Why Actors Are Striking For The First Time In 40 Years

it's like a weird dichotomy of both feeling really successful and really gratified and then also wondering if you'll have health insurance two months from now I'm an actor and a writer I've been on such shows as Barry the patient stuff like that I think what we've all seen is the shift to streaming and unfortunately our contracts were not negotiated for streaming they were negotiated for network television so in some instances we don't have protections on streaming in the way that we have protections on network television and so what you have are situations that now occur where we're not being compensated fairly equals and so a residual is something when the show re-air somewhere or it gets sold to another Outlet we get a check sometimes those checks are pretty good maybe you get a thousand dollars one day in the mail that you weren't expecting um sometimes those checks are literally one cent biggest thing I was saying I was on a show on Netflix called bonding my show was originally like an independent series and then Netflix bought it and put it on their platform which was amazing and it more people saw it than I ever anticipated like millions and millions of people the way the contracts were set up because the budget was so low was that there were there was no residuals involved in it it sounds like you made nothing like nothing in residuals like you'd make a diamond I didn't make a single Dollar in residuals for that show as residuals are going down and as these shows are being pulled off platforms or not aired actors aren't receiving any residuals from them which leads them to not be able to often make their health insurance so health insurance is obviously a difficult thing when you're in a business where your income is completely unpredictable I was a series regular on NCIS Los Angeles I played Nell Jones for 11 Network television Seasons so um yeah I've done a lot of TV and in December of 2022 I received a letter from sag letting me know that I no longer qualified for health insurance what was the work for you know my labor lines the pockets of these Executives and to what benefit in return right okay they're still profiting off of my performance and I can't even go to a GP if I have a sore throat that's not okay I think the perception is that performers um who work at a professional level are all successful um I think that has to do with how our industry is glamorized and romanticized in the media and I've been lucky to work a lot across different mediums but I have a full-time job as a flight attendant because that's less stressful than worrying year after year about making my minimum health insurance qualification minimums for union health insurance E I have another full-time job I'm a writer so I couldn't be an actor I couldn't continue to be an actor and pay for my life in LA and have health insurance if I wasn't also in the wga I sometimes say that writing supports my acting hobby I was very fortunate to land the job that I got right out of school it's not the norm I'm aware of that I'm aware of my privilege and I'm very grateful um for the opportunity that I've had but it's not the norm you know I have a friend who is an incredible actor was cast on a Marvel Disney Plus show as a prominent actor's mom and she made five hundred dollars from her time on that show that is just not sustainable you cannot sustain life on five hundred dollars all we're asking for is for the ability not even to to get rich uh it's for the ability to be able to do our jobs we should be able to afford to to wear the work Place let's just take care of this now like hey you know what if we make a show that costs 10 million dollars on network we're going to pay you the same money as if we make a show that costs 10 million dollars on a streamer if I'm a waiter and I work at a really nice restaurant and I'm a waiter and I work at a not as nice restaurant I'm the minimum is still the same is still the same we can't be going into every job literally not knowing how much money we're going to make we have to take away the ability from the amptp and from the studios of backing us into a corner and making us accept deals that are a not fair but B against the spirit of what's already been negotiated this negotiation is consequential if we do not get what we're asking for it there is just going to be continued erosion right it's the erosion of compensation residuals the existential threat of AI which is so real right we're right there and what I want for All actors is um a sense that a sense that our Union is fighting for us in a way that will keep us here and that will continue to protect us in a really long-term thinking type of way we have to get comfortable advocating for ourselves our benefits our access to pensions are minimums everything is degrading it's not keeping up with inflation and if we don't take a stand there's no way the life of a working stable performer is going to be a viable lifestyle anymore we're going to lose it if we don't fight for it

Channel: More Perfect Union

Views: 77,635

Keywords: more perfect union, politics, writers strike, actors strike, film industry, breaking news, actors strike 2023, actors guild strike, hollywood actors strike, film industry news, sag aftra, hollywood strike

Id: KdtpZR8cC_w

Length: 6min 25sec (385 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 23 2023