As the commercialmaking industry holds its collective breath in hopes that the scheduled talks on Sept. 13 between the actors’ unions and the ad industry (SHOOT, 8/25/00) will yield a strike settlement, a number of developments have emerged. These include a contentious battle involving General Motors (GM), and a grassroots effort by several actors and ad agency artisans to help bring about a new spot contract.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have targeted GM with pickets at its corporate headquarters, dealerships and commercial shoots. GM raised the ire of the unions with the filming of a Buick commercial in Toronto a little over a month ago. The spot featured golf superstar Tiger Woods, who back in May had refused to cross picket lines to appear in a Nike commercial. Woods’ decision to go through with the U.S. spot for Buick resulted in SAG plans to put him before a trial board for violating union rules.
Key in causing GM to push through the production was the ad’s tie-in to the Olympics. The Woods commercial was made to announce the launch of a special edition Buick Regal during the Olympics. GM has a 10-year, $1 billion sponsorship agreement as the official vehicle-maker for the U.S. Olympics team through 2008. GM will also be the only domestic auto-maker advertising during NBC’s 2000 Olympic coverage later this month.
In response to escalated picketing against it by SAG and AFTRA, GM last week refused to rule out producing more television commercials, which could entail the use of nonunion actors and continued filming in foreign countries. GM said that it has postponed production on several spots, and delayed filming the Buick commercial with Woods multiple times in hopes that the strike would end. But with the Olympics and other commitments looming, GM has had to go ahead with certain key shoots.
The unions have countered that production with professional acting talent is still possible during the strike with the signing of interim agreements. Word is that SAG and AFTRA have reduced cable residuals in those interim pacts in a bid to attract more signatories at a crucial time: With the Olympics and the automotive ad season imminent, advertisers and agencies may be feeling more pressure to produce. At press time, the unions claimed to have more than 1,800 signatories in the fold. The Joint Policy Committee (JPC) of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) contended that no major advertisers or agencies have broken ranks and signed interim agreements. Earlier, SAG and AFTRA said that a number of major advertisers and ad shops had gone the interim route by having smaller front companies-including production shops and boutique agencies-become signatories.
Several commercial producers, under the condition of anonymity, have said they are aware of some Olympics-related spots that have been made via interim agreements.
