications and the guild's future.
Levey also wants to explore ways to protect the rights of interactive producers when inking deals with distributors.
After the summits, (the first of which was held Oct. 4 with a second planned for November), the PGA will form a separate committee to hammer out their specific new-media guidelines before the year's end. These guidelines will be reviewed and voted upon by the PGA's board of directors, and then used to amend the constitution.
"We're pushing to recognize the overall media producer, whether you work in television, film, the Internet, enhanced TV or wireless," says Levey.
As far as acceptance into the guild goes, no standards or definitions currently exist for new-media producers, with guild membership limited to television and film producers who have at least two full-length features or 13 half-hour or six one-hour TV episodes to their credit.
This is part of the problem that the PGA faces defining new standards for admission.
"When mentioning the qualifications for a TV or film producer, (the current PGA constitution) deals with national or international distribution, and with time and hours of programming," says Levey. "But now with the Internet, you can run out, buy a digital camera and shoot some video. You do one six-hour take, encode it and pop it online and run it 24 hours a day. And the Internet is international. So now am I qualified to be a producer?"
Levey says no because the PGA represents "the cream of the crop" when it comes to entertainment producers, many of whom are concerned that allowing Internet producers entrance might dilute the significance of PGA membership.
And PGA membership has its privileges. Although the PGA differs from the other guilds in that it doesn't collectively bargain for pay minimums, PGA members receive health benefits, pension plans and discounted car leases, among other offerings.
Of equal importance, says Levey, is that "the PGA serves a platform where producers can gather to share information and resources," possibly a greater potential asset to Internet producers working in an industry that changes overnight.
Furthermore, the PGA protects producers' interests when in comes to credits and ownership rights, "whether in Washington D.C. or within the studios," says Levey.
