What is the truth about this pending CD strike? As an actor, we hear a lot of stuff. I’m wondering if all casting will stand by this. It sounds like CDs get the short end of the stick from some producers. If they do strike, I hope they are smart. Look what the commercial strike did to the marketplace!
There is a lot of information “out there” about the potential for a casting director strike later this week. Here’s the lowdown, as I understand it.
Our formal request to obtain a collective bargaining agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) was rejected late last year after casting directors had worked for two years on a unionization plan. Currently, casting directors (and their associates and assistants) have no standardized rate of pay, no uniform working conditions, no backing for contract disputes of any kind, no pension and health benefits, and no retirement package. The majority of us work as independent contractors and negotiate our own rates of pay. We are also responsible for our own health coverage. A group of us work as loan-outs of our own companies and are therefore responsible for the workman’s comp fees and taxes for our assistants as well.
Now, I am not “your average CD,” as membership goes. I have been in casting for just over two years now and casting is one of several jobs I hold. I am a true Hollywood “hyphenate,” and I like having many different roles in the industry. Most of the casting directors passionately fighting for unionization, however, are “lifers.” One of my best friends in casting has been at it for over 20 years and has assembled casts for feature films that have grossed BILLIONS of dollars. She still rents a modest apartment in the Valley. She said to me, recently, “Shouldn’t I be able to buy a house by now?”
I have no idea whether a standardized rate of pay for casting directors as negotiated by a union would actually amount to anything more than the SAG Scale rate of pay actors are accustomed to. In my opinion, if you want to earn more as a casting director, require more money to do the job! Of course, I’m oversimplifying things and I’m still very “new” to the world of casting. I can’t possibly know what it’s like to be nearing the end of my career with no health coverage and no retirement plan after having brought casts together that consist of people who have “made their insurance” minimums in SAG through just one project each year and having done these jobs for directors who have “made their insurance” minimums in the DGA through just one project each year (shooting scripts written by screenwriters who have “made their insurance” minimums in the WGA through just one project each year).
Due to the fact that the AMPTP dismissed the casting directors’ first attempts at being recognized as a unionized group, CDs have come under the umbrella of the Teamsters. Strange bedfellows, perhaps. But remember, there is strength in numbers and there are only 600 casting directors. Teamsters have not engaged in a work stoppage since 1988, but they’ve said they’ll stand with us, should we strike.
But can’t anyone cast? Sure. As was famously stated by the late, great Barbara Miller, “Everyone in Hollywood has two jobs: his own and casting.” She knew what we all know: casting directors are middlemen who became necessary at the end of the studio system. Producers didn’t want to go through the prescreening process required to get to the most talented performers. So, can casting continue during a CD strike? Certainly! I just don’t know any producer who would want to contact agents and managers, sift through submissions, preread a group of people, narrow down that group to a smaller group, look at them again, discuss contracts and billing and Station 12 and rate quotes with the agents and managers, then do deal memos and letters of intent and contracts, then deal with recasting issues ad nauseam. So, does a producer call a favorite agent and say, simply, “Send me a cast for this project,” never sifting through all of the choices? It could happen. Looks an awful lot like the studio system to me, though.
Will there be a strike? Bottom line: I don’t know. The steering committee of the casting union meets again with the AMPTP on Tuesday, 1 February 2005, and there is a mandatory meeting of all casting directors that night with instructions on our next move. I could guess at what may happen, how actors will be impacted, what this means for pilot season, and how casting may be forever changed. But all of that would be speculation from someone fairly new to the party and with a perspective that the union model may actually be outdated for today’s entertainment industry careerist. I encourage you to read up on the issue and decide what you’ll do, should there be a strike. Will you join in the picketing? Will you audition with union-busting casting directors doing jobs vacated by striking casting directors? Will you try your hand as a casting director?
As I’ve said repeatedly, this should be interesting! Visit CastingUnion.com for the latest word from the casting union’s steering committee and keep an eye on the trades for news, ads, and commentary.
PS: Finally, this is the last call for your theatre company recommendations. I’m looking for your advice regarding membership theatre companies in Los Angeles. Next week’s column will include the results of your responses. So far, I’ve only received recommendations for about eight different companies. I KNOW there are more excellent membership companies “out there” than that. So, let’s hear it! Thanks!
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/000174.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.