Video Wars, the Latest – Tom Hanks says Yes, Joined by Clooney, Alec Baldwin, Sally Field and 500 more
No surprise, really…but the Hanks video in support of the tentative TV-Theatrical contract has just been posted on the union website, and YouTube.
The theme: it’s not a perfect contract, but it’s right under the circumstances.
SAG also announced that 500 more members have signed the Statement of Support for the tentative contract, George Clooney, Sally Field, Adam Arkin, Amy Brenneman, Morgan Fairchild, Dulé Hill, Ken Howard and Kate Walsh signed the statement. Former SAG President Melissa Gilbert signed, as did SAG 2nd VP Sam Freed, SAG 3rd VP David Hartley Margolin, and other notable actors such as Alec Baldwin, Ed Begley Jr., Jane Curtin, Mike Farrell, Patricia Heaton, Kathy Joosten, Rob Lowe, Ian McShane and Sam Waterston.
Tom seems like he is just dying to get this video over with; as if he is doing it as a favor to his buddies at the AMPTP before a trip on the yacht. It’s a speech, with a pre-planned UFS script. It’s funny how Tom speaks about a contract that doesn’t affect him as an actor at all, but only as a producer-and in tat capacity it is great for his and Playtone’s bottom line.
Hanks has been outspoken on these negotations since Rosenberg/Doug decided to “wait” to start negoatiations in January 2008. Matt, your typical MF – you smear the people because you cannot use facts to defend your positions
Matthew, Mulhern said the same thing almost same wording as you do here, maybe you two are the same person. whatever.
It is unbelievable the way you MF Cult members despise anyone who is successful. But you don’t bash Ed Harris, he has produced. Justine Batemen produces.
So I guess it’s ok to be successful, but not TOO successful. In your hypocritical world, when actors work their butts off and are lucky enough to finally get to produce their own work and treat actors with respect because they know how it is to be in front of the camera, and on top of that do good works for vetrans or those less fortunate, you guys paint them as having horns and a tail!
On one hand you want to be “partners” with producers and on the other you call them slime. Wow, how consistent. Why should anyone trust people who go from wishing for equality and partnership to out and out hatred in a blink of an eye. You can’t trust folks like that in my book.
Marisa
Matthew,
You claim that Hanks is not believable because it doesn’t affect him as an actor. How does the contract affect Ed Harris as an actor? So tell me how the contract affects Ed Harris so differently from Hanks.
I can’t believe you’re still displaying envy of success as a reason to discredit Hanks. You seemed to fade away the last time this subject came up when you claimed that Rob Schneider was only producing small indie films and that turned out to so wrong I thought you might have learned something. Now, it appears you haven’t.
You do know that Harris and Schneider both partnered with AMPTP producers on their last couple movies, right? Maybe you could take the time to explain how they managed to maintain their moral purity in such a relationship.
I think Stinkki is feeling the heat for her blatantly biased and one-sided coverage of the SAG contract issue. She has now linked a pro-contract video, saying “Here’s the 9th and newest video that the SAG National Majority wants me to post to represent the ‘Vote Yes’ side.” Maybe the people at LA Weekly started paying attention. In any case, she makes clear that if it were up to her she wouldn’t post it at all.
VG
okay, so if you make over a million dollars, your vote and your opinion don’t count? Is that the drill? But only if you say “VOTE YES”?? and if you say “VOTE YES” and you make under a million dollars, you are simply a liar, a coward, a traitor and an idiot? And you better fear for your safety because the big, bad “VOTE NO” heroes [oops, sorry, I meant to say "VOTE NO" BULLIES! ] are going to come after you?
And do what? What are the “vote no” bullies’ threats advocating? Beating people up? Killing them? Or maybe just getting people not to vote for them in the SAG Awards [see Frances Fisher]? Or maybe just doing their best to ruin their careers? Or something else equally hateful?
Bullying and threatening doesn’t make you right. It just makes you a thug.
Not to say that everyone voting no is a thug. Just most of the ones standing out in front doing most of the talking [screaming].
And by the way, yes, Tom Hanks has a lot of money and on that theory, he never has to work again, so either way this goes, it would not financially devastate him or his family. So why would he stand up and speak when he knows the “vote no” thugs/bullies are going to throw some very smelly rocks at him? Oh I don’t know, maybe because he actually CARES ABOUT ACTORS AND CARES ABOUT THE COMMUNITY OF ACTORS AND OUR UNION. AND MAYBE BECAUSE HE HAS THE FACTS AND KINDA WANTED US TO HAVE THE FACTS.
I think Stnkki posted the Vote Yes video just to givwe the Note No/MF people a chance to rant. The posted comments are again, hugely the Vote No crowd, and the Vote Yes posters have ther comments rejected.
Tom Bower is one of those ranting about ‘Producer’ Hanks…but if you go to his web site, Bower calls himself in bold print a producer. This is the same Bowers that, along with Scott Wilson, sued SAG, lost, appealed, lost, then got reimbursed their legal fees by the MF controlled board. My comment on that was not approved by Nikki, nor have any of my comments been put up.
Bateman produces webisodes undert the promulgatedSAG New Media agreement…but she’s against the same agreement now before us. Another inconsistant MF member.
Ooops, forgot to post Tom Bower’s web site: http://www.tombower.org/
Gee, he’s a .org?
“Rosenberg remains convinced that the deal appears headed for defeat, contending that the reaction in calls and emails has been very supportive.”
Well, if MF had YOUR phone number and e-mail address, wouldn’t YOU “play nice”?
Just sayin’…
Thanks to all the actors who stepped forward to make this video. It is greatly appreciated.
I think it is wishful thinking that Finke is feeling pressure. She knew that merely mentioning Tom Hanks as a future spokesperson would set off all her Pavlovian-trained regulars who fulminate at any reference to him as one of those dreaded producer types and that would raise the temperature of her blog, which has so little to offer otherwise.
i think we should abstain from paying for all movies that employ these people for 2 years, the we’ll revisit the issue.
I have been reading the MF response to the Hanks Video on Youtube.
They really are good at organizing. They must surely be emailing everyone on the ‘I REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW SAG WORKS’ email list and asking them to post ridiculous comments.
And of course, they all flock to post, since…well, typing is the only time extras get to talk. (Ouch! Sorry about that one!)
Many of the comments are once again slamming Tom Hanks for being a ……(wait for it)….PRODUCER!!!!!!!!!!
It get’s so insane. How can MF say this contract is bad because the actors can’t make enough money and then slam actors who have learned how to make money?
Every performer wants to own their work. DUH!
If you work at a dry cleaners for 20 years, it’s not because you enjoy seeing customers looking crisp and clean. It’s because one day you want to own the shop!
I am now in favor of qualified voting. For sure. We should give every member an IQ test to see if they qualify. Only the most intelligent actors can vote. That will certainly leave out all of MF.
VOTE YES = SAVE SAG.
Iknowthere’s no possible way, but … it would be frigging hilarious if Hanks were the “MODERATE candidate.”
I mean, seriously.
There would be implosions all over H’wd.
V.
SETH! LOL!
You made me spew diet Coke. That’s the best/funniest, most on target suggestion I’ve heard in awhile.
So yeah, let’s have qualified voting … you have to prove you have a functioning BRAIN!
I’m all for it.
V.
Thanks Seth!
As an actor/producer, I understand exactly what you mean. A namesake of yours, Seth MacFarlane has done a terrific job of self-producing work via the Family Guy and American Dad block on FOX Sundays.
I feel that an actor who also produces, directs, writes etc, fully understands the concept of collaboration. It’s a very basic business concept. If you treat your business of being an actor AS A BUSINESS, then naturally you are the owner, executive director, producer and have more control of your creative work.
The MF rhetoric (especially from Angel’s adminishing of my production credits) is that if you do anything but act, then you are not a “true actor”.
What a sad, dated undervaluing concept. And the unfortunate state of mind of much of the MF constituentcy.
Oh and to put a button on what I said above, the fact is that across the country, many SAG Members are not only acting, but self-producing, creating opportunities for themselves to express themselves artistically.
It’s one of the reasons I founded my theater company, so I would have an artistic home to develop opportunities for myself and other actors and theatre artists. I suspect it is a very similar reason many actors have their own production companies.
They are not waiting for that call from their agent, or the phone to ring, they are proactively seeking and developing opportunities to showcase themselves as actors and to COLLABORATE.
Here’s what absolutely kills me. So many SAG members and posters over on DHD made a point of how they’d NEVER go see a Tom Hanks or George Clooney movie EVER AGAIN!!
But, I bet you they’d work with either one of them in a heartbeat and make sure the credit appeared on their Bios and IMDB listings and facey spaces and tweetie pages. AND they would do so for whatever money they could get.
Hipocracy at its zenith…REALLY!
MG
I’m going to go out on a limb here –this election isn’t going to be that close. It’s going to go thru nationally at well above 60%. The aginners are ALWAYS outsized loud vs their actual numbers in any situation.
“…facey spaces and tweetie pages.” That got a laugh out of the old goat.
And geo, I still hold to my months old prediction – 62% nationally. And shouldn’t we be posting our SAG support videos on a site that shares its ad revenue? Why according to MF, we could be earning millions daily!
Thanks to Melissa for such a well put, salient point. Extremely unlikely that even Scott Wilson would turn down so much as a “scale” role in a film in which he had scenes with Hanks or Clooney. And (being the self-promoter he is) then promote the bejeezus out of it.
And to Rik for astutely pointing out these aren’t the 30s and 40s when the studio system took care of everything for its stars. As a manager I get almost 100 unsolicited submissions a month, many from actors who wrote, produced and directed their demos themselves, some pretty damn good. In this day and age it IS all about making your own opportunities.
Only the First Cultists could find a way of trashing this… while waiting for Opportunity to find them (instead of vice versa).
PS – I know how unlikely it is that it’ll mean anything (and the weekend numbers so far bear this out) but I am protesting (in my way) by NOT going to see “UP”, and I have a 7 year old!
I know I would not enjoy it, in spite of being a HUGE fan of Pixar, and animation in general, because I would only hear Asssssner’s voice in the most negative way.
Living by my conscience, doing what I can….
Great points by Rik, Melissa and Neil. I have gotten uch slack from the Vote no campaign/MF’rs because I have formed a production company in an effort to be proactive and create the work. They scream how I’m a “producer.” I guess I should be flattered that my efforts but me into the same ‘hate’ camp of producers as Tom Hanks and George Clooney.
But when is a producer a producer?…when you have the financing…when you have successfully produced something…or just when you give it the effort? Half the actors I know have their own companies set up to develop film, stage or TV projects as part of the bigger picture of carving out a career. Guess the MF gang missed that week in Acting as a Business 101.