Hollywood Should Share Profits. Here's How
Hollywood Should Share Profits. Here's How
Solving for SAG's big demand — if the studios would ever agree
One of my favorite pieces of strategy advice is this:
Fit your strategy on a postcard.
A strategy that can do that is usually clear and easy to understand. That often makes for great outcomes. The same could apply for negotiations.
SAG-AFTRA has a postcard strategy:
It wants higher-paying residuals that rewards top shows...
A big increase in minimums to account for inflation….
And stronger protections against AI
Kudos to SAG-AFTRA! Clear and focused. (To be clear, its total list of demands is much longer than even the WGA’s, but its public messaging is crisp — thanks in part to Fran Drescher as Messenger-in-Chief.)
I have written a lot about residuals: arguing for more ratings transparency; warning about simply raising flat-rate residuals; how Disney’s content cuts would hurt writers (partially due to residuals); and comparing the residual demands of the AMPTP and the WGA.
Now with residuals at the heart of the dual strike, it’s worth looking at SAG’s asks specifically.
What makes SAG’s asks more than the WGA’s is that it wants profit sharing. The AMPTP seems adamantly opposed. Residuals are a small form of that, but can play a key role in that if designed correctly.
Today I’ll tell you:
What actors currently get for streaming residuals
What SAG-AFTRA asked for and why it’s a BIG change
The problem with the metrics SAG wants to use for profit sharing and why they won’t work
Why some of SAG’s asks around residuals are probably DOA