The new commercial contract has been something that my union has been working towards for a long time. It’s been a big part of what Union Working has been working on and making sure that we have a great contract. I know that this isn’t important to a lot of people who aren’t actors or in the entertainment industry, but I feel like it does have a much bigger impact than just how actors are paid for commercials. This is about being a strong union and making sure that other recognize the strength of unions.
I wasn’t able to be as involved in things prior to the official negotiations as I would have liked, but I tried my best to do what I could. Even when I couldn’t attend various events, I stayed educated on what was happening and made my best efforts to find out what I could. Many of the meetings I couldn’t attend were confidential events so I couldn’t find out what was discussed. But there were still things that I could learn from others and make sure any concerns I was having could be addressed.
The negotiations for this commercial contract was last month and some of my friends were a part of the negotiation team. They worked really hard in meetings with our negotiation partners making sure they created a contract that was mutually beneficial for all sides. I know the idea of a negotiation might bring up the idea of sides fighting and not working together. But from what I heard it seems like this negotiation was not like that and all sides were working together and making sure everyone was happy before creating a contract that could be made public for everyone to see.
Our contract was officially announced recently (if you would like to see it, the changes to the contract are posted online). It can be a bit overwhelming to read the changes and what everything means, so SAG-AFTRA is having different events around the country so members could learn what everything means and ask questions they may have about what was negotiated. The meeting in Los Angeles was this week and I was so glad I could make it to learn about the new contract.
The meeting was held at the Universal Sheraton, where the convention has been held. It was a bit weird being there again because I was hit with a sense of deja vu. The meeting room we were in was one of the side rooms where breakout sessions were held during the convention and it felt just like I was going to one of those sessions again.
I felt like there was a very good turnout for this meeting. I still wish more members could have made it or wanted to make it, but it was still a full room. I wanted to sit in the back because I had been sitting down all day and wanted to have the option to get up and stretch when I needed to without disturbing other members. But I ended up staying in my seat almost the entire time because I was just so fascinated by all the new and exciting things in our contract.
A big issue for my union has been commercials going non-union, so we have new things in our contract that allow things to be a bit easier for productions to have a union project. We still will have our old options and traditional ways to be paid for work, but now there are also options for buyouts with a lump sum. I know some members were concerned about that idea, but one of the buyouts is such a large buyout that members would hit the minimum income required to be eligible for health insurance with a single commercial! That’s so awesome and I love that I can be 1 commercial away from that eligibility (which I have never made it to). There are other buyout options that are not as much money, but they have limited use of those commercials unless they pay the actors more.
Having these buyout options allow productions to plan for their budgets with fewer variables. Before, they might have had to worry about residuals and hold fees along with the regular pay. Now they have a way to pay a lump sum (which is more than the actors would have made with residuals and hold fees) so they know exactly how much it would cost them. It really is beneficial to both sides as production can have a simple formula for how much it will cost to hire an actor and the actor will make more money!
There are also new options for commercials that are only seen on social media or other online options like YouTube. Those commercials are becoming more common so to have a plan for those is important and necessary. Many of the other changes are protections for the actors like how things can be renegotiated if they want to use the commercial more or to make sure that stunt coordinators are required to be hired on projects that have stunts. All of these changes seem to be great things for us and I feel like they really are moving forward with this contract in a great direction.
After getting the overview of the changes to the contract, it was time for the Q&A. Many members got up asking questions about things that weren’t discussed or to get clarifications about the changes. Because this is a big (but positive) change, it can be confusing. But as things were explained they made more sense to us all. And everyone who was getting up to ask questions seemed very positive about the new contract. I was expecting people to ask questions that implied they were not happy about the changes, but it was nice to see how enthusiastic everyone was. Someone mentioned to me after the meeting that they showed up expecting to be upset and fight about the changes because they had heard rumors about some of the new payment options, but once they heard what they really were they were so excited about it. I loved hearing how positive everyone was feeling about it since that is not always the case.
If you are a member of SAG-AFTRA, please educate yourself about the new commercial contract before voting. There are some people saying things that aren’t accurate and are trying to scare people into thinking some things that aren’t true. I will be voting yes on this contract and do encourage others to do so as I love the changes that have been made. I think this contract really reflects where commercials are now and where they are going in the future. And it is making huge steps into recapturing commercial work into the union.
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