The Screen Actors Guild Negotiations continue -- even with a decidedly less militant newly constituted majority on its Board of Directors. This was surprising to some in the entertainment community, yet it really shouldn't be because these folks aren't crazy. They don't want to give away the store and recognize it's vital to have the contract end around the same time as the Writers Guild and the Directors Guild.
Hear German TV star Andreas Stenschke's words in a one minute video of support for his American colleagues. Not only does he get no money for the reuse of his acting work, but his music video Just When I Needed You Most, released as part of a ten-cut DVD of his hit series, Verbotene Liebe, provides him not a farthing because contractually he is entitled to no royalties at all.
Because of the WGA strike, management now takes the artistic community seriously. Had the Directors Guild not behaved true to form, forging a deal too quickly on the writers and actors backs simply to mollify 45% of its membership who collect little or no residuals at all, the task would have been simpler to achieve more gains. With unanimous above-the-line industry union togetherness, artists might have won their rightful share long sought in the areas of DVDs and Pay TV and better protected eroding residuals since the encroachment of cable TV for first reruns direct from network broadcast.
It's uncanny how many in the entertainment industry have been lulled into taking for granted benefits won by their forefathers so many years ago. Some actually believe it's impossible to return to the dark days when there were no residuals, but the evidence is clear that the studios' baby steps on the Internet are a clear indication of the burgeoning distribution system it will soon become. Anyone who thinks otherwise should take a look at their recent residual checks from cable reruns or VHS/DVD royalties, technologies in existence for decades that have enriched the studio/management coffers in extraordinary fashion.
That's why it's important to take a look at the future that may be ours, an existence currently lived by our European colleagues who once had residuals of a sort, but who now live paycheck to paycheck even as the companies who hired them reap millions through reruns and foreign sales.
All this could happen in the American system as well. It's important to be vigilant for the future. Whatever happens in the current SAG negotiations, artists must pledge to combine forces in 2011. And by unity I mean everyone, in the sincere hope comprehensive plans for a concerted action include a hopefully emboldened DGA and AFTRA, as well as the already proven heroic membership and leadership of SAG and the WGA.