Today I had the pleasure of doing something I have wanted to do for the past twenty years:  I walked out of a SAG (Screen Actors Guild) arbitration.

For those you who are unaware of the method in which disputes are resolved between the entertainment unions and producers, I need to give you a little primer before I tell you what happened today.  Keep in mind that whenever a producer needs to hire any actor who is a member of SAG, they must agree to abide by all of the rules of the SAG Minimum Basic Agreement (“MBA”).  The MBA appears on its face to be fair.  It is not, however, as it is not enforced equally against both sides.  The enforcement procedure is heavily biased against independent producers.

The method of enforcement is a grievance procedure in which a group of union-leaning arbitrators decide the facts and issue judgments.  In fact, other than one or two of the approved arbitrators, the entire group is liberals and rarely find in favor of producers.  There is an article on the internet about a certain SAG Arbitration in which the writer states that:

There is a basic assumption in SAG arbitrations that the producer is always wrong and only wants to cheat the actors out of their rightful compensation

I personally have been involved in a SAG Arbitration in which Arbitrator Sol Rosenthal ruled that an interoffice memo at a certain talent agency had more legal effect than an executed agreement with the actor, even though the executed agreement stated clearly that outside evidence could not be considered when interpreting the agreement.  For those of you that have gone through law school, this is something you learn in First Year Contracts.  Did Arbitrator Rosenthal care?  Nope.  He ruled that the actor had a two-week guarantee of employment even though the written agreement he signed had no guarantee at all. (more…)

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the late great President Ronald Reagan’s birthday, so it’s fitting that this year a biopic on his life, titled “Reagan,” will begin filming. Mark Joseph, founder of multi-media company MJM Entertainment Group and the film’s producer gave me an update on the film’s progress this week.

The first draft of the script is done, Joseph said. “I wanted the film to highlight both who Reagan was as a boy, as a man, as well as what his mission in life was, which was to roll back communism and the Soviet Union.” As those following this project know, he’s doing that with the help of two books optioned from professor and biographer Paul Kengor, God and Ronald Reagan and The Crusader.

“Ultimately people are going to the movies to see somebody’s story,” Joseph said. “The first book (God and Ronald Reagan) provides insight into who Reagan was. The second (The Crusader) is, frankly, it’s intrigue. It’s what’s going on behind the scenes – who is he working with to make his vision happen.” 

Having read The Crusader, I’ll verify that it’s Cold War intrigue through and through. In addition to the books and input from Kengor himself, Joseph said that he and screenwriter Jonas McCord have been consulting with Reagan contemporaries like Ed Meese and George Schultz.

Joseph followed his own unique path to becoming the film’s producer. “I think I kept waiting for somebody else to do it and when nobody did I guess I decided I should,” he said. It started when he got a speeding ticket while driving from Chicago to St. Louis. The ticket required a court appearance in Dixon, Illinois, Reagan’s hometown. Being in the town touched him. “About six months later is when I optioned the film rights to the books,” he said. (more…)

So my good friends, the labor unions, have decided to pick a fight with Peter Jackson and his upcoming production of “The Hobbit.” Of course, they are not my good friends, I say that sarcastically. Unions in general are bad news these days. The idea of “protecting the worker” has somehow morphed like a T-1000 into huge, multi-billion dollar corporations that stifle economic growth while using illegal methods of coercion to blackmail money from employers. The fact that they are a de facto wing of the Democratic Party also compels me to deny their friend requests on Facebook.

The entertainment industry guilds are particularly pernicious. They have singlehandedly forced film production out of California, and now, ultimately, out of the country. Their bullying knows no bounds. They are quick with a nasty press release (as in the case of “The Hobbit”) but have no qualms about making threats to commit illegal actions to get what they want. One of Mr. Jackson’s studios burned to the ground shortly after the release of his retaliatory statements. Far be it from me to suggest arson. And no, this isn’t somebody repeating hearsay or parroting talking points. This is from someone who has had union organizers say, with a straight face, that physical violence and vandalism are not out of the question. I’ve lived to tell the tale because in some cases I’ve responded with a steely “bring it” and in other cases, I’ve made compromises or concessions that I could live with. In the cases where I told them to pound sand, I won. In the cases where I paid them off, they’ve won. In no case, however, have the actual workers won. In every instance, their conditions haven’t changed one iota. Perhaps they made an extra $5 a day, but the euphoria of extra money for a Happy Meal was quickly replaced by the misery of union dues, rules, and the inability to take work when the desperately need it. To make matters worse, the holy grail of “health care” is often out of reach for new members and the qualifications for full coverage are extremely onerous. Ultimately, the entertainment unions fail to do what is their mission: to protect the careers and working conditions of their members. (more…)

Okay, that ices it.  I was going to keep quiet about this.  But they’ve gone and done it now.  For roughly thirty years I’ve been a member of the Screen Actors Guild.  I remember back when it was rumored that you couldn’t get an agent unless you were in SAG.  And if you didn’t have a SAG-franchised agent you couldn’t work.  Only problem was – you had to get an acting job to get into SAG.  But you couldn’t get and acting gig unless you were already in SAG.  Thank God I’d seen the movie ‘CATCH 22’…or the whole thing might not have made any sense to me.

Fortunately, they had a provision around all that, the Taft-Hartley act.  If you could talk some producer into hiring you, even though you weren’t yet SAG, you could work.  The producer paid some sort of stipend fine (something like $100) and you sign a thing saying you’re joining SAG and you got your card – and everyone was happy.   Back then the one-time payment to join was $365 – for me at the time, a small fortune.  (I understand the entry fee is in the thousands now.) 

I remember when I got my SAG card in the mail, after I’d gone through the above-mentioned calisthenics.  I was ecstatic.  This, then, was corroborating proof that I was indeed a professional Actor, capital-A.  I had arrived and the world was about to be turned on its ear.  Look out, here’s Gary Graham coming to Hollywood to rip it up!

Well, I’ll leave it to the historians to determine the degree to which I’ve ‘ripped it up’, but that began my long association with the venerable Screen Actors Guild.  And initially – I loved it.  I voted in the elections.  I read the high-quality full-color-glossy monthly newsletter.  I followed union politics, strike votes, no-strike votes… and of the attendant in-fighting.   I was an actor’s union wonk.

So…why, 20 years later, would I quit SAG? (more…)

The Screen Actors Guild just announced that a whole lot of its members will soon be without health insurance. That’s because the union has lost most of its clout and income. Now, you don’t become an actor because security is high on your wish list. If that’s what you want, go to work for the post office (where one of your fellow workers may shoot you). But we used to have a pretty good union with pretty good benefits. What happened?

Fifty four years ago, I was elected first vice president of the New York local of the television actors union which came to be known as AFTRA. My fellow board members and I fought hard to convince members to merge with the Screen Actors Guild.  Double the size of the union, double the bargaining power! But some of the members resisted, afraid that the number of actors competing with them for jobs would multiply. (Virtually all work produced for television was live and did not involve film and therefore SAG. Why let all those west coast people in on a good thing!)

As time went by, things shifted, more and more shows began to be produced on film and SAG became dominant. Now, it was the film actors turn to fear competition. Why let that little TV union in on a good thing. There’s almost no live TV left, these guys are nothing but news-casters and talk show hosts.  Every attempt at merger has failed because a vocal frightened minority in first one union and then the other fought tooth and nail against it on the grounds that there would be more actors competing against them for jobs. These actors are, I think, insecure in their talent so, naturally, scared of competition. (more…)

If nothing else, you have to give the entertainment media credit for its inability to hit bottom. There is no low low enough for these people and just when you think they can’t possibly sink any lower, somehow they always manage to summon up that little something necessary to go the extra mile in the department of outright cruelty.

Last week the Screen Actors Guild announced that Ernest Borgnine will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at next years awards ceremony. Obviously this decision is a no-brainer. The 93 year-old Oscar-winner’s been making films since 1951 and is still active today, including a role in the upcoming Bruce Willis blockbuster “Red.” But now, no less than the L.A. Times is suggesting that SAG reconsider their decision to honor the man because of — their words, not mine — “his personal politics.” 

In an online article titled “Should SAG Be Honoring Ernest Borgnine?”, here’s the rationale: [emphasis mine] (more…)

As we move towards tonight’s granddaddy of all awards shows, I am starting to wonder several things: First, after seeing an editorial in the New York Times and a very drab and unhappy looking professor of women’s studies on Fox News call for just one best actor and best supporting actor award to end sex discrimination in Hollywood, I am starting to think lots of people are reading my blogs. Over a year ago I poked a little fun at the politically correct Screen Actors Guild for not using the word “actress” but still give and award for a “female actor.” The left has now jumped on my bandwagon so maybe there is hope for America and Hollywood!

The second thing that has been on my mind is which brand of political correctness will prevail this year’s Oscars. Will the “I’m voting for ‘Avatar’ because it ridicules America and its military” faction be stronger than the “It’s time a woman won best director” faction?

There are other political considerations in this year’s voting but this got me to thinking about past years and whether or not the nominations and awards really are all about the art. It seems that all sorts of considerations, political, social, personalities and career get mixed in and often the storytelling gets left on the cutting room floor. In the interest of brevity I will limit my comments to the years I can actually remember, which, if I am honest, would rule out several years in the early seventies and mid-eighties. (more…)

As we all know, the American economy is currently battling double digit unemployment.  The current unemployment rate is 10% and most major economists believe it will go higher.  The Screen Actor’s Guild which has over 100,000 members would love to see an unemployment rate that low.  On any average day, their unemployment rate is probably over 80%.

Of course, you can argue that many members of the Guild should not even be actors and that is why they are unemployed.  You can also argue there is not enough demand for 100,000 actors and a large percentage will always be unemployed.  Both of these are somewhat true.  However, if the Screen Actor’s Guild (‘SAG’) made life easier for the producer and its own members, many more actors would have steadier employment; especially the ones who can actually act.

SAG has jurisdiction against producers only within the boundaries of the USA.  They are not recognized outside of the United States and hence have no controls.  Many other countries such as the UK, Canada and Australia have their own actor’s unions which are considered sister unions of SAG.  Because of this lack of jurisdiction, SAG cannot force producers to shoot movies outside the USA under its collective bargaining agreement.

However, there is a clause in the SAG agreement that every actor becomes obligated to when he/she becomes a member of the union.  That clause states in substance that “by joining the union, I agree not to work as an actor on a film or television show that does not agree to abide by the SAG collective bargaining agreement.”  This is SAG Rule One and its enforcement overseas is now known as Global Rule One. (more…)

Newt Gingrich is much taller in person than he is on TV. The lovely Bride of Konig (author of I Wear The Maternity Pants In This Family – www.susankonig.com) and I were invited to a screening of the Newt and Callista Gingrich – produced documentary Ronald Reagan Rendezvous With Destiny the other night, and we got to meet the former Speaker of the House. For some reason I always thought he was on the short, roly poly side. TV’s short, roly poly is, in person, tall, barrel chested and imposing. This is, oddly, the exact opposite of me. On TV I am tall and thin, in person I’m short and fat. 

Reagan, Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Boris Karloff, Gene Kelly

This rare date night out without the various Spawn of Konig, naturally coincided with a gig for me: as my wife was settling into the Director’s Guild Screening Room on W. 57th. 72nd street performing a comedy sketch with TV host extraordinaire Bill Boggs in his live show Talk Show Confidential. The cue for my sketch with Bill is the end of his Richard Nixon anecdote. Boggs tells a very funny story of being a teen-aged intern in the 1960s on a talk show, and the guest is Richard Nixon. Boggs is assigned to Nixon, to make sure Nixon gets to the set on time. En route, Nixon makes a pit stop. Young Boggs is then confronted with his first major, television talk show crisis: how to tell the imposing former Vice President that he’s not only about to go on camera with his fly open, but it’s a “Grand Mal Unzipping,” the kind where your shirt tail is hanging out of the fly. (more…)

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…)

The chubby guy on the Segway rallied for a come-from-behind win over the Beckinsale-less Underworld sequel, but regardless, it was a 1-2 finish for Sony. When I originally predicted that Paul Blart: Mall Cop as the likely weekend winner over the MLK 4-day, some online sites questioned my pick. Even I didn’t expect an opening close to $40M, and now the Kevin James vehicle has surprised again.

The Adam Sandler-produced comedy has broadened its audience, showing real family appeal. That led to stronger Saturday and Sunday matinees for a stellar $21.5M by Monday morning. That gives the movie a 10-day cume of just shy of $65M, which is impressive considering that it was budgeted at just $26M. After success as a supporting star in movies like Hitch ($179.5M cume) and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry ($120M cume), it appears that James can open a movie without the help of Will Smith and Adam Sandler. Mall Cop dipped only 32% from last Friday-thru-Sunday (and that was part of a 4-day weekend, which can often lead to a sharper drop). (more…)