The Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service is again bringing the actors’ unions together with advertising industry negotiators in hopes of gaining movement towards a settlement of the nearly four-month-old strike. The two sides are scheduled to meet on Sept. 13 in New York. At press time, it was believed that smaller committees-not the full negotiating teams-would attend.
It remains to be seen what form the upcoming federal mediation session in New York will take. Will it be more informal talks, with mediators sounding out both sides individually before determining if a return to the bargaining table is warranted? Or will there be formal negotiations between the actors’ unions-the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)-and the Joint Policy Committee (JPC) of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA)?
The answer to the latter is contingent on the pivotal question of whether the two sides will show some willingness to compromise on what thus far have been diametrically opposed proposals concerning residuals for network and cable television.
This will mark the fourth time that federal mediators have intervened, the last attempt coming in late July, but to no avail. The end result last month had each side in the dispute accusing the other of being inflexible (SHOOT, 7/28/00).
Originally, SAG and AFTRA proposed that their next face-to-face meeting with ad industry representatives take place on Aug. 30. But reportedly the JPC countered with Sept. 13 as the earliest it could convene with the unions and federal mediators.
Ironically, the mid-September session is slated for the same week that NBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympics in Sydney gets underway. The television event is a premium mecca for big budget commercials. While a number of these spots were already in the can prior to the beginning of the actors’ strike on May 1, many ads have been made since and veiled in a cloak of secrecy. According to informed sources, a significant percentage of the ads have been filmed outside the U.S., primarily in Canada and Australia, due to the strike. However, some of the lensing Down Under would have taken place irrespective of the strike in that the concepts of those spots were enhanced by shooting in the host city of the Olympics.
Rumors abound that there may be some surprises in the Olympic hopper as sports celebs have appeared in spots against union wishes. However, a producer requesting anonymity said he’s aware of a couple of Olympics-related jobs involving notable sports stars that were produced under interim agreements with SAG.
A much-publicized, Olympic-themed Buick spot starring Tiger Woods was shot in Toronto last month. Woods was lauded by the actors’ unions in May for refusing to cross picket lines to appear in a Nike commercial. But his decision to go through with the U.S. spot for Buick has put him at odds with SAG, which reportedly plans to place him before a trial board for violating union rules. The Buick job also was a catalyst for ongoing demonstrations by the actors’ unions against General Motors, with pickets at its corporate headquarters, several dealerships and spot shoots.
Meanwhile, as the strike continues, so too does its negative impact on those caught in the middle. As earlier reported, Los Angeles-based crew members, stateside equipment rental houses and post facilities are among those that have been hit hard financially by the strike. An executive producer of a Southern California commercial production house told SHOOT under the condition of anonymity that she is doing her best to keep work in Los Angeles despite picketing. "I’m doing it mainly because of the crew people we have longstanding relationships with. Many have missed mortgage payments and have suffered tremendous financial hardship due to the strike. We want to keep them working, if possible. With the Democratic convention ending, a big obstacle to filming in parts of Los Angeles has been cleared. I’m hoping we as an industry can start to keep more filming here."
The number of location film permits for commercials in Los Angeles has declined dramatically since the strike began. The July spot location shoot tally was the lowest monthly figure reported since tracking of such activity began some six years ago in Greater Los Angeles (SHOOT, 8/11/00). The decline is attributed in large part to effective on-location picketing by SAG and AFTRA. But rather than stopping production, the strike action seems to be diverting much of it from Los Angeles to other U.S. cities as well as to foreign countries.
The downward trend has continued into August. According to figures released by the Entertainment Industry Development Corporation, the private/public sector partnership that oversees the joint Los Angeles City/County Film Office, there were 83 spot shoot days during the first half of August, a 66 percent decrease from the 249 days reported for the same two-week span in ’99.
The earlier-alluded-to adverse economic hit taken by U.S. post houses was documented in a poll conducted by the Association of Imaging Technology and Sound (ITS). The survey revealed that 33 percent of the association’s member companies derive a significant portion of their business from the advertising industry. Each post facility in that one-third slice of the ITS membership pie has lost an average of 19 percent of its gross revenue due to the strike (SHOOT, 7/21/00).
Similarly, the Association of Independent Creative Editors (AICE) surveyed its member shops nationally, concluding that editorial houses on average have suffered a 20 to 25 percent decline in business because of the strike (SHOOT, 8/11/00).
Several equipment rental companies have been significantly impacted. North Hollywood-based Clairmont Camera, a leading, longstanding camera rental house for TV, movies and commercials, estimated that its spot business is down about 50 percent. Company president Denny Clairmont noted that some of that work has been picked up in Canada where Clairmont Camera maintains operations in Vancouver and Toronto. "But that has not nearly offset the work we have lost here in Southern California," related Clairmont. "That’s because work is not happening due to the strike or it’s gone to other cities in the Southeast and Midwest or other countries such as Australia and Prague (Czech Republic)."
Rufus Burnham, principal in North Hollywood-based The Camera House, described the strike as "devastating" to his year-old shop that specializes in camera rentals for commercials and music videos. Prior to the strike, The Camera House was averaging business growth at a monthly clip of about 20 percent, according to Burnham. Since the strike, business has fallen off some 20 percent each month. "July was about 60 percent less in business than the month before the strike began," related Burnham. To retain some business, Burnham said that The Camera House has been trying to be supportive of its Los Angeles clientele regardless of where they shoot. In the last couple of weeks, The Camera House has shipped out camera packages to Canada, New Zealand, the Bahamas and remote locations throughout the U.S. But to be competitive in terms of pricing, Burnham has had to assume the shipping costs on these jobs.
Burnham said the negative impact on the Los Angeles market will resonate long after the strike is finally settled. "My fear is that some of this business will never come back to Los Angeles as people have good experiences elsewhere, including in foreign countries. The marketplace is becoming increasingly global anyway. But the strike has accelerated that to the point where Los Angeles will permanently lose some significant business."
