Handel: Pilot Season All AFTRA Again
Jonathan Handel says the early trend has carried through as we approach the midpoint of pilot season. Almost all the new productions are AFTRA. His explanation:
The ill-will generated by SAG hardliners evidently lives on in the producing community, notwithstanding the regime change 12 months ago that brought cooler heads to the elected and top appointed leadership of the guild.
The migration of television projects away from SAG has continued despite the small cost advantage in producing under a SAG contract, leading us to believe that the damage inflicted on SAG and its reputation during the Membership First years is more severe than even the current moderate leadership had thought (and that’s pretty severe.)
Handel’s conclusion makes sense to us:
It’s a murky and confused picture that once again underscores the importance of joint bargaining by the two unions and, ultimately, the likelihood that merger is only solution to the present crazy-quilt jurisdictional overlaps between the two unions.
Still waiting for someone to do an analysis of how many years of this it takes before AFTRA passes SAG for TV representation.
The other relevant question is does this strength make AFTRA less willing to “play” on merger?
Is SAG jurisdiction unchallengeable in movies (of the movie theater kind, that is)? If all else crashes and burns, do they “own” that jurisdiction, or can AFTRA eventually challenge them there too?
But yeah, merger is the answer, and has been for a long time. If only SAG can get its preparation and communication ducks in a row (which, so far as I can, has been an overall institutional weakness for a long time).
It also underscores the point that Fred W made recently, concerning the relative non-importance of bending over backwards to get the SAG and AFTRA rates in parity in these upcoming negotiations. His point was that there would have to be some return concession to “pay for” parity, and the cost of that concession probably would not be justified by the putative benefits of parity.
Right now, obviously, the slight differential in rates between SAG and AFTRA does not seem to be the deciding factor in television producers’ choice of affiliation. If it was significant, the advantage should go to SAG because it is cheaper. That apparently is not happening.
What really matters is the existence of union acting work in television at all, at either the SAG or AFTRA rates. The long-term trends are not encouraging. As reality shows, news/talk, sporting events, and other “non-actor” programming occupy more and more of the prime time schedule, there is simply less opportunity for actors in traditional television roles. Obsessing over rate parity would not do anything to solve this larger problem.
VG