Lights Out in Tinseltown: Examining the SAG/AFTRA Conflict

100:00:00,50.000000000001 --> 00:00:00,840Hello, my friends. 200:00:01,040 --> 00:00:14,470I just wanna mention at the top of the show that if you're listening to this podcast, which you are, please hit the follow button on whichever platform you're using, whether it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any of the other choices out there. 300:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,500And if you can find a minute, leave me a review. 400:00:17,650 --> 00:00:19,900It really helps for me to get more listeners. 500:00:20,080 --> 00:00:21,880All right, now I'm with the show. 600:00:27,730 --> 00:00:30,760Welcome back to another episode of Green Room on Air. 700:00:30,760 --> 00:00:36,340I'm your host, Ray Renati, and today we're diving deep into the high stakes drama unfolding in Tinseltown. 800:00:36,970 --> 00:00:37,930That's right, folks. 900:00:38,020 --> 00:00:42,970The actors strike us in a full swing, bringing Hollywood to a grinding halt. 1000:00:43,945 --> 00:00:55,645Get ready as we break down the conflict between the esteemed Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio artists known as SAG aftra. 1100:00:56,215 --> 00:00:57,595I know that was a mouthful. 1200:00:57,895 --> 00:01:07,435And the Powerful Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers Lights, camera strike. 1300:01:08,335 --> 00:01:09,295All right, let's get started. 1400:01:12,655 --> 00:01:15,205Well, SAG AFTRA is on strike. 1500:01:15,745 --> 00:01:33,745The Screen Actors Guild slash American Federation of Television and radio artists are striking against the producers, the big studios, the Alliance of Motion, picture and television producers, my friends. 1600:01:34,615 --> 00:01:39,595These corporate entities, these production companies are greedy. 1700:01:41,005 --> 00:01:45,445Most actors and Hollywood writers don't make a lot of money. 1800:01:45,925 --> 00:01:47,275They're middle class. 1900:01:47,455 --> 00:01:50,995They have small rows and small roles in the TV shows. 2000:01:51,000 --> 00:01:57,025You see, the movies you see, they have to audition all the time. 2100:01:57,325 --> 00:02:02,515Most of it's down in Los Angeles area, some of it New York. 2200:02:03,310 --> 00:02:06,460And then some of it's sprinkled throughout the rest of the country. 2300:02:06,490 --> 00:02:08,740There's more in Atlanta now than there used to be. 2400:02:09,580 --> 00:02:13,900Almost nothing in the San Francisco Bay area anymore, but that's another issue. 2500:02:15,850 --> 00:02:30,640These CEOs and these companies make hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and they're trying to, to scam the writers and the actors out of what they deserve. 2600:02:33,145 --> 00:02:43,735They don't want to pay a fair amount for streaming shows that repeat on Netflix, Disney, et cetera. 2700:02:43,885 --> 00:02:44,815They don't wanna do that. 2800:02:44,875 --> 00:02:46,465They say they do, but they don't. 2900:02:47,465 --> 00:02:52,235It's a, it's a travesty and it's just another example of corporate greed in this country. 3000:02:52,775 --> 00:02:57,335And they're gonna do everything they can to win and they probably will. 3100:02:58,235 --> 00:02:58,925I hope not. 3200:03:00,665 --> 00:03:01,325I really do. 3300:03:01,325 --> 00:03:02,765I really do hope not. 3400:03:03,085 --> 00:03:04,075It's just not fair. 3500:03:06,145 --> 00:03:17,185You know, about 25 years ago there was a SAG strike after was not part of SAG at that time, and that strike resulted one of the results of that strike. 3600:03:17,185 --> 00:03:21,325And a lot of people don't care because it's just the San Francisco Bay area and who cares. 3700:03:21,325 --> 00:03:40,740But back then, There was a decent amount of Screen Actors Guild work in San Francisco, and one of the the windfalls, if you will, of that strike was the producers in LA just decided, Hey, we're not gonna do anything in the Bay Area anymore. 3800:03:40,740 --> 00:03:42,990It's too expensive, it's too difficult. 3900:03:42,990 --> 00:03:46,470We'll just use all LA actors and we'll shoot everything down here. 4000:03:46,620 --> 00:03:49,830CGI was becoming more prevalent so they could. 4100:03:50,415 --> 00:03:54,165Just fake it and make it look like San Francisco if they had to. 4200:03:55,395 --> 00:04:06,795And in addition to that, they used Vancouver Vancouver or Canada to shoot instead of San Francisco because the weather's similar and it looks similar and it's way cheaper to shoot in Canada. 4300:04:07,875 --> 00:04:15,435And those are the types of things that the, the, the big companies do to screw over the actors who are mostly just workers. 4400:04:15,825 --> 00:04:17,535Yes, you have your celebrities, but. 4500:04:18,240 --> 00:04:26,520The vast majority of the, God, what is it? How many people are a member of screen actors? Girl, I think it's like 160,000 people. 4600:04:26,525 --> 00:04:57,670They're, they're just people trying to, you know, a lot of them have to have other jobs and then when they do work, if they don't get residuals and they're not protected against artificial intelligence stuff in the future, your pay is just gonna go downhill and they need to be protected And The big companies have claimed that they made great offers to, to sag aftra, but I'm not privy to the details as most people aren't, but I don't believe they did. 4700:04:59,110 --> 00:05:04,630I mean, many of you may have seen Fran Drescher on tv, on I think C N N, and she was really upset. 4800:05:05,840 --> 00:05:09,740I trust her over whoever runs Disney right now, I don't even wanna know. 4900:05:11,660 --> 00:05:16,610I am a member of sag, although last year I went financial core and I wish I hadn't done that. 5000:05:16,610 --> 00:05:18,440It means I'm a scab basically. 5100:05:20,180 --> 00:05:23,150And that's just because there was just no work in San Francisco. 5200:05:23,810 --> 00:05:28,040So I figured I'd go non-union, but I only did one job, one non-union job. 5300:05:28,040 --> 00:05:29,360It was a Google commercial. 5400:05:29,660 --> 00:05:30,920And here's a perfect example. 5500:05:30,920 --> 00:05:32,750Here's Google, right? I go to la. 5600:05:32,780 --> 00:05:34,280It's a non-union commercial. 5700:05:34,490 --> 00:05:38,390They can keep it non-union because it wasn't on any of the network television stations. 5800:05:39,680 --> 00:05:43,010But the quality was top-notch. 5900:05:43,430 --> 00:05:49,820It ran on all kinds of trade shows and on the internet and everything, and I didn't get anything extra for it when it ran. 6000:05:49,825 --> 00:05:57,290I only got what they paid me when I showed up that day, which was okay, but certain, not, certainly not enough to make a living on. 6100:05:59,150 --> 00:06:07,280So I'm trying to get back in good standing with the union now, although it might not be easy because they don't like it when people do what I did, and I understand that. 6200:06:08,630 --> 00:06:09,530But I'm gonna try. 6300:06:11,420 --> 00:06:11,900Yeah. 6400:06:12,710 --> 00:06:32,200Now is this a big deal in the world in terms of world peace and climate change and all that? No, it ain't, I mean, the stuff going on with the politics in the United States and Ukraine and climate change and all the problems we're having with terrible heat throughout the country and. 6500:06:34,975 --> 00:06:35,665Incredible. 6600:06:35,665 --> 00:06:44,705Donald Trump, the perfect, perfect man who's made perfect phone calls and all that shit is way more important than this. 6700:06:44,705 --> 00:06:51,095But, you know, this is an entertainment podcast, so I need to talk about entertainment stuff. 6800:06:51,425 --> 00:06:56,345But you know, it is kind of a big deal because it's gonna set a president for all kinds of unions in the future. 6900:06:56,795 --> 00:06:59,765It's going to affect not just people in SAG aftra. 7000:07:00,710 --> 00:07:15,680But all the other industries that are dependent upon actors and writers to be working and they can't do it because if they, if they back down, we lose, everyone loses, it hurts. 7100:07:15,730 --> 00:07:17,920It has a ripple effect through the entire economy. 7200:07:19,180 --> 00:07:26,545So support your local actor and writer if you can. 7300:07:26,545 --> 00:07:34,555You know, even if they're not in the union, they're affected by what, what decisions the union makes. 7400:07:36,355 --> 00:07:37,635And it's important. 7500:07:39,555 --> 00:07:44,895So I hope that gives you a little bit of a perspective on what's happening in the world. 7600:07:46,245 --> 00:07:46,935Of Hollywood. 7700:07:49,485 --> 00:07:50,805Well, that's it for today, folks. 7800:07:50,805 --> 00:07:53,655I hope you enjoyed the, the, the short show. 7900:07:54,075 --> 00:08:00,035I have a good lineup of interviews coming and you'll be enjoying those very soon. 8000:08:01,505 --> 00:08:04,305Send me an email at rayrenati@gmail.com 8100:08:04,325 --> 00:08:06,395or greenroomonair@ gmail.com. 8200:08:06,395 --> 00:08:12,065Don't forget to follow this podcast on whatever platform you're listening and give it a, a rating. 8300:08:12,965 --> 00:08:13,865Really appreciate it. 8400:08:13,865 --> 00:08:19,805It will help me a lot to get more listeners, and until next time, I will see you on the boards. 8500:08:20,525 --> 00:08:21,395Bye-bye everybody.