Favourite Cy Coleman song: You Fascinate Me So!
From last night: Noel, Equity...like any union...many not be perfect and may have its problems, but most talent unions problems these days stem from a non-union atmosphere, conglomerates buying conglomerates and only looking at the bottom line and quarterly financial report, and, in the case of film, paying stars outrageous prices and lowballing everybody else. (This probably happens in non-union stage tours too...Let's go non-union so we can pay John Davidson or Barry Williams some outrageous weekly fee.)
The middle-class actor, writer, director, composer...just like the middle class everywhere...is slowly being squeezed out of existence by this concerted effort to break the unions or make them ineffectual. And all it will mean in the end is that some CEO will be taking home 10-50 mill a year and all the underlings below will get screwed. It will also mean shorter careers for everybody. I've had over a twenty year career in my line. If things continue the way they're progressing in this anti-union climate, those coming after me will be lucky to get fifteen or ten. Ten years ain't a career in anything. You can't support a family or buy a house with that sort of limited future staring you in the face.
But, Hell, we're in the Arts. One can be out of work for six months in our business and it have nothing to do with the Unions. It's just the whimsey and risk of the business we're in. Get used to it, make provisions for it, expect it at sometime or another, and get over it...or find another line of work.
So, yeah, Asian actors may not be able to get enough Union work. But that's not the Union's job or fault. Chances are Asian actors are always going to have problems getting consistent work, despite so-called colour-blind casting, simply because of the prejudices inherent in hiring practices and commercial considerations, and, sorry, but because of rigid audience expectations and acceptance (or non-acceptance...a bunch of Nebraska tourists coming to see them there New York shows aren't likely to pick ones about Asians or Blacks or Homosexuals...they'll go see some Disney or Lloyd Webber tripe).
But actors who think that leaving the union will allow them to work more for more money are being very short-sighted and foolish. It may allow them to work more in the short-term, but not the long-term. And certainly not for better wages. It will not assure them of safe and better working conditions. It will not give them even a hope of health care or a pension plan (and thanks to Mr. Bush and his big business regime and slimy insurance companies and greedy HMOs, all Unions are getting hit in their health care plans...WGA's health care only a few short years ago was superb...it's still better than most, but it's taken some bad hits...and at least we've still got one which a non-union writing gig won't give you).
And when their short-term careers are over, what will these actors do then? As a member of Equity, Sag, Aftra, WGA, and the Dramatists Guild, the only way any talent can have a long-term sustaining career in any of these disciplines and make a decent living wage with some chance at benefits is to be in the Union.
I'm so tired of actors who can't get work, blaming their unions because they can't get past an audition (The same with writers who can't get a gig...no one ever thinks it might just be because they aren't that good It's always got to be someone else's fault that they can't cut the mustard. Hey! It's show biz! No one said it was going to be fair and that everyone gets a chance.)
Unfortunately, too many people in creative careers expect their Union or Guild to be a hiring hall for them. Not the idea. They're not there to get you work. You have to rely on your talent for that. But once you do get work, they'll you some protection and decent working conditions that you'd have no guarantee of working non-union.
Okay, so it doesn't work the way it should all the time, but just because some touring show paid a cast (and probably only the stars, not all the cast) better than when they worked under Equity, I bet nothing was getting put into a pension fund or going for health coverage of any kind. And it won't happen every time out.
And if/or when non-Union tours break the Unions, then they'll start paying Wal-mart wages, giving you longer hours, and no rehearsal play.
I know when I was working in Equity dinner theatres, I didn't have to wait tables and fetch drinks for customers during intermission like my fellows did in Non-equity dinner theatre. I was an actor; not a waiter who acted when he wasn't fetching and carrying for the audience.
When I played a small role in the Ahmanson in 1980, I was making 750 dollars a week, had my own dressing-room, and had my health insurance covered for six months. Pretty good I thought.
Now if you want to talk about how IATSE featherbeds and undermines their Union and jacks up the expenses on a production with unnecessary workers and not allowing an actor to move a chair in rehearsal, then I'll agree with you. But the gains for most creative talent don't go into such wasteful extremes and are fair and reasonable.
Having served on the Board of the WGA for four years, I can tell you most bitches and whines about the union come from talentless losers who can't get a job or from employers or people who can't get into the union but want to be in it.
