Even a 41% pay increase can't bring SAG members together.
Six years after a bitter six-month strike over its commercials contract, the Screen Actors Guild remains divided over whether the work stoppage was a success. And a report on member earnings points up the tensions between Hollywood thesps and SAG members in other regions.
SAG member earnings under its commercials pact have increased by a robust 41% to $750 million in the five years since the 2000 strike, according to a report released Monday. But the guild hasn't acknowledged that increase publicly.
The information, generated by SAG staff for a presentation last month to the guild's commercial negotiating committee, also shows income levels rising at healthy levels in each of the past five years.
The figures were released via the actor.org Web site in the form of an open letter to SAG membership and its national board. The missive, penned by committee member Gary Epp, claimed SAG's reluctance to release the information is part of an ongoing attempt to portray the strike as a failure.
A SAG statement said the numbers were generated as part of a study to guide the chair of its negotiating committee, its chief negotiator and negotiating committee members in developing strategies for upcoming talks with commercials producers.
"Thus far, this information has been made available just to the members of the negotiating committee, key staff and others in the union's elected leadership in order to protect negotiating strategies and preserve the options of its chief negotiator," SAG said. "It is the intention of the guild to make the study available at a time when the chair of the negotiating committee, the committee's members and the chief negotiator deem it prudent to do so."
But Epp noted that the numbers aren't a secret to employers.
"This report is nothing more than a contract earnings statement, and prior to 2002, earnings information, whether good or bad, was routinely made public by SAG for anyone to see in an effort to maintain transparency," he added.
The 2000 SAG and AFTRA strike against the ad industry is still the subject of bitter debates within the unions. The strike ended only after the industry dropped its demand that network TV residuals be replaced by buyouts and SAG gave up its demand for residuals in cable rather than buyouts.
SAG members who opposed the strike -- mostly those living outside Hollywood -- have long noted that member income under the contract slid 15% in 2000 to $532 million. They also say the strike led to a growing portion of commercials being shot non-union. But members who backed the strike continue to assert that the deal with the ad industry resulted in major hikes in cable rates, and extended SAG jurisdiction to commercials shot for the Internet.
The report showed that cable earnings have nearly tripled since 2000, reaching more than $100 million last year. Meanwhile Class A network residuals for spots shown in all major markets have stayed nearly flat, going from about $80 million in 2000 to about $85 million in 2005; wildspot fees for network spots not shown in all major markets are flat at about $32 million; session fees rose from $50 million in 2000 to $80 million in 2005; holding fees went from $70 million to $90 million; and Internet revenues have grown from less than $1 million in 2001 to $11 million last year.
Additionally, the report showed that the portion of member earnings out of the total ad media spending declined from 1.6% in 1998 to the current 1.3% level.
Epp generated the report, based on the info presented three weeks ago. He also asserted that SAG has been holding back information that would allow for an informed debate about the effects of the strike.
"While opinions among the membership have been strong, both pro and con, most of the information from the guild itself has reflected a decidedly negative tone," the letter said. "Imagine then my shock, when halfway through the report that the data being presented completely refuted this view."
Epp, who was also on the 2000 negotiating committee, said the panel had already voted the report to be confidential prior to the presentation but noted that he was able to persuade the committee to remove that status, over the objections of reps from New York and the regional branches. SAG hadn't released the information after three weeks, so he decided to do so on his own.
"Why would the leadership of the union, both elected and staff, wish to withhold this information?" Epp said. "Is a weakened membership easier to control? Could it be that some current leaders of the guild, both staff and elected, built their political fortunes based on the position that the strike was a mistake and that we lost?"
Epp, who stressed that he's not affiliated with either political faction within SAG, said it was inappropriate for SAG to keep members in the dark about the impact of the strike at a time when members may soon face a ratification vote on extending the current commercials contract, which expires Oct. 29. SAG leaders have agreed to the general outlines of a deal with the ad industry that would extend the pact to allow for a study examining new revenue models such as cell phones and iPods.
Extending the contract would preserve the current model of paying SAG actors for primetime TV ads via residuals. The ad industry has been floating the idea of replacing residuals with a $19,000 buyout that would cover a year.
Contact Dave McNary at
dave.mcnary@variety.com