@SueB

I couldn’t agree more.. i LOVE the extras on dvd’s (any dvd, not just HP), i watch them more often than the dvd itself.. I love the bloopers and the deleted scenes and even the commentary (esp. when the actors give comments). I love the storyboards and the gallries with pictures from the production i love the information about the actors or characters they sometimes put on the dvd. to make my story shorter: i agree with you and hope to see MORE extras on dvd’s and i so hope they never stop putting extras on a dvd, it makes it so much more fun to buy the orginal dvd and not some stupid fake copy on the internet.

True actors and others can get paid alot of money. But that is a very small minority of the industry. There are plenty of them struggle to make ends meet, and you got to realise, unlike people who work 9-5 Monday to Friday, they don’t have a steady guarantee of work all the time. So its only fair, they try and fight for better conditions.

Also, I don’t want to turn this into another US v UK arguement, we can surely do with out it. But even though it is funded by and American studio, it is still very much a British production.

I deeply appreciate Michael, Andrea and Neil explaining to everyone why actors’ unions like SAG, AFTRA, and Actors Equity exist. Only about 2% of members of these unions make the astronomical sums that fan magazines write about.

The remaining 98% of their members are actors who struggle daily to make a living, by doing extra and background work on films and commercials, very low-paying regional theatre work (when they can get it!), and other one-day or one-week jobs sometimes only vaguely related to acting. The rest of the time, they’re waiting tables, doing temp work in offices, and a variety of other survival jobs to keep body and soul together.

Unions don’t only strike about wages - they strike about working conditions, length of the work day, health insurance, pensions - all the things that office workers have and take for granted. Unions are there to protect actors from being misused, overworked, and underpaid by management/producers—those who stand to hugely profit from films, TV, and theatre.

I should know, because I was a union actor for 15 years, and my husband has been one for 30 years. After 3 decades in this business, we’re still struggling to support our family, but my husband is dedicated to continuing in this chosen profession—one that average people seem to idolize until the actors’ unions talk about strikes.

For some reason, this sentence was edited in my e-mail. It reads, complete, as follows:

Unions don’t only strike about wages. They strike about working conditions, length of the work day, health insurance, pensions – all the things that office workers have and take for granted.

Ilove this book it’s great!I love all the books!!!!!!

hmm, its my favorite book too. hope nothing untoward happens.

I love all the books!

They’re PLANNING a strike? That’s ridiculous. I hope nothing interferes too much because I have high hopes for this film!! :)

Michael -

Can you confirm what are the most pressing issues for the unions at the moment? Is it DVD extras, as SueB mentions, and are there other contract points that the general public would not be aware of?

I find this fascinating….thanks for your insight.

Posted by jensenly

---

I’m not as up on what SAG will be stressing right now as I’m teaching at a university for the Fall, which is keeping me busy.

I will say that some things negotiated in the past include better working conditions for the rank and file (the 98% of the membership who are notearning millions of dollars per project), higher slaraies, higher pension and health payments by the producers, residuals for DVD sales and cable/satellite broadcasts.

Something else to keep in mind is that SAG and AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) usually negotiate together with the producers. One of the main reasons for that is that the network and cable television contract is negotiated at the same time and both unions have TV contracts for certain shows. For example, the last I heard some situation comedies are under SAG contracts and some still are under AFTRA contracts. Game show are under the AFTRA contract and I suspect that some reality shows are AFTRA as well. And I haven’t even touched the cable networks yet.

So it’s much easier for SAG and AFTRA to join forces than negotiate separately. Which means those unions must agree on what they will propose to the producers. Which means they need time to prpare their proposals. Which means reports of negotiations as strikes pop out in the media months before the end of the current contract.

Oh, something else you may not know:

The union negotiators are made up of union members who have been elected to run the respective unions, without being paid to do so. That’s right, Ladies and Gents, except for the handful of people who are hired by the union to keep the books and do the other nuts and bolts jobs to keep the infrastructure sound, the vast majority of the union leaders do not get paid for their work. It’s a volunteer job, folks.

I was a member of a local SAG Council for six years and didn’t get paid one penny. And they say this is a glamorous business. :D :D

Wow. I guess the only good news coming out of this is the fact that they start filming on monday.

Is anyone else as psyched as I am that the Director of Photography is the same guy from Amelie?

To belive or not to belive in a trashy news paper.

I had written a long post answering the question put to me, but somehow it got lost in the ‘net.

Long story, short, I don’t know the specifics of what SAG is proposing right now. I’ve been busy teaching at a university for the Fall and haven’t kept up with SAG. What I can say is that both SAG and AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) are probably joining forces to negotiate with the producers, as usual. You see, not only is the feature film contract ending, so is the television contract. And since both unions have jurisdiction over certain network and cable TV shows, they make a stronger presence to the producers when they join forces.

A couple of things you may not know:

- The unions and producers negotiate contracts that last for three years. Every once in a while a contract is extended, sometimes up to a year, as long as both sides are negotiating fairly. But three years are the norm, so you’ll probably hear about a potential strike in another three years.

- Except for the paid staff that keeps the unions’ infrastructure running, those who are elected to lead the unions, and those elected to represent members in different regions of the States are not paid. They’re all volunteer positions. I, myself, spent some six years as a member of the SAG Council for the Washington-Baltimore branch, and let me tell you, I didn’t get one dime for my time. We all did it, and do it, for the membership.

So do those non-paid, elected leaders and representatives who negotiate the various contracts every three years.

And they call this a glamorous profession. :D :D

“Is anyone else as psyched as I am that the Director of Photography is the same guy from Amelie?”

Yeah, I am too. The thing is though, the Harry Potter films have a certain visual style and the style that worked for Jean-Pierre Jeunet isn’t compatible with Harry Potter. I’m sure HBP will still look very beautiful with Bruno Delbonnel behind the cinematographer’s chair.

Excuse my ignorance but these actors’ guilds seem American. But HP actors are British aren’t they? So why would it affect HP?

I know that there have been strikes threatened in Britain by the actors’ union Equity because of bad pay – and that would affect any member of the union presumably just like with any work union. You support your colleagues even if you are well paid yourself.

It’s actually true that for many actors pay is very bad, eg those who play in choruses like on the big musicals, not lead roles (or HP!) I wouldn’t have thought. I read in a newspaper what the standard pay levels are and it was quite appallingly low. The HP actors might still support their colleagues.

But I don’t get why American strikes would affect British actors..

I haven’t read any other posts so excuse me if this has been explained previously.