Hey, Writers! Strike This!
Once upon a time, I wanted to be an actor.
No kidding. I was in dozens of shows. I even have an official college degree in acting and everything. Neat, huh?
There was just one problem. I wasn't a member of the Screen Actor's Guild or Actor's Equity, the unions for both screen and stage actors, respectively.
How do you become a member of said unions? Well, you get a role in a film or a play that requires union membership. And how do you do that? Well, first you have to be a member of the union. Anyone else see the problem here?
Unions, at least in the entertainment industry, have nothing to do with helping actors or writers or anyone else. It's solely about protecting union members. And the way to do that is to keep new actors out of the union. The only way you can get in is if someone breaks the rules for you.
I was reading an article linked over at the Drudge Report about the upcoming writer's strike, and several of the comments came from members of the writer's guild. Then a guy named Daniel dared to say this:
The bright side is that maybe unknown writers like me will be able to get their work noticed out of sheer desperation. Hopefully they will find the talented, unnoticed writers that were unable to get their scripts noticed.
Good idea, right? Then a union thug responded with the following:
Daniel - on behalf of my fellow members of the WGA, I want to remind you that if you submit materials to the signatory studios and production shops during a strike, your action will effectively ban you from joining the WGA, thereby stopping your prospective writing career before it has even begun.
Way to encourage a colleague there, you union thug!
Once upon a time, unions might have been a good thing. Now they do more damage to their professions than management has ever done. If you doubt that, just take a look at education, where every common sense reform that requires even a scintilla of teacher accountability is stymied at every turn. Al Shanker, former head of the national teacher's union, famously remarked that “When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children.” Charming.
Surprisingly, I've been able to make a comfortable living while never belonging to a union. I've dealt with a bunch of them, though, and their purpose is always to encourage mediocrity, to punish management, and to get more pay for less work.
I've never belonged to a union, and I never will.
I've never belonged to a union, and I never will.
posted by Elder Samuel Bennett | 10:31 AM
12 Comments:
You wrote:
"How do you become a member of said unions? Well, you get a role in a film or a play that requires union membership. And how do you do that? Well, first you have to be a member of the union. Anyone else see the problem here?"
This is incorrect. You get a role by auditioning and getting the part. If it is a union production, you are then obligated to join the union.
But getting the role in the first place is up to your talent.
True. Except it's almost impossible to get an audition for most union productions unless you're already a member.
Thank goodness Utah is a right to work state.
Wait. Let me revise and extend my remarks.
When you say you are "obligated" to join the union, you make it sound as if the union is willing to let you join at will. You can't. Walk in off the street to a SAG or an Actor's Equity office and tell them you'd like to join. See what happens.
As a producer, I've made people members of Actor's Equity, and the union is never happy about it.
I meant if you get the part, the union makes you join (or gives you a one-time exemption if you don't want to join.)
I clearly wasn't talking about if you walked in off the street.
Getting the audition has very little to with the unions and everything to do with getting an agent.
You want to shit all over them, be my guest.
The Wizard of Speed and Time (good stop motion work) dealt with the issue of the Hollywood Unions.
"Oh, I always wanted to be a Teamster. So lazy and surly... mind if I relax next to you?" _ Homer Simpson
I have 70+ union members that report up the chain to me, and have handled dozens of grievances. Unions have the effect of marginalizing talent and glorifying, even demanding, mediocrity.
Oh, and I cannot count the times a shop steward or business agent has asked me to get rid of an employee they don't like and promised the union won't fight the termination.
I would be very pleased if you'd use less mustard.
Thanks.
"Unions have the effect of marginalizing talent and glorifying, even demanding, mediocrity."
Do you really think the WGA is made up of mediocre writers, and therefore great writers don't belong to it?
Name your top ten films and TV shows. I guarantee most if not all of them were written by WGA writers.
Mediocrity? No sir.
A friend of mine had to quit the sheet metal union he belonged to for less than a year because he had to work much longer hours than he did for the private company he used to work for, could only take very few breaks during the day, had to follow all kinds of ridiculous safety rules that he didn't have to before and had to endure a stifling militaristic atmosphere. It wasn't worth the extra dollar or two he made. Don't know if the same can be said of all other unions, but this particular one definitely couldn't be described as lazy. Militaristically surly, yes.
Well of COURSE they were written by WGA members. No one else was allowed to write them.
You may be correct regarding the WGA. I don't have any specific experience there.
My experience with the union has been that an exceptional employee is quickly put back into line by the rank and file union leadership, in order to keep the expectation of performance at an certain level. There is little, if any, ability for management to reward top performers, due to limitations of the collective bargaining agreements. Also, there is very little ability of management to extend exceptional help to employees for fear of setting precedence and the union requiring that the same be offered to all union members, regardless of circumstances.
Perhaps the WGA is different. Was Chariots of Fire written by a WGA member? This is far and away my favorite movie.
Foodleking, you are correct in that the WGA is different with regard to that kind of hierarchy. It doesn't exist because the union doesn't have that kind of control over how its members perform and are rewarded. The WGA's main tasks are: setting minimums that writers are paid, getting residuals for re-use of a writer's work, and ensuring that the companies chip in for health care and our pension. Also they arbitrate credit disputes.
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