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Politics seems to be consuming the United States this year. Not only the race between BARACK OBAMA and that OTHER GUY but Hollywood has its own political power struggle going on.

We all know that Hollywood tends to skew a little on the Liberal/Progressive side . Donations to OBAMA from celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Oprah and many more help rally the population to the side of this very popular candidate.




Then on the Other Side, well...
Let’s just say Wilford Brimley doesn’t attract the crowd he used to.




To be fair, the race remains very close despite the celebrity advantage that Obama seems to have.

Now, you would think the exhausting Presidential race is enough for all Americans even Hollywood Americans to chew on for the year, however Hollywood has been in the middle of HUGE political battles all year long.

I am going to spare you the boring details and give you the annotated short version.

Hollywood is presently in contract negotiations. All of Hollywood? Yes, all of Hollywood. How can a town be in negotiations? Not a town, but the industry. All the industry?
Yes all of it.

What?

You see, the entertainment industry is a symbiotic mess. Everyone depends on everyone else to keep the wheels turning, but ultimately the money in centralized with the major studios and networks. Every actor, every writer, every technician and every stage hand, and all their agents, publicists, managers, and their assistants, and nannies and the waiters at their favorite restaurants,and their families are dependent on the wheels being kept in motion.

Every ten years or so, there comes a time for contract renegotiations, where the unions WGA (Writers), SAG (Actors), AFTRA (Actors), DGA (Directors), IATSE (TECHNICIANS), face off against the studios and television networks who are represented by the AMPTP




These happy and good natured brawls have resulted in millions if not billions of lost revenues, not for the studios who have found record profits this year, but to the rest of the industry.

The Writer’s strike was first, and now we are facing a slower but possibly more devastating SAG strike and it has ripped our entertainment community in two. Pitting Network and Studio executives against their friends and neighbors. It has been brutal and very saddening.

But wait! There’s more!
You may have noticed that there are TWO Actor’s Unions. Well, these Unions hate each other. AFTRA is historically a little less excited about striking since they are run by the largest union in the U.S , the AFL/CIO and it would mean an enormous work stoppage if they put the full force of their union behind these negotiations. SAG, on the other hand is run solely by actors for actors which makes them a little more forceful and ready to strike. The result of this schism has been that AFTRA made a deal with the AMPTP, without the consent of SAG.




Now SAG stands alone against the AMPTP.

BUT, WAIT!

Now SAG is having elections, and two groups are fighting within SAG for control of the union and to continue negotiations.

There is the group MEMBERSHIP FIRST who represent the status quo and the “Old Guard”,
and the group for change called UNITE FOR STRENGTH.




One thing is certain in this strange year for the U.S and for the entertainment industry, with all the strikes and anger with the high stakes and crises that we face, no matter the outcome, things will never be the same.


*** The views expressed in this post do not represent those of WISEPOLICY or any of its affiliates, Alf LaMont is presently involved in the election campaign of Barack Obama, was dating a member of the WGA, and has a friend running for SAG office under UNITE FOR STRENGTH any bias towards any group was accidental but totally understandable.


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