A Message from the

SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Local President Patricia Richardson

Los Angeles July 5th, 2020

Dear Members,

The Los Angeles Local represents nearly 50% of our Union’s Members and roughly 55% of our Union’s earnings. If you are a member of SAG-AFTRA, be it in Los Angeles or any of our 24 sister locals Nationwide, hopefully you are still deciding how you will vote on the 2020 TV/Theatrical Contract that has been presented to you.

To begin, I genuinely appreciate that our National Board of Directors agreed to include a dissenting opinion in the official materials sent with your ballot. This is an acknowledgement that there is a significant disagreement about the strength of this contract. In fact, in my years of service I have never seen such a large NO Vote for a TV/Theatrical contract.  32.39% of the National Board, including myself, voted NO.

Therefore, because the National Board voted in favor of this contract, you are only being presented with the items that support a yes vote. I ask you to consider the rest of the story.

The decision to ratify this contract is consequential and the most important thing we want you to understand about what will happen when the results come in is this:

1st:  Voting Yes does NOT mean we get to go right back to work. 

2nd: Voting No does not mean we go on strike. No one wants a strike.

What we want to do is to let our system work. When we Vote NO, we will empower our negotiating team and our current leadership to go back to the table and get us a better deal. 

Please know that this Contract will be in force for three full years. Once we are out of this tragic pandemic and catastrophic economic crisis, we will want to have met this moment with resolve. We must not allow the era of Covid-19 to undermine our true value.

There wouldn’t be an industry without performers. We must have a deal that addresses the world as it is now. For example, the figures in this deal were calculated, not as laid out in our own safety recommendations, but as though we will somehow immediately begin working in a normal way in normal times.  A realistic understanding of the environment we are in must be reflected in our relationship to the Producers. In the coming months and years, when we finally do go back to work, we want to actually make a living in safer conditions and have a secured future. 

Thank you very much for taking the time to make the most informed Vote that you can. 

Respectfully,

Patricia Richardson

President of SAG-AFTRA, Los Angeles Local.

When you’re ready VOTE HERE:

Upcoming Contract Events

Dear Members,

32.39% of the National Board of Directors voted NO on this deal.

The phrase “historic gains” doesn’t tell the full story.  This contract enshrines historic losses and missed opportunities.   

This deal was negotiated during an unprecedented global health and economic crisis.  Our country has turned to performers for warmth, humor, and inspiration.  The value of our services is growing, not shrinking.  Even through the shared pain of this moment it’s our duty to negotiate with strength to fiercely protect your wages, residuals, health, safety, and the survival of our Pension and Health Plans.  

KEY CONCERNS  

Syndication 

• Destroys our decades-old fixed residual formula.

  • Up to 90% reduction.

  • Total 3-year loss of $70 million.

  • 8-year loss of $170 million.

  • 2019 earnings of $95 million will plummet to $16 million.

  • Affects 35,000 individual performers.

• Pre 1998 episodes will have your P&H contribution deducted from your residual.

Pension & Health 

• 1.5% of the proposed 2% P&H increase will be deducted from your wage increase.

• Members working under an AFTRA contract receive zero individual pension increases, bypassing them, going straight to the AFTRA Retirement Plan. 

Advanced Payment of Residuals

• The Netflix deal achieved a 15% cap, while studios can continue to apply a significantly higher percentage.   

Background 

• Of the promoted $318 million increase, the 1 new Background spot in the 2nd year is worth only .2% ($600,000).

• In the last 28 years, BG has lost a total of 36 spots. 1 new spot isn’t enough.

• Scanning: No protection for background actors from the use of digital doubles. 

• Unequal nudity protections.

Foreign Travel

• Giving away First-Class Travel under 1,000 miles, especially in the Covid era, puts our members at risk. 

Grandfathering in SVOD

• New episodes of old shows are prevented from receiving newly increased negotiated residuals.

• The supposed elimination of “grandfathering” in this agreement is extremely vague. 

Stunts

• Money/Schedule Breaks ignored for features, robbing cumulative overtime. 

• No safety improvements. 

New Media under 20 minutes 

• New Media shows under 20 minutes will continue to be freely negotiated and will not have most of our standard protections.

• No minimums 

• No 12-hour turnaround

• Half-hour shows are typically 22 minutes. Cutting just 2 minutes will side-step the basic agreement.

Options & Exclusivity 

• The freedom of performers to pursue future work remains terribly restricting.

• Guest spots are unfairly limited.

• Actors are put on unreasonable holds.