Bullying Screen Actors Guild Does More Harm Than Good

A few months ago I wrote a column about the effect IATSE’s wage increase in Michigan would have on future production in Michigan.  Just recently, the company I have my first look deal with decided to produce another picture in Michigan and was informed my column made it impossible for IATSE to negotiate or help us in any way.  They basically said this is the deal, take it or leave it if you want to shoot here; your employee ruined it for you. 

My company then proceeded to disavow any knowledge of my column and said that what I write is of my own doing and not the policy of the company.  This is true.  It is my own doing.  No one tells me what to write or censors my editorial content. 

I still believe IATSE is harming the burgeoning film industry in Michigan.  I believe that if IATSE was doing the right thing in Michigan, the state of Michigan would be putting all of the other tax-incentive states out of business.  Producers would be running there in droves. 

Unions are supposed to be the mechanism to level the playing field for the working man.  Their job is to protect the working man from “the man,” and to keep their members employed fairly.  Isn’t employment what unions are really all about:  Especially now when unemployment is so rampant all over the United States, particularly in Michigan and California.  You would think the unions would be bending over backwards to work with “the man” in a mutually beneficial situation.  Let us all do whatever is necessary to keep employment in the United States; not Eastern Europe or Asia.  (more…)

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Tags: IATSE, IndependentFilm, Michigan, Nu Image, SAG
Posted Oct 29th 2009 at 5:02 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, News | 25426237 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/fdemartini/2009/10/29/bullying-screen-actors-guild-does-more-harm-then-good/Bullying+Screen+Actors+Guild+Does+More+Harm+Than+Good2009-10-29+12%3A02%3A48Frank+DeMartini

ObamaCare: Where is Hollywood?

With the health care debate getting loud and furious, you have to wonder why Hollywood has been so remarkably silent. Maybe the Celeberati don’t care whether citizens have health care, or maybe they are happy with the generous coverage they get from SAG and AFTRA, and believe the President who tells them they will get to keep their current coverage.

It can’t be accidental. Certainly there must be one celebutard who has an opinion on the debate. I long for a wonderful bit of wisdom from Sheryl Crow, perhaps a suggestion to save costs and the environment by washing and re-using band-aids.

Where is Barbra Streisand? Barbra has been noticeably absent from all political debate lately. Probably not coincidentally, she just released a new album. Perhaps her handlers advised Babs to tone it down; that her target audience is  composed primarily of senior sitizens now, a demographic that has a tendency to skew conservative and worry greatly about their health care. (The profit motivation is an  awesome force, strong enough to restrain torrents of wisdom from the Great Barbra Streisand.) (more…)

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Tags: AFTRA, Babra Streisand, Mike Farrell, Obama, ObamaCare
Posted Sep 8th 2009 at 3:25 pm in Politics | 21889886 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tslagle/2009/09/08/obamacare-where-is-hollywood/ObamaCare%3A+Where+is+Hollywood%3F2009-09-08+22%3A25%3A06Tim+Slagle

Public Healthcare = Reality Televison

The ugly truth about the health care debate can be summed up by the nightmare created by reality television: non-union actors (who we call “scabs” during strikes) are threatening the long standing system by jumping into the pool without regard for those who have worked hard to achieve their status and benefits.

Listening to Obama talk about covering the 47 million uninsured sounds great.  It’s the equivalent of saying EVERYONE should be able to participate, to try out for parts, and get treated as well as the top 1% of actors.

Except therein lies the difference.  If the non-union or “uninsured” jump into the pool, everyone on the union job is going to receive less pay, or the insured will receive less health care. (more…)

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Tags: healthcare, insurance, ObamaCare, Reality TV, SAG
Posted Aug 11th 2009 at 11:52 am in Entertainment, Politics | 203274100 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mwarstler/2009/08/11/public-healthcare-reality-televison/Public+Healthcare+%3D+Reality+Televison2009-08-11+18%3A52%3A18Morgan+Warstler

AFTRA: Card Check This!

I’m a member of two performing arts unions. I pay dues to two organizations that actively support efforts to influence producers to hire fewer actors of my gender and race. They also spend millions of my dollars supporting candidates and issues which are anathema to me. Here’s the latest example: The first letter below was sent out to all AFTRA members urging them to send this form letter supporting Card Check to their representatives in Congress. They urged us to customize the letter so it wouldn’t look so “form,” so I did! I don’t think my letter is what they had in mind. I urge all SAG and AFTRA members who are readers here to do the same. (more…)

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Tags: AFTRA, Card Check, SAG, Secret Ballot, The Employee Free Choice Act
Posted Mar 12th 2009 at 10:49 am in Entertainment, Politics | 7794241 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/03/12/aftra-card-check-this/AFTRA%3A+Card+Check+This%212009-03-12+17%3A49%3A59Jeffrey+Jena

The Obama Presidency: Another Lousy Remake

Mr. President, the fact that you and your party spent the better part of 8 years systematically and falsely tearing down the presidency of George W. Bush to seize this moment of power is reflective of the fact that your party is corrupt beyond belief. Only a corrupt organization can behave with one singular, mean-spirited and patently false message like that for eight long years.  You’re not a real leader, but instead you’re a brilliant MIS-leader.

I’ve intentionally held back from being too critical long enough to give the President and his staff time to really show their hand to the American people but enough is enough. This is a disaster that is going to last 4 slow, long years and will likely end with legions of young Democrats, completely disenfranchised, running to our party because we’re the only ones who actually read and understand the fine print. Consider a vote for a Republican in 2010 and 2012 to be like that extended warranty you can purchase with expensive electronics. You know, the one that provides added protection against defects? If what’s broke cannot be fixed then it’s replaced free of charge with something new and better — and Congress has been making some strange sucking sounds lately… (more…)

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Tags: budget, Democrats, Obama, ronald reagan, SAG
Posted Mar 9th 2009 at 4:05 pm in Politics | 72950146 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmcgruther/2009/03/09/the-obama-presidency-is-another-lousy-remake/The+Obama+Presidency%3A+Another+Lousy+Remake2009-03-09+23%3A05%3A23Michael+McGruther

The Big Lie About The Big Lie About The Employee Free Choice Act

It all started with an innocent-looking email, this one from the collective bargaining entity which represents me as a network television writer.  Along with the usual minutia there was a note requesting my support for the Employee Free Choice Act, a law which would allow employees to vote on unionizing while dispensing with some of the niceties we’ve come to associate with voting in this country— like, uh, the secret ballot.  Hence “free choice,” in the sense that it’s not free and it’s not your choice. 

Like most sentient, English-speaking people I oppose the EFCA because it would invite the browbeating of workers into unionizing whether they wanted it or not– which is why I suspect President Obama supports it.  I expressed these sentiments to the collective bargaining entity which represents me as a network television writer and before I knew it a lively exchange was underway between me and a self-described “union organizer”– which sounded suspiciously to me like “community organizer.”  That should have been my first clue. (more…)

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Tags: Employee Freedom of Choice Act, SAG, union, unionize, wga
Posted Mar 7th 2009 at 6:43 am in Entertainment, Political Humor | 7437893 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/nrice/2009/03/07/the-big-lie-about-the-big-lie-about-the-employee-free-choice-act/The+Big+Lie+About+The+Big+Lie+About+The+Employee+Free+Choice+Act2009-03-07+14%3A43%3A51Ned+Rice

Actors On Strike – Take Two!

Dumb

With the ongoing struggle within SAG between the strike faction and the anti-strike faction, and with the upcoming commercial actor’s contract negotiations looming, it is time to address the big issue behind the union’s difficulties. No, it’s not the economy, new technology, or the explosion of reality television. Those are just  messy details. The big picture reason why the Screen Actors Guild is a mess? It’s run by actors. Actors shouldn’t be running unions. Because actors are dumb. I know – I’ve been an actor all my life, I’ve been around actors all my life. Let’s face it – if life is one big SAT test, we actors are still in the hallway tying our shoes.

(Case in point: that last metaphor. What does that even mean? Just dumb.) (more…)

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Tags: easy pour spout, Norma Rae, Pillsbury Dough Boy, SAG, SAG strike
Posted Mar 3rd 2009 at 9:36 am in Celebrity News, News, Political Humor | 7147080 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dkonig/2009/03/03/actors-on-strike-take-two-by-dave-konig/Actors+On+Strike+-+Take+Two%21+2009-03-03+17%3A36%3A45Dave+Konig

Why a Straight Sean Penn can play Harvey Milk

I do a bit in my nightclub act about how hard it is to make a suspense thriller in Hollywood today because of political correctness. If you make a black man or an Arab the bad guy; that’s racial prejudice. If you make a woman the villain, you’re a sexist. If a gay man or woman is the heavy then you’re a homophobe and in today’s Hollywood there is no more dangerous career move than going up against GLAAD.

So today most filmmakers opt for the politically correct solution of demonizing the only target that doesn’t fight back; corporate America! And who is it that runs all the corporations in America? Rich, fat, middle-aged white men! (more…)

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Tags: GLAAD, Hollywood. Political Correctness, Jeff Bridges, Jeffrey Jena, SAG
Posted Feb 1st 2009 at 10:30 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Politics | 3483068 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/02/01/the-vast-right-wing-conspiracy-why-sean-penn-can-be-gay-2/Why+a+Straight+Sean+Penn+can+play+Harvey+Milk2009-02-01+18%3A30%3A42Jeffrey+Jena

Boycott George Clooney? How Un-American!

This recent attempt at a SAG Awards’ boycott of eight actors by some Hollywood members of the Screen Actors Guild got me thinking about an Oscar night from almost ten years ago when the Academy was honoring Elia Kazan with a lifetime achievement award.

I remember being on sets or in casting-session waiting rooms and getting into heated “discussions” with actors about The Red Scare Blacklist, and how we should “never forgive anyone who named names to save their own skin.” 

But Kazan only ever admitted to doing what he thought was right. But my actor friends, most of whom were born long after the period in question, and whose knowledge of The House Unamerican Activities Committee was usually limited to lectures from their favorite college professor, wouldn’t buy it. “Phooey,” they said. There was only one explanation: anyone who cooperated with HUAC was a coward motivated by ruthless career ambition. Anyone who refused to testify, however, did so only out of a high minded commitment to principles.

(more…)

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Tags: academy awards, blacklist, Elia Kazan, HUAC, oscars
Posted Jan 10th 2009 at 4:06 pm in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Video | 1430553 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tshillue/2009/01/10/how_unamerican/Boycott+George+Clooney%3F+How+Un-American%212009-01-11+00%3A06%3A10Tom+Shillue