Saving Grandma: My own personal SAG-AFTRA strike story
One of the few advantages of being old is that I've been able to play the role of a sweet little grandma in over 200 students films. And a mean grandma. And a vampire grandma. And even a grandmotherly nun.... But when you see the phrase "student film" on an
audition notice, it basically means that you don't get paid.
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Looking back, however, I realize that a one-time payment of $1500
wasn't all that much -- not for a commercial that played a gazillion
times on TV. I shoulda at least been paid $1600! Screw that. Let's
strike!
Recently I attended a SAG-AFTRA strike rally -- on the steps of San
Francisco's City Hall. And the speakers there pointed out some very
inconvenient truths: Studio execs were not interested in saving
grandma. Not at all. They were not interested in sincere negotiations
for instance. "Let's wait until they can no longer pay rent on their
apartments or meet their mortgage payments," studio execs were overheard
to say.
We're talking about studio execs who make bank to the tune of
$900,000,000 a year and studios that make billions in profits every quarter. My union asked the studio execs for a reasonable cost of living
increase, a buffer against inflation. Apparently they laughed. "Let
them eat cake."
We asked that our jobs not be replaced by AI technology. Who the freak
wants a robot grandma? The studios just would take a screen shot of us once, hand
us some hush money and that would be that. It's like if you study hard
in school, do well on the test, have the creep sitting behind you copy
your paper and then he gets into Yale -- not you.
Meanwhile, back at the strike rally in front of City Hall, a rep from
the Teamsters Union said that Teamsters would back our strike. Hey, all
these tough Teamsters have grandmas too.
Don't mess with grandma!
Resources:
New York is a union town! Rock the City video: https://www.sagaftrastrike.org/post/rock-the-city-for-a-fair-contract
Article on the San Francisco strike: https://sfstandard.com/2023/07/26/bay-area-actors-come-for-ai-at-san-francisco-strike-rally/
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