June
25SAG's Third Act Problem
I remember attending an opening night on Broadway some years ago when everyone in the cast kept missing their cues. That situation also reflects the present state of Hollywood’s labor negotiations.This is the moment in the show when “management” steps in with a macho final offer to the Screen Actors Guild. The leaders of SAG, headed by Alan Rosenberg, the Che Guevara of the talent guilds, review the offer and propose some tweaks.
That’s the cue for Bob Iger and Peter Chernin, Hollywood’s designated Twin Towers, to do the math and make some phone calls. Then a long-forgotten phenomenon takes place: People go back to work. Those people, that is, who still have a job.
The big question in town, however, is this: Does anyone know their lines?
Old-timers are scratching their heads. They’ve never witnessed such a bewildering stalemate as the present one. The retired CEO of one major put it this way: “We’ve got a recession. People can no longer afford to fill their gas tanks. The writers strike was a failure for all practical purposes. And the actors, who are fifth in line among the guilds, are going to go on strike? Is this reality or science fiction?”
No one is interested in history, but here’s a brief reminder of the way things used to work: In the Lew Wasserman era, Big Lew informally took the temperature of the guilds, sampled the opinions of some of his corporate colleagues, then made some quiet deals. Of course, he had his “enforcers” standing by in case anything got out of control.
Bob Daly, when he headed Warner Bros., opted for a somewhat more transparent technique. He orchestrated meetings with the key guilds one year before contracts were set to expire and settled issues in a cone of silence. There was an absence of rhetoric and position-taking. There was also an absence of strikes.
But now we’re in a new era. Everyone’s text-messaging. Never before has so much data and information been exchanged so rapidly and efficiently.
So that’s the big irony. Everyone’s on message, but no one’s talking.
As of Wednesday night, SAG remained on the attack. Full page newspaper ads reiterated its demands that AFTRA must “go back to the bargaining table with SAG and fight for a better contract.” On the list of SAG supporters were Jack Nicholson, Louis Gossett Jr., Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Ben Stiller and Rainn Wilson.
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