We received this today via e-mail:

Dear Sir/Madam

Please find Equity’s response to this post.

Regards,

Simon Whipp
Actors’ Equity National Director

Equity says:

Actors’ Equity in Australia has a long and proud history of negotiating industrial agreements that protect the interests of performers, while meeting the needs of producers. The Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) and Live Performance Australia (the producers association for live performance) have negotiated agreements with Equity for performers across the Australian entertainment industry: setting wages and conditions for film, television, dance, theatre, opera, documentaries, industrial films and television commercials.

Equity has had an industrial agreement covering “offshore commercials” since the late 1980s. Offshore agreements are commercials which come to Australia to be produced, largely from and for the US market. Originally the offshore agreement was a promulgated agreement by Equity and mirrored the terms of the SAG agreement in all respects. Later SPAA indicated a preparedness to enter into an agreement for this area of work with the union and since 1992 a SPAA/Equity agreement has been in place.

SPAA says performers will be protected by “Awards”. The “Awards” referred to by the SPAA are the minimum conditions under which employees may be engaged in any industry. They set minimum pay levels and minimum conditions. They do not regulate conditions specific to performers. For example the minimum pay for a performer to work in a television commercial is about AU$31 per hour pursuant to Award. The industrial agreement provides rates of pay substantially superior to this. There are no additional payments in the Award set for usages of the TVC. The industrial agreement sets these. The Award does not prevent the producer revoicing the performer’s voice. The industrial agreement does. The Award does not deal with the issue of what happens with different edits of a TVC. The industrial agreement does.

Under the producers proposal all these matters (and many more) would be left to individual bargaining. SPAA’s argument is equivalent to saying that US performers would be protected by the minimum wage so don’t need a commercials agreement.

In Australia, unlike in the USA, an industrial agreement will continue as a matter or course after its nominal expiry date unless one party terminates it or it is replaced by a successor agreement. Before any termination occurs it is usual for negotiations to be held between the employer body and the union in an attempt to reach a new agreement. The re-negotiation of agreements is usual. Termination is not.

SPAA’s reluctance to re-negotiate signals a fundamental shift away from fair industrial agreements. This has caused serious concern amongst performers. As a result, 98 per cent of our members have voted via a legitimate ballot not to accept any work on offshore commercials until a new SPAA/Equity agreement is reached. We note SPAA has said their view is that the strike is not legal. Equity has not and will not engage in any activity which is illegal. SPAA’s point, an irrelevant one really, is based on the strict legal definition of a strike under Australian law. That is the withdrawal of labour by someone who is contracted. As this is never the case with TVCs as they all short term arrangements there is no strike as that term is understood under Australian law. However, there is a decision by our members that they will not and expect others not to work on offshore TVCs until an agreement is reached. In lay terms this is a strike and is permitted under Australian law in the way the Equity has conducted the matter.

SPAA seems to make much of the fact that this is not an industrial agreement but a labour agreement. We are unsure of the distinction.
SPAA continues to claim that actors’ fees are making it too expensive to film commercials in Australia. We are under no illusion that these commercials are always looking for somewhere cheaper to shoot. South America, Eastern Europe and Southern Africa are all now prime advertising locations. Australian performers have never sought to distinguish themselves by being cheap. Rather they have sought to distinguish themselves on the quality of the work they do. We are not in a race to the bottom. There will indeed always be somewhere cheaper than Australia.

Equity is committed to sustaining and growing a vibrant Australian industry, that provides as much work as possible for our members. This has always been the focus of Equity.

In relation to offshore commercials we remain hopeful that an agreement that addresses the concerns of producers, but also protects the rights’ of performers is reached as soon as possible.

We remain committed to working with our sister unions SAG and AFTRA and other unions across the globe to ensure that wherever performers are engaged they are engaged on fair wages and conditions for the work they are performing.

Keith Olbermann often gives his “Worst Person in the World” honor to Bill O’Reilly, whose reactionary right wing propaganda, couched as “opinion” ignores facts time and time again. Which brings us to Nikki Finke, who seems to answer to no one in her bizarre ravings.

We’ve been forwarded an e-mail chain with an exchange between Finke and an AFTRA board member, in which Finke hits the exact same note struck by O’Reilly and Fox News when they want to avoid theirintentional slanting of the news and ignoring of facts to suit a political purpose.

The Fox excuse? “O’Reilly is a commentator, not a reporter.” Guess what Nikki Finke claims?

i write a column. i’m paid to express my opinions. those opinions may differ from yours.

OK, opinion, fine. But what about the facts?

If you look back at Finke’s recent column on AFTRA and the controversy over the closing of the Motion Picture Home, you may notice something has changed. Not that she announced the change, but she got busted making stuff up…and without any notice, days after the original post, slipped in a deletion to cover up her mistake.

Here’s her original. We added the bold in the middle.

What AFTRA Isn’t Doing For Members…
UPDATES AFTRA Re-Elects Prez Readon And OKs $300 Initiation Fee Hike
… It’s not supporting the effort to stop the closure of the long term and intensive care facilities at the Motion Picture And Television Fund. Today’s official AFTRA statement declared, “Convention delegates also expressed deep concern over the closure of the Motion Picture Television Fund’s long-term care and ICU facilities in Woodland Hills, Calif., and referred a resolution stating that concern to the AFTRA HRIC committee to investigate the circumstances of the closure.” But that’s just part of the story.

I’m told by insiders that in Chicago, the AFTRA leaders claimed they don’t know all of the facts despite hearing from both sides on the issue and can’t really rely on SAG’s national position joining the protest. Also, ignoring the tens of thousands of AFTRA-SAG dual cardholders, the AFTRA leaders expressed the opinion that the home didn’t really impact them since they have never been invited to have a seat at the board.

They even questioned if there have been or are any AFTRA members who have ever lived at the facility. So AFTRA will remain quiet in this battle. Shameful.

…It’s not doing anything publicly to oppose the shuttering, relocating, or future shortening of daytime dramas whose actors and crews make up an important part of AFTRA membership. Unfortunately, AFTRA has claimed exclusive jurisdiction over soap opera actors, which is why the Guild’s inactivity on these matters is so bewildering.

The final episode of TV’s longest running scripted series Guiding Light will be shown on CBS September 18th after 72 years on the air. Nor has AFTRA spoken about efforts to find another home for Procter & Gamble’s Guiding Light, despite such a rich history on radio and then TV and such loyal fans.

AFTRA also remained inactive this past week when ABC Entertainment, after multiple denials, finally announced that All My Children is moving from NY to LA which will idloscate many actors and other workers on the show. Meanwhile, ABC also is denying rumors that, if it addsThe Aisha Tyler Show (already okayed for a pilot) to its daytime line-up, the network may trim two of its daytime soaps to a half-hour each. AFTRA has provided no public updates on any of these soap developments.

… And, finally, it’s mucking up the issue of merger with SAG. Roberta Reardon stated, “It’s either all of us or none of us”, thus setting up her opposition to any attempts to put all actors under the same union roof.

During leadership meetings this weekend, Kim Roberts made a bizarre comparison to those who want to join up actors as “segregationists living with an apartiedsic like attitude” like refusing to integrate neighborhoods, forcing “people who look like me” she is an African American to live in substandard neighborhoods, and supporting the Jim Crow South. Playing the race card like that on this actors’ issue is truly crazy talk!

The line about AFTRA not having made any statements on the soap opera situation has now been deleted. Why? Nikki Finke got busted.

First she refused to publish a signed comment rebuking her for the factual errors. Here’s the statement Finke found too embarrassing to post:

As is so often the case, Ms. Finke, your comments on AFTRA indicate that you simply don’t know what you’re talking about. Your attempt to somehow blame the union for shifts in viewership that have led to network decisions is patently absurd.

Over the past several months AFTRA has made multiple statements both publicly and to its members regarding the situation with various troubled soap operas, including Guiding Light. The most recent of these statements came at the convention, at which delegates were briefed on the situation.

AFTRA has also been closely involved with the cast both in dealing with their individual issues, and with the unfortunately unsuccessful attempts to find a new outlet for the program.

The delegates were also advised as to the situation relating to the moving of a soap opera. The information AFTRA provided was that the move was set in motion because the larger studio space available in Los Angeles allows the multiple sets used by the production to be built once and left up, thus avoiding heavy BTL costs in New York, where sets have to be struck and rebuilt repeatedly.

On the issue of the closing of the facility, the AFTRA expression of serious concern was entirely appropriate, and might have gone further had the proponents of the resolution properly laid the groundwork. Instead, they dumped a resolution on the floor of the convention, knowing that AFTRA has not had any briefings or presentations on the home or its funding.

These matters are best fully vetted at the committee level, which is precisely what AFTRA is now doing, rather than attempting to set national policy without first doing proper research. Even though this is a big local item in Los Angeles, in the rest of the nation the situation simply hasn’t been discussed.

Further, I am certain that the AFTRA delegates did not wish to become enmeshed in a highly politicized issue that has barely gained majority support of the board of another union. Instead, they took a measured and well reasoned stance, and asked for more information.

Your expression of anti-AFTRA political opinions is nothing new. On the other hand, the members of AFTRA have repeatedly demonstrated they disagree with your spin, and reelected Roberta Reardon and her leadership team unanimously.

Since AFTRA is more than 75% comprised of actors, and they responded with acclaim to both Ms. Reardon and Ms. Hedgpeth’s reports, that should give you pause before declaring that AFTRA isn’t working for its members.

David Browde
Member, AFTRA National Board
Trustee, AFTRA Health & Retirement System

Finke’s e-mailed response was to circle the wagons and deny reality:

There is not a single public statement, press release, nothing, by AFTRA about the soap opera situation.
Those are facts. Check the AFTRA website if you don’t believe me.

Even after her error was again pointed out, Finke stayed in denial mode:

Get YOUR facts straight:
I’ve called and emailed Chris De Haan over 15 times: he doesn’t return my emails or calls.
And you can see I’m right: there is not a SINGLE AFTRA press release or public statement about the soaps news.
Nothing.

When Finke was sent a link to the weeks old AFTRA statement (which is still on the front page of the AFTRA website, she still refused to apologize, and bizarrely continued to attack:

could it have been any smaller?
could it have been more insignificant?
could it have said less substantive info?
and where’s the statement on the latest AMC development. nowhere.
maybe i’ll print all the aftra soap opera actor emails i’ve been receiving who are furious that aftra is doing nothing for them.

There was one more round of back and forth, first from the AFTRA board member:

It’s obviously been quite some time since you left journalism. Why don’t you print my comment, and your correction/apology. Then do whatever you want.

Finke’s reply:

I’ve updated. and pointed out how weak that statement is. not one specific.
and where is the statement about the amc relocation? none.
also your insults reflect badly only on you.

Updated? Well, she snuck in a change, without any notice, to her then days old story. And she still hasn’t printed the comment criticizing her mistakes.

And the statement about the AMC relocation? Backstage seemed to have it, in an article days earlier, quoting AFTRA New York Local President Holter Graham. Finke? Not so much.

So, for persistent refusal to face reality, for insisting that her opinion is more important than fact, for sneaking in corrections and refusing to admit her mistakes, and, most of all, for consistently one sided analysis of the Screen Actors Guild (and AFTRA!) we give you Nikki Finke, our nominee for wost person in the world!

Sorry we can’t give you the Olbermann intonation.

In a story that focuses on the effects on the businesses like prop rentals that depend on local production remaining strong, the London Telegraph says that film work continues to flee Hollywood, and the trend is only getting worse:

There are now nearly 50 per cent less feature film productions being shot in LA than a decade ago – thanks in large part to the trend of “Runaway Production”, where studios take their features to less glamorous states like Louisiana, New Mexico, and Michigan, all of which offer generous financial incentives.

“If we don’t become more competitive, we are not going to have a film industry in LA,” warned FilmLA spokesman Todd Lindgren.

How bad is it? Los Angeles is now suffering the same fate as New York, which bristled when shows like NYPD Blue were shot in Hollywood. Battle: Los Angeles, about a group of US marines defending the city from invading aliens is being filmed in Baton Rouge Louisiana.

Variety television columnist Brian Lowry notes the increasing anger felt by creative talent as television networks phase out their work:

At the TV Critics Assn. tour, a panel of writer-producers publicly unloaded on NBC in a manner historically rare among a class of people always uncertain about who the buyer of their next show might be.

“Rescue Me” producer Peter Tolan characterized the Leno gambit as an act of surrender, saying that NBC has “given up” and should “put up a white (flag)” outside its building. “The Shield’s” Shawn Ryan said the move feels particularly “offensive” because the network once equated with TV’s most prestigious adult dramas, such as “Hill Street Blues,” “used to stand for something better.”

Ryan also zeroed in on an underlying source of this tension that goes well beyond NBC, saying that the attitude among executives is, “If they can do without the writers, they will.” And more to the point, increasingly, they have.

. . . .

Handing nearly a quarter of NBC’s lineup to Leno follows earlier actions that also reduced broadcasting’s dramatic profile, from NBC allocating four hours to “Sunday Night Football” to airing reruns Saturday nights to expanding reality series like “The Biggest Loser,” “Dancing With the Stars” and “So You Think You Can Dance” to two bloated, schedule-filling hours.

This is the trend that all creative guilds must be attentive to. The best contracts in the world mean little if there is shrinking work under them.

A column in the Hollywood Reporter brings the depressing analysis that  there have been no breakout new shows this summer, and that returning shows are seeing unusually low ratings.  Even reality shows are having troubles.

They’re saying it’s Part 1 of a new series. Veteran television critic Joe Adalian’s thesis is that network television is in the mid stages of a complete collapse.

There’s lots of grisly detail. Adalian writes that the recently completed upfronts were far worse than the nets have admitted, that revenue is down as much as 15% (not 10%).

Here’s a disconcerting snippet showing just how bad things have become:

a network publicity department sent a memo to all of its executives asking them not to eat any of the food served to reporters at the network’s portion of the TV Critics Assn. press tour.

What this means to performers? More cut rate production techniques, salary compression in the short term, and, longer term, more loss of hours of dramatic programming long term. More cheap programming like NBC’s prime time strip of Leno.

But, increasingly, the execs are coming around to our way of thinking: free streaming of tv shows has to end. It’s killing us.

Anyway, the Adalian series looks like a must-read.

A blog we’ve only recently started to hear about, the SAG Reporter, notes that the Washington/Baltimore branch has put out an important alert about agents.

If you have made the decision to seek out non-franchised agents in areas such as Virginia, the Unions urge you to proceed with extreme caution before entering into any contractual relationship with an entity that may be operating under divided loyalties. For instance, a production company in a position to hire you that also bills itself as a “talent agency” wishing to represent you, should be thoroughly vetted before you sign on the dotted line. Union members are strongly encouraged to fully investigate companies that sell themselves as so-called “one stop shops” to ensure that there are no inherent conflicts of interest in their business models which could ultimately damage an actor’s long term career development/goals/earning capacity. e.g. if a producer you have worked for suddenly announces that it can also “represent” you as a talent agent, ask yourselves, “is this an irreconcilable conflict of interest? Is the production company more interested in keeping the costs of production down, or negotiating the highest possible wages and working conditions for my services as an actor?”

The branch lists the following as warning signs:

· Entities claiming to be “talent agencies” that seek to charge you upwards of 15% commission;
· Entities claiming to be “talent agencies” that encourage you to abandon your Union status in order to try to secure “non-Union” work;
· Entities claiming to be “talent agencies” that try to tether you to automatically renewing contracts;
· Entities claiming to be “talent agencies” that purport to own any of your work product or property as an artist in perpetuity;
· Entities claiming to be “talent agencies” that seek to have you indemnify them for the cost of doing business or litigation;
· Entities claiming to be “talent agencies” who attempt to get you to agree to non-compete clauses in their contracts, essentially prohibiting you from auditioning for other employers with which they have a pre-existing relationship.

SAG does not have an agreement with the ATA controlling member-agent relations, but AFTRA does. Under the AFTRA master deal, agents are limited to 10 per cent and their contract with talent are limited to a maximum term of three years.

According to unofficial sources, and as SAGWatch is reporting, SAG moderates have won every open NY Board seat that was up, and all the regional seats that were up as well.

Hollywood results are not in yet (expected in 1.5 hrs or so), but all the seats up in Hollywood are hardline Membership First - thus, they can only lose more seats, or hold Hollywood numbers at best.

Presidential and Secretary results are expected in 1.5 hrs also, but the NY and RBD (regional) results don’t bode well for MF, especially since two hardline presidential candidates (Anne-Marie Johnson and Seymour Cassel) are splitting the hardline vote. The interesting question will be whether moderate Unite for Strength candidate Ken Howard achieves a vote total greater than the sum of Johnson and Cassel.

If not, the hardliners can be expected to declare a moral victory, and the signal to AFTRA may be that SAG has still not turned a corner sufficient to realistically talk about merger. Indeed, unless Howard gets well over 60% of the vote, AFTRA may still be gun shy, since 60% is the threshold needing to approve merger. SAG has failed twice in the last decade to achieve that threshold, and AFTRA leaders have indicated that they won’t discuss merger unless the signals from SAG are more favorable than they have been.

Either way, management should remember that moderates as well as hardliners have indicated that they will be ready to seek a strike authorization during the next negotiations if necessary, as I reported recently. It’s going to take flexible negotiations by management to avoid a meltdown in 2010 (early negotiations start Oct. 1, 2010,just a year away) and 2011.

More later.