The Joint Policy Committee (JPC) of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) is looking for a consultant to help formulate new compensation models for actors whose performances in TV and radio commercials are also seen in new media such as cell phones and iPods.
The JPC represents advertisers and agencies in negotiating talent contracts. Later this year, JPC representatives are slated to sit across the bargaining table from their counterparts at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). The current three-year actors’ contract with the advertising industry is set to expire on Oct. 29.
The consultant being sought by the JPC would have a hand in developing new compensation structures that would be proposed in upcoming negotiations for a new SAG/AFTRA contract. Presumably any crafting of alternative compensation models would take a long hard look at residual payments–and whether or not they remain an equitable, viable form of recompense in today’s marketplace. The JPC has invited SAG and AFTRA to participate in the creation of new compensation structures; at press time, there was no response from the talent unions to this JPC invitation.
Meanwhile, there is growing concern in the commercialmaking community over the prospects for successfully reaching a new actors’ contract in a timely fashion this year. Contributing to the angst has been the recent changing of the guard at SAG, with Alan Rosenberg elected Guild president, succeeding Melissa Gilbert who did not seek reelection. Rosenberg ran on the promise that he would be tougher in negotiations with management, contending that agreements reached during Gilbert’ s tenure fell short of what actors deserved in terms of recompense and benefits. He cited as an example the failure to gain proper residuals for DVD sales during the last contract hammered out with major feature/TV studios.
During Gilbert’s presidency, SAG reached agreement with the advertising industry on a contract in relatively short order in ’03, well before the expiration of the previous pact. Gilbert’s predecessor, William Daniels, presided over SAG during the strike against the ad biz in ’00. He campaigned for and won office on the pledge of being a tough negotiator seeking significant concessions from management.
That six-month actors’ strike in ’00 exacerbated what had already been a deepening runaway commercial production problem, with American spots scurrying to Canada and overseas for production. The resulting negative impact on the U.S. economy was felt for years after that strike was settled.
On a separate front, SAG is currently in negotiations on a new basic cable contract and at press time a proposal on the table was not to the union’s liking. As a result, SAG called for a strike authorization vote, a move that was criticized by Nick Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP). Union leaders said that their hope is to reach an accord through collective bargaining and that the strike authorization vote was a bargaining tool and not a declaration of intent. A strike authorization does not commit the union to a work stoppage. The basic cable contract expired on Feb. 28.
