SAG PRESIDENT ALLEN BLASTS MAJORS' FINAL OFFER 7/17

SAG's Allen blasts majors' final offer
Move a sign that stalemate will last a long time
By DAVE MCNARYMore Articles:
SAG, AMPTP wrap sessionIn a sign that the SAG stalemate will persist for some time, Screen Actors Guild national exec director Doug Allen has blasted the majors' final offer again.
The message to members, sent Thursday, will dispel any optimism that the guild's going to make a deal any time soon. The move comes a day after an apparently unproductive meeting between SAG and the AMPTP, with no future get-together set.

Allen said he wanted to explain why SAG's negotiating committee had not accepted the June 30 offer by the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers.

"For one reason and one reason only: It's not a good offer," he said. "It doesn't address enough of your priorities, particularly in new media."

The AMPTP had no immediate response. But Allen's proclamation's a sign that SAG's leaders may not make a deal for some time - even though SAG's strike threat diminished after last week's ratification of AFTRA's primetime deal, despite an avid "vote no" campaign by SAG.

SAG's perceived leverage took a hit last week after the majors disclosed that the final offer contained a $10 million retroactivity provision - as long as SAG ratified the deal by Aug. 15. The $10 million will disappear with no guarantee that SAG would be able to get those funds back if it keeps stalling.

Allen did not mention the possibility of a strike in the message. An authorization vote has not been set and would require at least 75% approval - a questionable proposition. He insisted that SAG wants to make a deal as soon as possible but doesn't want to make a deal that hurts actors.

"No deal is better than a bad deal that allows non-union productions by our employers and snuffs out residuals for projects made for and rerun on new media platforms," he said. "We don't need to experiment on the backs of actors. Our real world and practical experience has taught us how to provide union benefits and protections in low budget productions.

Allen noted that the AMPTP 's current offer to SAG is nearly the same for new media as the deals that the DGA, WGA and AFTRA accepted and has come to be called "the template."

"Some of you may be wondering why we don't just agree to the template established by the other unions," he said "The template doesn't protect actors, and while we may be the last union to come to the table, we still have the obligation to address the issues that are most important to you. We have had the extra time to effectively assess the impact of rapid technological and marketplace changes, and after careful analysis, we don't believe the template works for SAG members."

Allen asserted that in the six months since the DGA reached its pact, the landscape in digital media has "dramatically shifted" with the congloms investing heavily to fast track technology deals. And in a replay of his complaints from late January, when he and SAG prexy Alan Rosenberg blasted the DGA deal, Allen said SAG must have jurisdiction over all new media productions.

"The DGA and WGA represent writers and directors, not actors," he added. "Their resolution of the new media issues may work for them, but they don't address your specific needs. The DGA and WGA agreed to allow producers to make new media productions entirely non-union, at the producers' option, for projects below budgets of $15,000 per minute (effectively, almost all new media productions for the foreseeable future)."

Allen went on to say that union actors have to worry about competition from non-union actors, unlike. directors and writers.

"It makes no sense for SAG to agree to allow the studios and networks to exacerbate our problem by giving them a pass to produce entirely non-union under a SAG union contract," he added. "We are a union, and our mission and obligation to all of our members nationwide is to promote union jobs."

He also complained that the AMPTP offer to SAG doesn't include residuals for programs made for new media and streamed again on ad-supported new media platforms - except if a program is made for and re-run on a pay platform like iTunes and the budget is more than $25,000 per minute.

For their part, the congloms have insisted repeatedly that they're not going to revise the final offer.

"Management's resistance is frustrating but we have to be patient," Allen said. "The stakes are too high to concede jurisdiction and residuals for programs made for new media. That future is now and, if we ignore it, it will pass actors by and this generation and future generations of actors will never recover."

The lack of resolution of SAG's contract, which expired June 30, has slowed down but not stopped major feature production. TV production, however, has been largely unaffected.

The go-slow strategy carries additional risks for SAG besides losing the retroactivity sweetener -- actors working on SAG features and TV shows will do so under the terms of the expired contract; and AFTRA will have the upper hand in signing new TV shows on digital, since it's an area of shared jurisdiction.

The AMPTP has insisted the proposed deal - with gains valued at $250 million -- is generous, particularly amid a souring economy. It also warned last week that should economic conditions worsen, the congloms may reduce the financial value of the deal.

More than one option(Person) Doug Allen
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(Person) Doug Allen
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(Person) Doug Allen
Links posted in this story:Alan Rosenberg