|
+++ SEPTEMBER,
2k +++
BSB donates
huge whopper to SAG
Source:The
Daily Radar
Something strange
happened in the last couple of weeks. The Backstreet Boys became worthy
of respect. It isn't because of their insidious music that makes young
girls swoon, though you have to admit that we'd all want it that way too,
if only we knew what that way actually was. It isn't because of their business
sense, though heaven knows I want to be the lynchpin of a multimedia empire
that includes making friends with Stan Lee and getting a line of action
figures as a result. It's because they filmed a couple of commercials for
Burger King.
The commercials
themselves aren't groundbreaking. (Though in one, the boys protest that
they don't do commercials - how wonderfully ironic. Or is that post-ironic?
I've lost track.) What makes these commercials important, and the Backstreet
Boys into honorable men, is how they got paid. Not in a lifetime supply
of Whoppers, as the commercials suggest, but in a huge whopper of a donation
to SAG.
Surely various
handlers of the boys (phrase #17 in a series of 25 guaranteed to make Michael
Jackson swoon) got their usual fees, but the bulk went to the actor's union.
Presumably, so do any residuals. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on
my part, but then, I'm a dreamer.
You may have
heard that SAG is on strike. Specifically, it's targeting advertisers,
such as Burger King, demanding that companies pay residuals every time
a commercial gets shown on cable. Previously, actors would get a flat license
fee for cable usage, while broadcast network usage would pay residu...
yawn. Yes, it's dry stuff. To which the advertisers have said, how about
we pay you no residuals at all?
To the average
viewer, this has barely been a blip on the radar, as advertisers have actually
been using hunter-killer androids disguised as actors to do commercials
in the meantime. Well, they would if they could. It's not like advertising
is a highly moral business.
In actuality,
many agencies stockpiled commercials in anticipation of a strike. They're
also relying heavily upon nonactor celebrities; though Tiger Woods swore
support for the actors, he's been in a suspicious number of new commercials.
Some agencies have also set up shop in Canada, where the union holds little
sway and where those scheming Canadians will do anything for American dollars.
SAG has allowed a few interim agreements with smaller advertising agencies
in the US, but I'll admit that I can't figure out what that actually means
or how that helps the cause. I suppose it helps because then some actors
get to eat that week.
Mostly, the
general public doesn't care, and maybe they're right. No doubt some of
you think it's like that old Dire Straits song. Acting is money for nothing
and your chicks for free. Well, no, though it is that way for Internet
columnists. Granted, ridiculous amounts of money float around the entertainment
industry, and some actors do quite well. We shall not weep for them. But
most of the striking actors land a commercial and then don't work again
for a very long time. Granted, one commercial shouldn't make an actor set
for life, though it might have happened for Mikey if he hadn't mixed that
Life cereal with Coke and Pop Rocks. But in an industry with an average
unemployment rate of 90% and higher (even with infomercials), that residual
check can help an actor through lean times.
The rest of
the entertainment industry is watching this strike very closely. If advertisers
win, and actors start getting flat rates for commercials, then it's likely
that movie and television studios will try the same thing. (Again, residuals
are not an evil thing. I have a friend who appeared in Howard The Duck
as a child, and frankly, the studio can't pay him enough to make up for
that indignity. Nor do they.)
But the studios
aren't terribly cocksure yet. The Writers' Guild contract expires in May,
followed a month later by the film and television actors' contract. Both
groups plan on striking. By July, television could be a vast wasteland.
By August or September, you might even notice.
Looking out
for our best interests, the networks have asked writers and actors to work
overtime before the contracts expire, so the 2001 fall season could still
happen even with a strike. However, some actors and writers have been bright
enough to notice that this might be some sort of trick.
For those who
were wondering (and hey! I got two phone calls on this), this explains
the gold ribbons so many actors wore at the Emmys this year, expressing
solidarity for their union brothers. If you read Variety, you might have
noticed the cast of Frasier making an impassioned plea for the wearing
of said ribbons. But other than as a fashion statement, it really didn't
seem like anyone cared.
Guys like the
Backstreet Boys, they don't have to care. They're not members of the union.
The promotion with Burger King was likely set up long before the strike.
And though we were all looking forward to their remake of Can't Stop The
Music, if the union banned them from acting, the nation (and they) would
somehow survive.
But instead
of wearing ribbons, they gave their money to the SAG so some actors could
keep their health insurance for a while longer, and that's pretty cool
with us in Television City...
-- Derek McCaw
|
