We’ve seen a lot of talk about AI and the effect it will have on entertainment in general and actors in particular. We hear about, for just one of many examples, James Earl Jones and his family making the deal to AI his voice resulting in some more-than-interesting stuff going on in Fortnite if you ask the right (or is it wrong?) questions. And we’ve seen the SAG/AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Actors as they once were and merged) efforts to enforce their contracts get represented as affecting those bigshot players and their deals.
Wrong.
So let me explain about not just SAG/AFTRA contracts but ALL of the Hollywood unions and guilds and how things really work in contract-land.
Tom Holland and Zendaya on the Graham Norton Show – YouTube, BBC
READ: Neil Druckmann Says He’s Ignoring Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet Backlash and Staying The Course
These contracts are known as the MBA or “Minimum Basic Agreement” and that is, in fact, what they are and how they are negotiated and/or struck over in the process. They set the rock-bottom MINIMUM terms of payment, pensions, perks, healthcare plans, and what is known as “working conditions” and can cover a multitude of sins.
They are NOT for bigshots. It was once calculated that of the approximately 165,000 members of SAG/AFTRA, something like 2,500 of them or less, make 90% of the income. So these contracts are there for people who work occasionally or a few times in their lives more than they are the steady familiar faces on our screens.
Helen Mirren in a CBS interview – YouTube, CBS Mornings
And here is how things work when there’s an issue. A member reports to the Guild what they think they’ve been violated over from those MBA terms. The Guild investigates and, if they think so too, talks to the producer/signatory to the contract to work something out. If, as is most likely, the signatory says “Nonsense! We’re right! You’re wrong!” things go to what is known as a “Grievance.”
And now it gets really interesting.
You see, when the contracts you see news about are signed, within them are two slates of entertainment lawyers, usually 20-25 each put up by the Producers and the Guild, who will serve as de-facto judges in grievance cases. The whole point of this process is to avoid strikes and major stoppages about limited or specific disagreements, and once one of those lawyers are randomly chosen to reign over the grievance, things move….slowly.
John Williams with Steven Spielberg via TheWaltDisneyCompany.com
READ: RUMOR: Ncuti Gatwa Fired From Doctor Who After Divisive Political Stance & Worst Ratings in 60 Years
In most cases, the actual “trial date” for the grievance hearing where this lawyer will decide who’s right and who’s wrong is about a YEAR distant from the filing of the grievance case itself. But those on the outside misunderstand exactly who or what is “on trial” in these cases.
So to explain it further, let me tell you of one I was called to be a witness at.
This was the DGA, not SAG/AFTRA, but there was a dispute over how much a person was paid and what they were entitled to. The Guild and the DGA member thought it was about $8,500. The Producers had paid considerably less than $2,000. SO…about a week or two before the impending “trial” date, the member got a call from the Guild.
“So, how would you feel about accepting $3,500 and resolving this?”
The member replied with a smile, “I’d feel better about the $8.500.”
Director Taika Waititi attends the Love and Thunder World Premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Thursday, June 23, 2022.
AND THAT is when they were informed that while it SEEMED like the Guild was acting on their individual behalf, it was NOT. The GUILD does NOT defend/grieve for individuals—it does it in DEFENSE of the CONTRACT’s terms. Grievances can be settled WITH or WITHOUT it setting a precedent, and when the other side, as in this case, says “If you compromise on the amount, we’ll agree to apply your side’s definition of the terms in question unilaterally for ALL studios and ALL such future instances, thus insuring no further conflicts on this issue ever again.”
And that is the deal that was made for the GOOD OF THE CONTRACT, even though the individual member had to “take one for the team” in the discount on what was, in fact, the amount they were entitled to.
(L-R): Director Shawn Levy, Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman on the set of Marvel Studios’ DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.
SO you see, the contract, the Guilds, all of it is about precedent and process and the MINIMUM terms acceptable. It is my OPINION (no inside knowledge of this case or these cases) that the SAG/AFTRA folks have realized that their contracts achieved after such industry disruption that they THOUGHT had very powerful and beneficial AI terms maybe isn’t so swell after all.
But good or bad, they have to defend it. What deals big stars and/or their surviving relatives achieve is irrelevant to all that.
Director Wes Ball on the set of 20th Century Studios’ KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Photo by Jasin Boland. © 2024 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
So now you know a bit how things operate in the biz called show. For more inside insights, stay tuned here, on our channels, and to your Uncle Lew who’s been around, seen a few things, and knows more than he can tell! Hope this helps you navigate the sometimes over-wrought and downright inaccurate headlines on other platforms.
Questions? Just ask.
Do you have questions for Lew about the SAG/AFTRA contracts? Ask them in the comments below!
UP NEXT: Security Breach on Avengers: Doomsday Set, Fan Posts Viral TikTok Video Footage
