Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1506201
sagaftra.org | Summer 2023 | SAG-AFTRA 23 These global conglomerates clearly understand how to raise prices without raising wages. Their goal? Reward shareholders at the expense of both their workers and their audiences. What the companies are failing to realize is that the labor of creative professionals is what brings value to these corporations' bottom lines, and these professionals deserve to share in the revenue that global conglomerates are reaping from their labor. A NEW PROPOSAL: REVENUE SHARING When residuals work as intended, they provide performers with income throughout their careers, which helps to offset the inevitable down times that almost all professional performers experience at some point. Far from lucrative "windfalls," the typical residual payment is modest. The value of the average residual payment under the TV/Theatrical Contracts in 2022 was $225. In real-dollar terms, this value is worth much less than the average residual payment in 2018. Because the current residual structure has proven woefully inadequate to too many performers due to the shift from linear television to streaming, SAG-AFTRA has proposed a revenue-sharing model. Such a model would ensure that the casts of every film or series share in the revenue they generate for streaming platforms in addition to the current residuals system, which has become insufficient. HEALTH CARE & RETIREMENT FUNDING Health care costs have been increasing faster than general inflation, and this trend has put tremendous pressure on all health plans, including the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan. In recent years, it's become ever-harder for performers and their families to qualify for health coverage, shifting more of the burden of growing health care costs onto patients. The union has put forth a proposal to cure this concern, and also to improve funding of the SAG Pension Plan and AFTRA Retirement Fund — the two retirement plans that ensure performers have income to survive on when they reach retirement age. Both plans are desperately in need of further funding, and employer contributions into these plans are currently limited by episodic contribution caps that haven't changed in 40 years. SAG-AFTRA's proposal would increase these limits in line with inflation, resulting in meaningful additional funding to these vitally important benefit plans. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AI technology has rapidly advanced to the point where it is possible to create new performances from existing footage of a performer. If unchecked, this technology has the potential to destroy acting jobs while replacing humans in storytelling with computer-generated replicas. While the idea of an independent company using this technology can seem scary, the potential threat of a major corporation that holds the copyright to an actor's past performances while also having access to this technology is colossal, and a dire risk to a performer's livelihood. Safeguards need to be in place to ensure actors are always able to give consent to their likenesses being used in the creation of new projects, and that they are properly compensated. SELF-TAPE AUDITIONS Almost all performers regularly compete for their next job. The highly competitive, burdensome and unregulated self-tape audition process has become corrupted in recent years, with studios and their casting departments often requiring actors to use online casting platforms to be considered for employment. These platforms require payments for meaningful access and provide preferential treatment depending on whether an actor has paid for more services and features. Essentially, today's casting business is an inequitable system built on the backs and payments of professional actors. No one should be required to pay a fee to access work opportunities. Because of this, SAG-AFTRA seeks to make the process as fair as possible. WHY A STRIKE NOW? As of press time, the union has decided that withholding our labor from the SAG-AFTRA members maintain their determination on the picket line.