TV and Movie Actors Split

I used to have a tag named "film" (I think it's still there, but it's being phased-out) because "film" covers both TV and movies. But that was too general and, for as far as it goes, I could have just included all of that under "sequential art." At any rate, I did not know that there was a separate union for TV and movie actors.

The AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and SAG (Screen Actors' Guild) unions have decided to negotiate with studios separately. The two unions have apparently had a pretty rocky relationship over the past 25+ years, but I have honestly never heard of AFTRA. Of course, I have never done any radio or TV work as an actor, but I would think most people have heard of SAG (to compare). Of course, SAG has more members, their own awards ceremony, and movie people are generally more outspoken as to their industry workings when it comes to things like unions and so forth.

At any rate, negotiations with studios are going to start soon as contracts run out. Many A-listers have been pressing to begin them sooner than usual to avoid a strike situation, in the wake of the recent WGA strike. Spokespersons for each union had some pretty nasty parting comments, with AFTRA saying SAG had been intentionally misleading people and the public in general and SAG responding by calling the move "cynical and calculated."

© C Harris Lynn, 2008