On July 7 local time, the Screen Actors Guild of America sent an email to all members, indicating that a general strike of film and television actors sweeping Hollywood may be imminent.

Screen Actors Guild Sword Points at Replay Dividend Treatment

Like the American Screenwriters Guild, which is on strike, the opposite of the Screenwriters Union is the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which was established in 1924. They represent the interests of three or four hundred film and television production companies across the United States. Specially responsible for negotiating interests with industry organizations such as the Screenwriters Union, Actors Union, and Directors Union, in order to seek the maximum benefit for the employer.

Screen Actors Guild Prepares to Produce Strike Signs

Since June 30, the original contract between the Film and Television Producers Union and the Screen Actors Union has expired. However, the two sides have been negotiating since June 7, but have not been able to reach a consensus on the new contract. The two sides agreed at the end of last month to postpone the deadline for negotiations to July 12. But at present, even on this day, I am afraid that it will be difficult for the two parties to reach an agreement at once, and the possibility of a strike by actors is increasing.

If that is the case, there will be a scene of double strikes by the screenwriters union and actors union, which is extremely rare in American history, and all Hollywood film and television projects that are being filmed or in pre-production will be completely shut down. This is really a great disaster for the American film and television industry, which has only recovered from the three-year epidemic.

Although during the entire negotiation period, the labor and management have already agreed to implement a silent order on the media so as not to affect the overall situation, but according to sources, the main appeal of the actor union is actually basically the same as that of the screenwriter union. , get better replay sharing treatment. After all, from the perspective of traditional TV stations, it is easy to count and monitor how many times it has been replayed and how much revenue it has generated. But in the era of online streaming media, how many users ordered a certain work was once kept secret by companies like Netflix, and there is still the problem that the on-demand rate is not transparent enough, causing actors and screenwriters involved in the production to complain.

The reason is that, for those first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier actors, although they can make a huge profit at one time with generous remuneration, there are still tens of thousands of ordinary actors who have been retiring, taking a break from filming, or being eliminated by the film and television industry. After that, they rely on the rebroadcast fees of previous works to support their retirement. This part of the income is extremely important to them. At present, it seems that the two sides of the labor and management have a lot of differences precisely on this sharing fee, which makes the possibility of strike more and more high.

strike sign

In the email sent by the Screen Actors Union to the members of the Screen Actors Union, the main talk is that once a strike occurs, the union hopes to recruit enough volunteers to help stand up and shout slogans, raise signs and picket order during the strike. "Part of the key to the strike's success is the work of the pickets, which are peaceful demonstrations and protests outside the workplaces of the relevant companies to call attention to our just cause, to stop all film and television filming from continuing, and to combat scabs. The arrogance of the strikebreakers. For this we need your volunteers, the more the better."

In addition, a survey form was attached to the email, calling on everyone to write down their specific contact information; whether they are willing to participate in the upcoming demonstrations in New York and Los Angeles; when they are free; what specific tasks they can undertake, such as Making signs, distributing materials and taking the lead in shouting slogans, etc.

Performing arts unions have a long tradition of strikes

SAG-AFTRA was established in 2012 as a result of the merger of the Screen Actors Guild established in 1933 and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists established in 1937. Now, it currently has about 160,000 members. Basically, every Hollywood actor we are familiar with or not familiar with is a member of its members. It pays a fixed membership fee every year, and its rights and interests are protected by the trade union. outward.

Historically, the actors union, like the screenwriters union, has long had a precedent of strikes. The first was in the distant 1952 and 1955, and the appeal was the same as this time, hoping to get more share when the TV work was rebroadcast. In March 1960, the Screen Actors Union, under the leadership of then-chairman Ronald Reagan, launched another strike. This time it is mainly to ask the eight major Hollywood film companies to provide actors with better pension insurance and social security benefits. After six weeks of negotiations, the two parties finally reached a compromise, and the actors returned to the various crews. However, the shooting of many films was still unable to proceed immediately. No agreement was reached with the management. And that is also the only double strike in the history of Hollywood so far by the Screenwriters Union and Screen Actors Union. At that time, the screenwriters union's strike lasted for half a year, and it didn't end until June, which brought a lot of impact to Hollywood film companies.

Twenty years later, in July 1980, the Screen Actors Union went on strike again, and the main demand was still for a salary increase. Affected by the strike, only Powers, who starred in the miniseries Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, was among the 52 nominees for the TV Emmy Awards that September. Booth attended the ceremony alone, but fortunately, the union did not punish him for his scab behavior afterwards. The strike lasted until the end of October, and the minimum salary of Hollywood actors was raised by 32.25%, which was what they wanted.

In the following 40 years, the Actors Union has staged some partial strikes sporadically, mainly targeting advertising companies, such as ordering all members to stop filming certain TV commercials, which has no impact on Hollywood film and television production. . On the contrary, the Screenwriters Union had a large-scale strike in 2007 and 2008, and has relatively more experience in this area. Speaking of which, it has been two full months since the screenwriters union strike officially started on May 2, but both employers and employees have yet to show any intention of compromise.

Unions in Hollywood

During the two months of the large-scale strike of screenwriters in Hollywood, members of the trade union took turns to come to the office buildings of various film and television companies in New York and Los Angeles, put up various slogans, shouted various slogans, and declared their strength. In addition, many screenwriters were sent to the filming scenes of those film and television crews who were still working, and tried every means to force them to stop working, which really received a lot of results. For example, the Marvel drama "Wonder Man" (Wonder Man), the second season of the Apple drama "Loot" (Loot), and the spin-off drama "The Penguin" (The Penguin) of "Batman", They all stopped filming because of this external pressure.

Specifically, the success of this kind of pressure depends on the camaraderie among Hollywood film and television workers. It is also a weak labor force. Organizations such as the actors union and directors union have repeatedly reiterated their support for the screenwriters union strike. Like Maya Rudolph, the star of "The Spoils of War", although she was born as a comedian, she has also worked as a screenwriter; plus her life partner of more than 20 years, Paul Thomas Anderson, is also a well-known Hollywood star. Director and screenwriter, so when he saw members of the screenwriters union appearing at the filming scene of "The Spoils of War" to protest, Dang even expressed his support for their actions and would not enter the filming scene again.

Compared with previous strikes by the screenwriters' union, during this strike, the atmosphere of common hatred displayed by Hollywood film and television professionals is relatively stronger. Originally, the management thought that as long as enough scripts were prepared in advance, even if the screenwriters went on strike, the normal shooting would not be delayed, but now it seems that due to the sympathy and support of some actors, directors and even the logistics department, this kind of film and television crew that was forced to stop has been increasing.

The screenwriters union strike 15 years ago lasted for a full 100 days, and eventually caused an overall economic loss of up to 2.1 billion U.S. dollars. Taking into account the factor of currency depreciation, it is equivalent to about 2.8 billion U.S. dollars today. This time, if the two major unions go on strike after July 12, the resulting economic losses will definitely far exceed US$2.8 billion. The most direct losses come from various film and television crews. Once the filming is interrupted, the expenses of accommodation, meals, transportation, logistics and other expenses to maintain the daily operation of the crew cannot be stopped immediately. Every time the strike lasts for a day, the crews forced to stop working will be in vain. burn money.

Secondly, the chain effect brought about by the shutdown of the production crew is that a large number of unemployed people will suddenly appear in other related positions. In Hollywood, a city of film and television, once the income of film and television professionals loses its guarantee, it will definitely affect the entire small town. Catering, retail, real estate and other industries.