First, I'd like to cover something that was left unsaid. In the comments for my previous post about the impending strike, Virtual Stranger reminded me of who the real villain is in this story - and it was someone I left unnamed. The Great and Mighty Oz in this equation is the AMPTP – the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers – and much like the magic man, once the curtain is drawn we see a frightened old man, afraid of losing his power over the people (now imagine him in a swanky suit and multiply him a few times – oh, and picture them all wringing their hands forebodingly. There we go:).
The point is, we tend to lose sight of that – these are the people who can really make or break these contracts. Not wanting to lose any of their precious money, they certainly don’t want to make concessions. And I’d nearly forgotten what a bunch of greedy ass clowns they could sound like when a strike rears its head. You see, pretty much every time a demand was on the table during the last round of bargaining (WGA/DGA contracts) the AMPTP mud-flinging damage control began – amounting to something just short of outright calling the writers and directors a bunch of crybabies. While that shifted our focus, let’s not forget that they’re the ones who fired all the show staffs, kids.
But during that time, I think more people were still siding with those on strike – public perception is powerful, and we tend to associate the adjective “starving” to the word “writer” fairly quickly. That makes it a lot easier for the common man to empathize with them. But when you hear “actor”, what’s used to describe that? Yes, “starving” should actually be one of them in many cases – I mean, how much can they really be paying “Mugger #5” in an episode of Law & Order? But, more often, we think of actors as “rich” or “pampered”. Despite the portrayal of SAG members as power players (an example being their caricature in that lousy puppet movie Team America), how much do they really make? Well, two-thirds of them make less than $1000 a year, and fewer than 20 percent earn more than $7500 a year. What’s the old joke – “What do you call a member of SAG? A waiter.”
But so soon after the previous work stoppage, we are still feeling the effects. TV viewing is down, and we may be dealing with few to no new episodes come fall. The general public feels let down, and they don’t know where to place the blame. Like I said, the working man isn’t feeling much sympathy toward actors right now – people are more worried about missing their entertainment fix.
Our problem as a society is that we spend a lot of time raising actors and musicians up on a pedestal just to knock them down. They’re great when they’re producing hits, but as soon as they piss you off you want to sick the rabid paparazzi on them. And that’s my point – whoever the true villain in the story may be, that damn public perception is a killer. This is just Day 1 without a contract – hopefully SAG and AFTRA can build on the precedents the writers and directors have set with their deals. Now they just need to stop fighting with each other and win the battle that matters.
Oh yeah, and if they could get Pushing Daisies back on the air on time, that’d be swell too. Just saying…
2 comments:
maybe all you geeks could read a book instead?
Hope my earlier credit wasn't seen as a jab. Just wanted it to be clear that there's a bigger reason these negotiations aren't running smoothly. The AMPTP has a huge advantage whenever these things go south, since they're the ones running every major news outlet. It's just sad that, despite the repeating pattern, the first public response is how irattional the other people are being while dealing with the calm, rational, and completely fair producers.
With all due credit, oh great El Juano, I'm always pretty damn impressed how dead-on you are about the goings-on out on this coast while you're back east (probably in one of those strange towns where men are not wanted).
;)
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