Election gains give SAG opening on agents deal
New board points to union unification on tenpercenters matter
|
That's the word from SAG prexy Melissa Gilbert as she preps for the Oct. 12 national board meeting. Gilbert's allies won a commanding victory in last week's board elections, decreasing the chances of the panel continuing to split on the question of how the Guild should regain oversight on the town's tenpercenters.
"We all realize that having a SAG master franchise agreement is valuable," said Gilbert. "I didn't feel it was right to set policy prior to the election."
The franchise agreement expired in mid-April when members voted down a proposed revamp despite campaigning by Gilbert and CEO Bob Pisano. Opponents' key concern was that loosened agency ownership rules could lead to conflicts of interest.
Gilbert's declaration represents a significant turnaround for SAG, since the board has not acted since April other than waiving the rule that SAG members be repped only by franchised agents. With SAG opting to avoid confrontation since then, agents have been able to sign thesps to less restrictive General Service Agreements that allow bigger commissions.
"The sooner this gets resolved, the better," Gilbert said. "The longer we continue without an agreement, the more opportunity there is for mischief by both sides."
Gilbert would not provide specifics as to how SAG can lure agents back to negotiations -- which have not taken place since February -- but suggested the panel needs to "slowly and deliberately" start examining the issue of qualified voting. SAG's national board balked in July at moving forward on a "working in the trade" proposal that would limit which SAG members can vote to those directly affected.
Had the national board voted up the measure, it might have relaunched negotiations with agents since such a move would have addressed one of the key agent complaints about SAG -- that nonworking actors may have been the key component in the April's "no" vote by members. Only 30% of SAG's 98,000 members are repped by agents.
"We want to be extremely careful we are not disenfranchising people out of hand," Gilbert noted. But she clearly favors some form of qualified voting, noting that it's inappropriate for her to vote on SAG's industrial contract since she never works in that area.
Gilbert strongly endorsed working out jurisdictional battles with AFTRA but indicated she won't immediately push for revisiting a SAG/AFTRA merger in the same form as was defeated in 1999. Although she supported the merger three years ago, Gilbert contended the same deal would no longer makes sense because of massive changes in the entertainment business.
Gilbert also said her Half Pint Prods. company is seeking projects, adding that she sees no conflict of interest in doing so. SAG's national board voted in early 2000 to allow board members to act as producers.
"In this business, actors have to take matters into their own hands," she added.
SAG's Hollywood and New York boards met Monday night and tapped Gilbert allies for key slots, including Mike Farrell as first VP from Hollywood and Eileen Henry as second VP from the New York division. Serving on the National Executive Committee with Gilbert, treasurer Kent McCord and secretary Elliott Gould: Farrell, Amy Aquino, James Cromwell, William Schallert, Trista Delamere, Barbara Bosson, Morgan Fairchild, Noah Wyle, Vivicca Whitsett, Bruce Boxleitner, Suzanne Cryer, Eileen Henry, Paul Christie, Maureen Donnelly, Mike Hodge, Sue-Anne Morrow and Cynthia Vance.
