Voting on the AFTRA Contract - Not an easy decision

So, I did what any deep thinking actor would do…I hovered my pencil over the ballot and, in a ouija board like moment, I let the pencil decide on my vote. So don’t blame me, actors who support the AFTRA deal, my pencil said NO.

Actually I spent time reading through the contract summary, spent time on the internet looking at what other actors had to say, for and against. I listened to the phone calls from Sandra Oh, AFTRA and Ed Asner. But truly, the call from Ed Asner was almost enough by itself to make me vote YES. ( I don’t care for the direction Ed took SAG during his tenure as SAG President…but that’s another story.)

In the end I had to decide if I trusted the producers. I don’t. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Every time I get a residual check for cable or DVD usage in the mail, I wince at the paltry sum I’m going to deposit. The fact is that over 20 years ago, the producers got SAG to accept what has turned out to be a woefully inadequate deal for off network residual income. The promise was that things would get better as the market matured. That has turned out to be a big lie.

Actors like Tom Hanks and Sally Field and James Cromwell who are all pitching for a YES vote simply don’t have to rely on residual income the way the typical working-man’s actor does. These high profile stars negotiate deals well above contract minimums and aren’t impacted by the CBA the way most of us are.

EXCEPT…that actors like Tom Hanks and others also have production deals. Yes, they are actors, but they are also producers. They have an interest in paying the day players and weekly players and guest stars as little as they can in order to maximize their earnings as producers. So be it. I understand that, but then I can’t turn around and trust that they have MY best interest at heart when they encourage me to sign a deal that has terrible implications for future residual income from the internet and other so-called ‘new media’.

In the end, I just don’t trust the producers enough to say Yes…so I VOTED NO.

I’m praying that there will be NO STRIKE. But I’m also praying that there will be a reasonably equitable deal for both sides.

Tommy G. Kendrick
SAG / AFTRA