AFTRA Primetime TV Contract – THE REAL FACTS

What every working performer NEEDS TO know ABOUT THE
2008 AFTRA PRIMETIME TELEVISION CONTRACT

GET THE REAL FACTS. Don’t be fooled by SPIN.

The new primetime television contract hammered out by the AFTRA Primetime Negotiating Committee is not only a good deal–it is the best deal that anyone will get this year. That’s why the working actors on the negotiating committee–all of whom are dual AFTRA and SAG cardholders–joined the singers, dancers, and stunt people who served alongside them in unanimously recommending that you VOTE YES TO RATIFY the 2008 AFTRA Primetime Television Contract (Exhibit A).
                                                                  
It’s easy for the Screen Actors Guild to claim that our deal isn’t good enough and that it can do better. But does anyone–including SAG’s own leadership–have any idea of exactly how SAG intends to get more from the studios than the Writers Guild, the Directors Guild, and AFTRA all got? The fact is that actions speak louder than words–and so far SAG has achieved nothing.

Don’t be fooled by spin. AFTRA, like the WGA and DGA before it, has negotiated a great agreement that delivers substantial improvements in wages and working conditions for all its members. We’ve done this in the midst of a challenging economic climate, at a moment of rapid and unsettling technological change, in an industry that is still recovering from the economic devastation of a 100-day strike. This is a time for tough-minded realism, not posturing and empty rhetoric. If you vote against ratifying the AFTRA deal, you are essentially voting for chaos in the Industry.
                                         
Don’t be fooled by the spin.

Spin: AFTRA achieved no significant gains for “middle-class” actors.
FACT: AFTRA won solid improvements in the new agreement not only for working actors but for ALL categories of performers.

• Increases base pay for all categories by more than 10%.
• Increases Major Role performers’ minimums by nearly 13%.
• Increases Schedule B & C weekly breakpoints by $250.
• More than triples base pay for series regulars on the CW.
• Mandates that base pay for Singers on the CW tracks the Exhibit A rate, rather than the syndicated “program fee.”
• Restores the Health & Retirement coverage that warm-up performers lost when AFTRA’s prime time contract was synchronized with the SAG TV agreement in 2005.
• Increases hazard pay for dancers—and for the first time, acknowledges that dancing on stony or hard surfaces may be hazardous, an issue we have fought for over a number of years.

Spin: AFTRA gave up significant jurisdiction in New Media.
FACT: AFTRA secured union jurisdiction in New Media.
Under the last three SAG and AFTRA contracts, the producers did not acknowledge union jurisdiction for programs made for New Media: they had the power to decide whether or not to cover a “made for Internet program,” regardless of its budget, regardless of whether it employed union members, and regardless of whether it was a "derivative" or an "original" production. The new AFTRA primetime agreement takes this power away from the producers. It confirms jurisdiction over “made for New Media” programs, building on the structure established by the WGA and the DGA in their new contracts and in AFTRA’s recently ratified 2008 Network Code agreement. Under our new agreement, all derivative productions and all original productions over certain budget thresholds must be covered shows. (The thresholds are $15,000/minute or $300,000/program or $500,000/series, whichever is lowest.) What’s more, all original programs below those budget thresholds come under union jurisdiction if they employ a single "covered performer"–a term we succeeded in defining so broadly that full union coverage will be triggered for all but the tiniest low-budget productions that use only amateurs. In those limited exceptions, the rules that AFTRA and SAG have lived with for the past seven years will continue to apply.

Spin: AFTRA abandoned residuals in New Media.
FACT: AFTRA won its members the right to be paid residuals for New Media.
Currently there is NO agreed upon residual formula for either AFTRA or SAG when traditional TV programs are re-used in New Media. (The only exception is in the narrow area of Internet-delivered consumer video rentals.) Moreover, the existing AFTRA and SAG contracts leave it up to performers to work out their own individual deals for reuse of programs made for new media. The new AFTRA contract turns all this around, Following the pattern set by the WGA and DGA in their agreements, it establishes rate structures for ad-supported streaming, paid downloads, and New Media rentals, guaranteeing that performers will receive residuals when TV programs on which they’ve appeared are re-used in new media. For programs made directly for new media, performers no longer have to accept a complete “buy-out,” Instead, the new contract establishes residuals rates for both derivative and original programs as well as for New Media programs that are reused in traditional media.

Spin: AFTRA did not protect actors on clip consent
FACT: AFTRA preserved its members’ right to consent.
Despite enormous opposition from the Industry, AFTRA preserved performers’ longstanding right to grant or withhold consent for the use of non-promotional excerpts in New Media:

• Library product (programs produced before July 1, 2008): Producers must bargain for consent to use non-promotional excerpts in New Media the same way they do for traditional media. AFTRA did agree to work with the producers to develop a more efficient system for doing this. But whatever we come up with, it will still be completely up to the performer to grant or withhold consent.
• New product (programs produced on or after July 1, 2008): The AFTRA negotiating committee stood fast in resisting the employers’ demand that there be no consent requirement for clips from new product. Instead, we forced them to accept a proposal similar to one announced by SAG on May 6, under which employers would bargain for consent individually with performers at the time of initial employment. AFTRA’s proposal was actually a bit tougher than SAG’s, stipulating that no negotiation at the time of initial employment can include consent to use nude photography, to use an excerpt as a commercial or advertisement, or to use bloopers. AFTRA also protected the performer’s legal right to sue and collect damages for any excerpt use that could defame a performer or violate his or her rights of privacy or publicity.

Spin: Commercials will disappear because there’s no product integration language in the AFTRA agreement.
FACT: There are more commercials than ever on broadcast television–including on the shows where you find the most product placement and integration.
Producers are counting on product integration to provide them with a badly needed additional revenue stream. The idea that they would permit it to replace commercials is pure fantasy: the Industry depends on commercial revenue for its survival. AFTRA reserved its rights on this issue during negotiations because we believe the current contract already gives us the power to protect members against product integration abuses.

Spin: AFTRA did not advance background performer proposals.
FACT: AFTRA achieved solid gains for background actors–and not for the first time.
AFTRA has been fighting hard to win back the union jobs that background actors lost in 2005 when our primetime contract was made to conform to the SAG TV agreement. To this end, our new contract raises the “cap” in Los Angeles from 19 to 20. In addition, it raises the base rate for background actors by more than 10% over the life of the contract.

Spin: AFTRA did not negotiate Force Majeure.
FACT: AFTRA did NOT allow the employers to cut Force Majeure out of the contract.
SAG has a significant number of outstanding force majeure claims; AFTRA has only two. This issue was important to us and before we began our negotiations with the employers, SAG informed us it placed great value on its claims. As a result, the AFTRA negotiating committee refused to agree to any changes in the force majeure provision proposed by the producers. At the same time, not wanting to inadvertently make any statements during negotiations that might undermine any legal theory SAG might employ to make its case, AFTRA limited discussion of force majeure and instead took a “most favored nations” position on this issue–meaning that AFTRA will accept whatever changes SAG manages to negotiate in the current force majeure language and whatever outcome it achieves in its pending litigation.

Spin: AFTRA gave up on DVD gains.
FACT: AFTRA pursued this claim but we were unable to achieve it.
The studios made it crystal clear that any proposal to increase DVD residuals was a non-starter. Against this backdrop, AFTRA recognized it made sense to focus its energies elsewhere. The priority in this negotiation was working performers: getting the biggest possible improvements in the base rates that affect everyone. Given the significant gains we achieved for performers in this contract, the working men and women on the negotiating committee concluded that it made no sense to shut down the Industry over this issue at this time.

Spin: AFTRA withdrew its mileage proposal.
FACT: We all agree this is a desired proposal, but we felt it was more important to increase base salaries and minimums.
Raising the mileage rate is a good idea, though it doesn’t solve the real problem: gas prices in America are out of control. In any case, following the priorities mandated by the membership, the negotiating committee saw it was more important to increase base salaries and minimums than to divert money into an increased mileage reimbursement. The fact is that mileage reimbursements are paid only when someone is required to drive on a job–and a performer who is required to use a car can take a tax deduction on the difference between the contractual reimbursement rate and the IRS rate.

Spin: AFTRA didn’t negotiate a Most Favored Nations clause in its contract–unlike the WGA, which did.
FACT: AFTRA did not get a Most Favored Nations Clause–and neither did any other union in their negotiations with the AMPTP this year.

Wage Increases

• Increases minimums by 3.5% effective July 1, 2008, by an additional 3% effective July 1, 2009, and by an additional 3.5% effective July 1, 2010.

• Increases the network primetime ceilings (as incorporated in Exhibit A and in the WB/UPN Supplement for one-hour programs) by 2.5% effective July 1, 2008 and by 2.5% effective July 1, 2010.
 

New Media

• The New Media provisions follow the pattern already established in the DGA, WGA, and AFTRA Network Code agreements.

• Provides for payment for all non-promotional uses in New Media. 

• Confirms jurisdiction for programs produced for initial exhibition on the Internet and other New Media.

• Establishes jurisdiction over derivative New Media programs that are based on current programs.

• Establishes coverage of all original programs with budgets of more than $15,000/minute or $300,000/program or $500,000/series, whichever is lowest.

• Establishes coverage of original content below the thresholds when a covered performer is employed.

• Establishes new residual structures for paid Internet downloads (electronic sell-through) that significantly increase current rates and establish residual rates for ad-supported streaming and use of clips on the Internet.

• Gives AFTRA the ability to audit unredacted license, distribution, and other agreements pertaining to New Media.

• Allows both sides to revisit New Media when the agreement expires.
Consent in New Media.

• Preserves performers’ consent for use of non-promotional use in New Media of excerpts from traditional TV shows.

• Provides that the employers and AFTRA develop a mechanism by which performers can provide or withhold consent for non-promotional use of excerpts for New Media from the industry employers’ TV library.

• For programs produced after July 1, 2008, the employer and the performer may bargain for consent for the right to use non-promotional excerpts of traditional TV shows in New Media at the time of original employment.
 

Gains for Working Perfomers

• Major Role daily multiplier increases significantly. The Major Role Minimum for a half-hour show, now $4,080, increases to $4,321 effective July 1, 2008, and will reach $4,606 by 2010.

• Overtime money break for 3-day performers increases from $2,700 to $3,000 effective July 1, 2009.

• Money break for trailers increases from $2,500 to $3,000 effective July 1, 2009.

• Schedule breaks for Schedule B and C performers increases from $4,400 to $4,650 effective July 1, 2009.

• Warm-up performers can now receive Health and Retirement credits.

• Increases the number of covered background actors (from 19 to 20) in Los Angeles.

• Secures rest provisions for background performers in Los Angeles.

• Increases penalty payment for a dancer performing hazardous activity and expands the definition for such activities. 

• Renews and codifies turnaround provisions for stunt coordinators.

• Improves the terms and conditions for performers who work under the CW contract (formerly WB/UPN supplement). 
 

Health and Retirement

• Health and Retirement contributions increase 0.5% on July 1, 2009, and rise to 15.0%.