Details are slowly leaking out about the proposed SAG/AFTRA merger package.
No one yet knows what will happen with combining both pension or health benefits, but as Jonathan Handel reports for The Hollywood Reporter, it sounds like they make take some cues from Equity when it comes to joining the new Union.
It will not be a simple process, like it is now for AFTRA. “There are expected to be avenues for joining that take account of a candidate’s education and training, factors that might make membership more achievable for some qualified actors than under current SAG procedures,” he writes.
Like Equity’s EMC program, where you get credit for theatrical work in an Equity theatre, the new SAG/AFTRA Union may give prospective members some kind of credit for say, going to or graduating college. I would think extra work would still factor in there somewhere like the voucher system we have now but beyond that, I have no idea how else this will work.
Here is an interview Handel did for KPPC about what is currently going on. Not a lot of new info except the fact that the new Union name will be, SAG-AFTRA.
The ballots will most likely go out in February.
I am not surprised. I was saying in AFTRA meetings over a year ago that they should do what the AEA does. It makes sense to have a work program. Though with the new rules governing the internet good actors can become SAG by getting involved with an Indie webisode. I have a hard time trusting either union though due to the ill conduct of some SAG members when I was dealing with getting my life together post cancer and then getting skin cancer again, and I partially blame the stress put on me by the unprofessional actions of others. I hope the new union actually shows some legitimate heart and professionalism and does not ignore the actions of certain stars simply because of the amount of money said celebrity brings to the Union.
Thanks for the comment.
We’ll see in a couple weeks what will happen but in the end, it’ll be up to us – the members – to say yes or no. Not the board members.