SAG strike could drive conversion to Digital

[BradWright]

I was listening to KCRW's, The Business, when something really interesting was mentioned. One of the guests said a possible strike by the Screen Actors Guild, SAG, could be circumvented by TV shows converting to Digital from Film based Production. According to the guest, producers could operate under the AFTRA contract and avoid SAG altogether. While this probably won't happen, it may help get producers thinking about going digital to protect themselves.

 

[M Most]

I was listening to KCRW's, The Business, when something really interesting was mentioned. One of the guests said a possible strike by the Screen Actors Guild, SAG, could be circumvented by TV shows converting to Digital from Film based Production. According to the guest, producers could operate under the AFTRA contract and avoid SAG altogether. While this probably won't happen, it may help get producers thinking about going digital to protect themselves.

That's already happened. There are basically no film pilots this season, as all major studios have gone to electronic capture and AFTRA contracts for new productions. Existing contracts cannot easily be changed, so existing SAG shows will continue under whatever contract SAG is working under. The more interesting thing is that basically SAG has cut its own throat in television work, which is where many, if not most, working actors make their primary living - and they don't even seem to notice (at least most of them don't).