So,
On Saturday, SAG_AFTRA got an offer from the AMPTP.
The AMPTP called it their "Last, Best, and Final Offer."
Yesterday, SAG-AFTRA formally responded.
In an email to membership, the negcom said "There are several essential items on which we still do not have an agreement, including AI. We will keep you informed as events unfold."
In the last week or so, a rumor started going around in the trades that if this offer isn't accepted, the AMPTP would walk away from the table until after the first of the year.
I can guarantee you this is a studio-leaked bluff.
And it's aimed at audiences.
Anyone who's been in the industry for more than a year or two knows what a normal production calendar looks like.
In a normal year, most productions would be wrapping around now and in the next few weeks. Execs would be hearing pitches for next fall's TV lineup, some contracts would get negotiated, and the suits would want to take Thanksgiving and Christmas off. Then after the first of the year, pilot season would kick off.
So all of us below the line already know we're probably not going to be working in this industry again until after the first of the year even if a contract gets signed today.
The suits, on the other hand, just had to squirm for another quarterly earnings statement with futures full of chaos. That will only get darker the longer this goes on.
It took the WGA 148 days to secure a fair deal.
SAG-AFTRA is on day 117.
Why are the studios doing this?
Simple economics without taking in the big picture.
The biggest expense of any business right now is people.
Union labor in western countries is expensive.
(It's expensive because they're skilled precision labor and worth what they earn and more, but they're still expensive)
VFX and now AI is largely nonunion (though that's mercifully changing) and can easily be outsourced to any country with a render farm and an internet connection.
The studios do not care if they get the craftsmanship from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
They just want the box office of the Hobbit trilogy.
Studios want the puppet show.
They just don't want to pay the puppeteers.
And the union is holding their ground and saying "fuck you, no."
The first time I got scanned, I thought, "Oh, so if I get hit by a bus or something, they can get a last-minute insert shot of me. Makes sense."
With the language in the current offer, the studios no longer have to get the consent of dead performers to use their likeness.
(Because they know damn well that the estate of every single performer they try that crap on will show up with lawyers in tow going, "where's my cut?")
That show where I first got scanned?
Test audiences wanted to see more of me.
So I got another scene.
How did that happen?
They brought me back in and they paid me.
Which is currently business as usual.
It was in the middle of a pandemic, so the vibe was kinda weird, but still: They brought me back in and they paid me.
They didn't take that scan and make some overworked tech move my pixel puppet around.
They brought me back in and they paid me.
Now, they don't just want to cut corners, they want to cut whole fucking quadrants.
So yeah, AMPTP.
Fuck your last, fuck your best, fuck your final, and most of all, fuck you.
No.
Day 117.
One day longer.
One day stronger.
Take care of yourselves out there.
On Saturday, SAG_AFTRA got an offer from the AMPTP.
The AMPTP called it their "Last, Best, and Final Offer."
Yesterday, SAG-AFTRA formally responded.
In an email to membership, the negcom said "There are several essential items on which we still do not have an agreement, including AI. We will keep you informed as events unfold."
In the last week or so, a rumor started going around in the trades that if this offer isn't accepted, the AMPTP would walk away from the table until after the first of the year.
I can guarantee you this is a studio-leaked bluff.
And it's aimed at audiences.
Anyone who's been in the industry for more than a year or two knows what a normal production calendar looks like.
In a normal year, most productions would be wrapping around now and in the next few weeks. Execs would be hearing pitches for next fall's TV lineup, some contracts would get negotiated, and the suits would want to take Thanksgiving and Christmas off. Then after the first of the year, pilot season would kick off.
So all of us below the line already know we're probably not going to be working in this industry again until after the first of the year even if a contract gets signed today.
The suits, on the other hand, just had to squirm for another quarterly earnings statement with futures full of chaos. That will only get darker the longer this goes on.
It took the WGA 148 days to secure a fair deal.
SAG-AFTRA is on day 117.
Why are the studios doing this?
Simple economics without taking in the big picture.
The biggest expense of any business right now is people.
Union labor in western countries is expensive.
(It's expensive because they're skilled precision labor and worth what they earn and more, but they're still expensive)
VFX and now AI is largely nonunion (though that's mercifully changing) and can easily be outsourced to any country with a render farm and an internet connection.
The studios do not care if they get the craftsmanship from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
They just want the box office of the Hobbit trilogy.
Studios want the puppet show.
They just don't want to pay the puppeteers.
And the union is holding their ground and saying "fuck you, no."
The first time I got scanned, I thought, "Oh, so if I get hit by a bus or something, they can get a last-minute insert shot of me. Makes sense."
With the language in the current offer, the studios no longer have to get the consent of dead performers to use their likeness.
(Because they know damn well that the estate of every single performer they try that crap on will show up with lawyers in tow going, "where's my cut?")
That show where I first got scanned?
Test audiences wanted to see more of me.
So I got another scene.
How did that happen?
They brought me back in and they paid me.
Which is currently business as usual.
It was in the middle of a pandemic, so the vibe was kinda weird, but still: They brought me back in and they paid me.
They didn't take that scan and make some overworked tech move my pixel puppet around.
They brought me back in and they paid me.
Now, they don't just want to cut corners, they want to cut whole fucking quadrants.
So yeah, AMPTP.
Fuck your last, fuck your best, fuck your final, and most of all, fuck you.
No.
Day 117.
One day longer.
One day stronger.
Take care of yourselves out there.
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