It’s been a while since I gave you an AMPTP vs. SAG update, hasn’t it? Well, previously on Dude, Where’s My Contract?…
Marcia Wallace and the Unite for Strength underdogs challenged Membership First incumbents David Carradine and his gang for overall control of SAG’s fate. Meanwhile, the AMPTP pulled their black hats lower over their heads and announced they’d reached a tentative agreement with the casting directors’ union (scroll to September 12), which I am sure includes provisions for keeping their couch privileges.
The results of the nationwide election came in last week, and… well, let’s let SAG’s barking dog (which backs Membership First) run it down:
Well, the election results are in. And what have we learned? Members vote for celebrities, even if they have diametrically opposed political views as far as SAG is concerned.
For instance, UFS got five of their celebrities elected to the SAG National Board, as did Membership First, one independent Morgan Fairchild was reelected to the National Board.
So, forget any talk about this being a mandate for UFS or a rejection for Membership First. All in all, it seems to be more about who has the most recognizable kisser.
Average people voting for whomever they know that makes them feel comfortable rather than something different and outside of the norm? Us Americans and anyone who went through John Howard’s Coalition rule in Australia wouldn’t know anything about that, would we?
SAG proper also conducted their own version of the Gallup poll, sending out over mail-in postcards to some of their paid-up members asking if they wanted SAG to continue negotiations or if they wanted to take the “last and final” AMPTP offer from June 30. Of the 103,630 cards they sent out, SAG announced in a press release that 87.27% of the respondents would prefer for SAG to try and get them a better deal. Of course, the AMPTP had something to say about that as well, suggesting that there may have been ballot stuffing when there were reports of some actors receiving more than one ballot.
So where do things stand right now? We’re still nowhere near getting the SAG actors a contract, which means that these silly one-upsmanship games will continue to be played.
Maybe if I wait a few months, there will be more interesting news on this subject…