Must I Beg on the Steps of WME & CAA?
Must I Beg on the Steps of WME & CAA?
Even if the strike ends today. Our legacy big charities leave many behind.
(Any opinions here are mine alone. Merely one of 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA, I do not serve in any leadership capacity with, nor do I speak on behalf of SAG-AFTRA.)
As you may have heard, my union, SAG-AFTRA, is on strike.
Still.
Which seems to surprise many.
When the writers got their deal and their strike ended, many told me the actors’ strike was over as well. Or would end within days.
It did not. (I get my strike news from my union. You can too!)
Last week the studios walked away from the negotiations.
Meanwhile, I and many of my colleagues have been out of work since early in the year (when productions wound down in anticipation of the writers’ strike).
We have some legacy Big Charities to help with financial aid, such as the Entertainment Community Fund. You may have heard a few months back that George Clooney, The Rock and other celebrities donated $1 million or more to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. On August 04 I wrote an open letter Dear George Clooney (and a Ryan), thanking him. And raising the fact that some workers on strike were left behind, and how they might be helped.
I know people who have received financial aid from these organizations. Often it seems to be a one-time grant of $1500. Which almost pays one month’s rent for many in Los Angeles. Others tell me they are frustrated with the intake process. One colleague told me he did not qualify because he did not have enough acting income in 2020. Remember that year? Feels like a process similar to a mortgage application for the unhoused. Excessive gate-keeping for people in dire need. Who cannot wait 30 days for an overwhelmed staff member to get back to them to start processing their application. Or ask whether they earned enough acting income. During a pandemic.
Not really sure why no one in my union has not started a direct mutual aid cause. So I did. More on that in a minute. The writers did as well. I recently spoke to someone who raised $100k+ that was donated directly to the Venmo’s of writers in need. She started with a $100 donation funded by a spare residuals check of hers. When funds ran low, she posted on her social media, and her showrunner colleagues quickly donated.
I’m not a TV or film writer, earning $20k an episode. I’m an unknown background actor. (Although a few weeks ago I landed my first representation. She tells me I should start identifying simply as “an actor”. Fair point.) I’d love to have a first residuals check. At this time, background acting does not pay residuals. And I don’t see several showrunners or other upper-middle-class folk responding to my texts, emails, calls or social media about Personal Strike Funds.
So what to do?
Here’s what I’ve done since August:
Started myStrikeFunds.org
Created a Google Form intake process for people in financial need
25 people have completed the form
20 people opted in for the public list
. . . also known as “The List” or “Strike Funds of a Few of My Friends”
Wrote a few articles about Strike Funds on Substack:
Started a Discord (What’s that? Hey, my line!) for volunteers & strike funds seekers
Started a weekly group video chat in the Discord on Wednesday nights (now 5:30-6:30pm, just before the crucial industry Zoom offered by the valiant volunteers over at Solidarity.us.)
Started a GoFundMe August 08 for my own Personal Strike Funds
Raised $125 to date inside & outside that GoFundMe
Donated 10% of my Strike Fund donations to other Strike Funds
Moving forward I’ll be donating 20% of my Strike Funds to other Strike Funds
As my GoFundMe hits certain goals, I’ll elevate that %, up to 90%
Bought myself a green “Mark Roman, myStrikeFunds.org” name badge that I wear on the picket line
The last few months I’ve been tied up with personal stuff. Moving (Hollywood to the valley) & seeing my son. Thanks to the generosity of some friends and family, I got to spend 10 days with him before he left for England to start work on his Ph.D. I hadn’t seen my son in person in 12 years. Why? Money. Just another reason why actors like me are on strike.
In one of my background jobs, I shook hands with a principal actor. He greeted my character. By name. On camera. Had that been upgraded to a 5 or under contract (which would have included my first residuals opportunity), that check could have paid for a trip to see my son. I think of a colleague who I watched on-screen fingerprint the star of a film we all saw this summer.
I won’t say the name of the film. Because I remain in solidarity with my union. (And you know what film.) We are not promoting ANY struck work at this time. Whether one’s in the production or not. That’s why my busking character (a crucial income source for me for years) is missing from this fall’s Los Angeles football tailgates. Because Lt. Frank effectively promotes that same film, as well as a struck TV show. Why my union offers guidance for Halloween costumes for us members. That’s why over the years I routinely passed on covered non-union acting work that refuses to convert to union. Because my union’s Global Rule One is “No Contract, No Work”. Union solidarity meant I avoided acting income that might better qualify me for financial aid from such as the Entertainment Community Fund. Ironically.
Anyway, my buddy in that film we all saw this summer, despite valiant yet respectful & orderly efforts on the day and after, was refused an upgrade to a 5 or under contract. Which includes residuals. And that is the film to get residuals from! But he experienced what so many of my fellow background artists routinely experience. Indignities. Dismissal. Injuries. The devaluing of work performed. Denial of payment & conditions to which we are contractually due. Treated like a Victorian child: Don’t speak unless spoken to - but not then either. Preying on our fear of risking being seen as “difficult” or “a problem” or “someone to blacklist”. Part of the many reasons why we are all on strike.
And more of us would like to be out on the picket lines. Which I’ve noticed are less populated than during the writers’ strike. Probably because financial survival for actors with few resources can be time-consuming. Navigating excruciating financial aid processes. Or competing with everyone else seeking acting work not covered by the TV, theatrical or video game contracts we are currently striking. Or working gig economy jobs in desperate need of union organization. Or figuring out how to earn money in LA without a car, because one can’t afford one, or the the car needs repairs one can’t afford, or the car had to be sold, or the car was repossessed because … you can figure out why, right? Or interviewing for jobs from employers who profoundly and utterly do not understand how actors seek or obtain work, let alone report it on our “resume”. Absolutely we have gaps in our history! How long have you been in LA, dear job interviewer? Did you just fall off the hay wagon from Iowa? Meanwhile the employer (and rightly so), wonders when we will quit once the strike ends. And aren’t the strikes about over, anyway?
I’m reading breaking news that George Clooney and others are offering to eliminate the union dues cap to help end the strike. That only took decades. We’ll take it, though. But let’s say our negotiating committee meets with the studios tomorrow, and an agreement is reached. Members of our negotiating committee have shared it could take 30 days to officially complete the paperwork and ratify with members to end the strike (once we have an agreement). The contract we’re negotiating is that complex. Ending the strike does not end the financial need. This year tore enormous, life-changing chunks out of many of us. Many are in no position to simply “walk it off” with the next job (which is never guaranteed - for any of us). I’m certain there are writers still in dire financial need, even with their strike over. There are Teamsters and IATSE members and others in this industry, who may not be on strike, but their accountant doesn’t have to tell them how bad their year has been. They are welcome to add their Venmo’s & GoFundMe’s to The List.
So what next? If you’ve read this far, THANK YOU. It seems like such a simple issue. It’s not finding peace in the Middle East. We should be able to knock this out quickly and move on to other pressing matters in the world. However, the enormous outstanding financial need of so many of my colleagues suggests a complexity that requires a detailed and nuanced examination. Otherwise, enough of us would have solved this by now. Right? Yesterday an IATSE member added her Venmo to The List and remarked that myStrikeFunds.org clearly took some time and effort and was appreciated. It did. I’d like to do more. But $125 raised within and outside my GoFundMe since August 8 suggests I should spend more time selling used wares on my ebay.
I hesitate to embark on a fundraising odyssey. Perhaps because in a former life I was a salesperson. Not again. I utterly hated it. I hate “making the sale”. I hate asking for money. Or help. I’d rather make strangers laugh while sporting a silly costume. Or being part of the magical process of making TV and film in the cathedrals most people call studio sound stages. But I can’t now. Because we are on strike. And financially circling the drain. Still.
So what do I do? Play Oliver Twist and ask for a second bowl of porridge? Ask hundreds of thousands of people who can afford one or more streaming subscriptions to donate at least $5 to one of the 20 actors in need on The List? It doesn’t even have to be me!
Exhausting.
Is this what it has come to? If that’s what I need to do, then fine. I’m happy to start calling the representation of the A-Listers busy treating my union like the problem (when it’s the studios who abandoned the negotiations). Or calling the Los Angeles real estate agents with reality TV shows, doing TMZ’s job, interrogating them on how much rent they’ve helped pay for actors on strike. Do I camp out on the steps of CAA or wrestling concern William Morris Endeavor? Do I ask everyone who smells nice how much they’ve donated to the Personal Strike Funds of actors in need? If that’s what I must do, I can. I’m an expelled editor on the FBI’s Subversives List. I’ve been blacklisted. Shunned. Treated as the turd-in-the-punchbowl “other”. That was when I was just 19. I can navigate that. If that is what it takes.
Is there a better way? Tell me! Give me your expert advice. Or less than expert. Can even trolls contribute here in a positive way? Is that how far the bar has fallen?
We have a list. We can add more names.
But we need donations. And we need publicity.
Thoughts? Anyone? Clooney?