Paul Newman Forms Celebrity Committee to Support SAG/AFTRA Strike

Newswire Press Release

Newman was joined by such stars as Harry Belafonte, Kathleen Turner, Sam Waterston, Kevin Bacon, Joanne Woodward, Kyra Sedgwick, Kristin Davis, John Turturro, James Naughton, Ashley and Naomi Judd, Bebe Neuwirth, F. Murray Abraham, Tony LoBianco, Marissa Tomei and Greg Kinnear. The group pledged to use their celebrity status to spread the word about the advertisers' intransigence in their contract negotiations with the union.

The negotiators want to take away the actors' ability to earn residuals from commercials that appear on Network television. [See attached fact sheet for more information].

The group will meet again in about a week to further coordinate strategy, and after Labor Day expect to take to the streets to get their message before the media and the public.

Newman and other speakers warned the crowd that the SAG/AFTRA strike is not just about commercials, but could be the first step in an attempt to cripple the union in advance of a potential strike against the motion picture and television industries next year.

The group has decided that it will `make its presence known'' in the coming weeks. Newman suggested that he and several of his colleagues might lend their presence to the next negotiating session to help ensure that the other side negotiates in good faith.

Fact Sheet: Why SAG and AFTRA Are On Strike

The 135,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (AFTRA) have been on strike against advertisers and advertising agencies since May 1, 2000, after almost two months of fruitless negotiations. On July 20th, at negotiations with Federal mediators, SAG/AFTRA modified their proposals; management refused to do the same and refused to consider the unions' modifications.

This strike is seen by many as the opening salvo in a series of negotiations with writers, directors and movie and television actors next spring. Taken as a whole, these negotiations will define many crucial issues for the entertainment industry in the 21st century.

Actors' pay makes up just 1.4% of the total cost to produce and air commercials. For the industry, the financial stakes are relatively small. But for actors, their livelihoods are at stake.

The issues are simple:

1. Cable ads pay actors far less than minimum wage -- only $11 a day flat fee for unlimited use of an ad. This is a rate structure the union  agreed to years ago to support the then-fledgling industry; cable now generates billions of dollars in advertising revenues.   
2. Advertisers now demand the same for network TV commercials which would effectively cut actors' pay by 60%. Actors have historically been paid "residuals" for network TV ads; now the advertisers want us to accept a flat fee, like they now pay for cable ads. Residuals are the only way that commercial actors can earn a sufficient living wage to raise a family. They provide job security, health care and pension benefits.  
3. Advertisers won't allow monitoring of where ads run. A recent SAG pilot project on 38 random commercials to date has produced evidence of over  $210,000 in unpaid residuals.    
4. Advertisers want to cut actors unions out of the Internet, refusing to even bargain for commercials made for the fastest growing segment of the industry and the likely delivery system for all media in the future.

Contrary to the glamorous image, 80% of SAG and AFTRA members earn less than $5,000 a year. Thousands subsidize their acting careers with jobs in construction and the service industry.

It's this simple: Advertisers' demands that all commercials be paid on a flat fee basis will make it impossible for actors to make a living from commercials. This is unfair to the actors and would have a devastating effect on the arts; when actors can't make a living as actors, they won't be there for the countless supporting roles they play in the theater, the cinema and television.