July
16Time to Get Real
Consider the following: At a time when the nation’s financial institutions are teetering on the brink of collapse, a major talent guild in Hollywood is threatening a strike.
Is this real or is this science fiction?
Facing a black hole in the economy, the moment has clearly arrived when management and the Screen Actors Guild must sign off on a new contract and the town must try to get back to normal. Equally important, the mega-companies that own Hollywood along with the talent guilds must figure to how to conduct a productive dialogue so that the traumas of the past year will not be revisited in the future.
The downside is that the guilds will be further radicalized and that meaningful negotiation will be even more incendiary.
Just as the nation’s economy is in turmoil, so Hollywood’s economy, too, has gone through a disastrous period. Despite the spin, the basic reality of the writers strike is that both sides lost. Here was a perfect model of the wrong negotiation at the wrong time.
There was a period not that long ago, when labor and management identified key issues and started negotiations a year in advance amid a cone of silence. There were real talks, not rhetoric.
This year the two sides have been posturing, not negotiating, and the net result is the present stalemate.
The studios are sitting down with SAG this afternoon in an off-the-record session that more reflects the practices of the past. The obvious question is this: Will the companies throw a bone to SAG to facilitate a compromise? Or at the very least, by agreeing to submit the deal to SAG membership, the guild could realize the retroactivity clauses offered by management (that deadline is August 15).
At stake is a potential end to the present de facto strike. Having faced earlier disruption, the TV business is regaining its momentum while the feature business still struggles. Unemployment is rife and, given the dire state of the economy, Hollywood faces stressful times.
Hollywood’s success traditionally has depended on a unique partnership between the numbers guys and the talent guys.
That sense of collaboration must be restored. For that to happen, both sides must “get real” at the bargaining table this week. Judging by today's terse announcement, it is clear that this is not happening.
Is this real or is this science fiction?
Facing a black hole in the economy, the moment has clearly arrived when management and the Screen Actors Guild must sign off on a new contract and the town must try to get back to normal. Equally important, the mega-companies that own Hollywood along with the talent guilds must figure to how to conduct a productive dialogue so that the traumas of the past year will not be revisited in the future.
The downside is that the guilds will be further radicalized and that meaningful negotiation will be even more incendiary.
Just as the nation’s economy is in turmoil, so Hollywood’s economy, too, has gone through a disastrous period. Despite the spin, the basic reality of the writers strike is that both sides lost. Here was a perfect model of the wrong negotiation at the wrong time.
There was a period not that long ago, when labor and management identified key issues and started negotiations a year in advance amid a cone of silence. There were real talks, not rhetoric.
This year the two sides have been posturing, not negotiating, and the net result is the present stalemate.
The studios are sitting down with SAG this afternoon in an off-the-record session that more reflects the practices of the past. The obvious question is this: Will the companies throw a bone to SAG to facilitate a compromise? Or at the very least, by agreeing to submit the deal to SAG membership, the guild could realize the retroactivity clauses offered by management (that deadline is August 15).
At stake is a potential end to the present de facto strike. Having faced earlier disruption, the TV business is regaining its momentum while the feature business still struggles. Unemployment is rife and, given the dire state of the economy, Hollywood faces stressful times.
Hollywood’s success traditionally has depended on a unique partnership between the numbers guys and the talent guys.
That sense of collaboration must be restored. For that to happen, both sides must “get real” at the bargaining table this week. Judging by today's terse announcement, it is clear that this is not happening.
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This entire scenario has become a ridiculous parody of itself. It's simply two spoiled brats fighting over the last few licks of cake batter left in the mixing bowl, while the once luscious cake itself grows stale on the counter.
SAG's Hollywood leadership needs to grow up, wake up and smell the decaying carcass of the US economy before it's too late for them, and for the rest of us. It's completely hypocritical for the likes of Sean Penn, Jack Nicholson or Ben Stiller to hold sway with regards to BASE pay for actors when none of those esteemed gentleman has worked for scale in the past ten years, nor ever will again. How DARE they support a "Vote No" campaign that will have NO IMPACT whatsoever on them personally? How egotistical are these people?
There is such a thing as TIMING -- something I stupidly assumed actors knew about -- and this is just NOT the right time for this kind of posturing. This is people's livelihoods we're talking about here, NOT some celebrity cause celebre. It's easy to get on your high horse about minimum pay when you make more on one project than most SAG members will make in a lifetime. It's gross that these guys live in a LA-LA-LAnd bubble in which standing up for a principle requires absolutely no personal sacrifice or cost on their parts. Others must pay for Sean Penn to stand up for what he believes in. And Jack Nicholson certainly won't miss a Lakers game as a result of lost work. And Ben Stiller, well he'll simply make his Dodgeball sequel (tentatively entitled DodgeballS) a few months later, after hundreds more people lose their homes. Oh well, there's plenty more film technicians and auxiliary crew ready to be used up and spit out by this narcissistic system. After all, it's the actors that matter.
Posted by: HettyPooped | 7/17/2008 12:02:38 AM