Dear All,
This week, I am taking over the blog to discuss this historical time in our industry.
For those that do not know me, I am the managing director at Extra People and I help oversee all our brilliant bookers and ADs.
As many of you are already aware, the national board of SAG-AFTRA (the union for performers in America) recently voted to strike and cease all services & performing work covered by TV and Theatrical contracts - meaning any SAG members must stop working and strike.
This strike joins the ongoing writers strike and now represents an almost full shut down of work in the USA.
Here in the UK, the consequences of this are a little muddy. Due to different legal systems and a different union (Equity) governing many of the contracts on UK shows, it is quite complex as to what this strike means for productions filming in the UK.
Equity and SAG-AFTRA are sister unions and have released an excellent, in-depth statement that can be found at the bottom of this page where they explain how they stand in solidarity but have some crucial differences. Ultimately, they say, performers on Equity contracts in the UK should still go to work.
It’s complex because some productions have a mixture of performers on differing contracts. It is essentially a case by case (or show by show) basis. You will have some actors on SAG contracts who have to strike and others on Equity contracts who should be working.
This is why many of you have already noticed that some productions are continuing while others have completely shut down.
But for how long? We are not sure.
This is a difficult time for all of us. But like Covid, we got through it and bounced back, so do not despair. I do advise, however, that you do take it seriously - especially if you rely on supporting artist work as your main source of income.
I am writing this to be as honest and pragmatic as can be.
We have been very lucky and beneficial to have the inward investment from Hollywood the past 10 years. We have lived through a golden age of content production, even with a covid shutdown. The spend in the UK in 2022 was £6.27bn. Of that, £5.37bn was from overseas money - i.e. American studios.
As a country and as an industry, we rely heavily on such money flowing in.
While it’s true that many major productions are not shutting down - most are, and this also impacts the productions that were about to begin their shooting schedule over the coming weeks and months.
Whilst these negotiations play out in America, please prepare yourself for a quiet few months of work. This strike was anticipated, and therefore lots of new productions were already being delayed until later in the year. That delay could be longer now.
We do not know how long this strike will last but we must trust that those negotiating will protect the livelihoods of its performers and members, which they have done for years before. A strike which causes an industry shutdown is no small feat to enforce.
You may have seen talk of Artificial Intelligence and Residuals being a key component to discussions.
Whilst residuals do not normally affect Supporting Artists (background performers), Artificial intelligence can and almost certainly will. Show me an industry that wasn’t disrupted once new technology could accomplish tasks at a fraction of the price.
Here in the UK, my advice is overwhelmingly PLEASE join your union. In and around London, the union to be a member of is BECTU (its FAA branch covers Supporting Artists). Outside London, the regions are covered by the Pact/Equity agreement - so join Equity. Regardless of which one you sign up to, make sure you join as a Supporting Artist member.
When America coughs, the world sneezes; the old addage is as prominent now as it ever has been, and I can assure you that the issues SAG are fighting now will be here with us soon. We need a strong union membership with strength and power to withstand the existential threat that AI technology will bring.
What do I mean by ‘threat’? Well, one of the proposals on the table is for a studio owned production to take a digital scan of a person and own it forever and use it not only in the production that booked you, but in other shows that the studio is making… or will be making.
This would result in working once, being scanned and then the studio owning your image indefinitely, using it in any other show they deem fit. It’s important to note that we already have digital scanning in the UK, but currently they are limited to using your likeness only on the production that booked you. With this new proposal, they would never need to hire you again and you would not get any other royalty payment for the re-use of your likeness.
In short, you would become redundant. You would have signed your income away.
So please join your union. They are already pushing back on this but they need strength in numbers.
If BECTU and Equity are only fighting for a handful of people, what power do they have?
Many of you already benefit from the union agreements without being a member; to those people, I’d like to point out that only this year did your pay go up without you having to do anything.
It is time to step up.
All of us must also strive to merge the representation of background performers between Equity and BECTU. If one of those unions fail at protecting you against this digital scanning threat, then productions could move into that region and do it. I have long felt it should be one union representing all UK supporting artists. Please help begin that merge if you can by asking your unions to begin talking to one another.
There are also some wider global issues at play already - the cost of living crisis, a string of summer box-office failures, streaming platform subscriber churn, the success of shows, the failures of others, the pressure on studios to deliver profitability to financial backers and an over-saturation of good and bad content - all of these and more have a cause and effect that is felt down the chain to us all.
It remains to be seen how rapidly our industry will respond and recover. But it will recover, I promise you this.
In all honesty, I would advise ensuring you have additional forms of income to weather the following months.
We at Extra People will continue to improve our services and fight your corner. We will innovate and we will be ready for when the strike is over. We have welcomed 2 new assistants this month, Lia and Anna, who I’m sure many of you will speak to over the coming years.
Finally, just to say, we will embrace AI to help enrich our working lives, but not at the expense of them.
Join your union.
Tom Walker
Managing Director.