Inferiority Complex

 

Inferiority Complex 

The Blacklist

The Blacklist

Actors and Stage Managers live in fear of it.

Many suspect that they're on one already.

Or on several.

The Blacklist (I capitalize it in appreciation of its enormity and ubiquity) looms huge in the consciousness of so many of my fellows and enmires them in a fen of fear and inactivity.  All of us seek to put on our party manners when coming face-to-face with a potential employer.  Once we have the job, we want the employer's experience with us to be positive enough that we might be considered for future work.  I am astounded at some of my confreres, normally gregarious and capable of manipulating the emotions of an audience of hundreds, that they attach so much significance to the slightest gesture, comment, article of clothing and are possessed with the idea that one of these bits of minutiae will affect their employment opportunities.

I can tell you, from experience, that barring something absolutely egregious, like sleeping with the director's wife or blowing the theatre up, that there is no blacklist. I will go further.  Our own individualities and quirks are what keep us ever present in people's minds - especially employers.

An example. I did a stunt in a feature film that I won't now name.  I was young and hungry, and this was a big Hollywood film. A nice feather in my cap. After my stuff was wrapped, I got a call from a casting director who casts background players, asking if I wanted to work. I said, 'yes,' and went for a wardrobe fitting.  The address seemed a familiar one, and when I arrived it was indeed, the wardrobe department of the same film I had just worked on.  Since I was fairly anonymous in the stunt I performed, I figured that this background work would be icing on the cake and no one would get hurt.  Well, I got busted. The background casting director called me, furious that I had taken this background work when I was already a principal.  I repeated to her my rationale about no one getting hurt.

It took a few days for my eardrum to recover from the sound of the phone being slammed down.  I figured that I had entered the oft-referred to blacklist which I was sure this casting director kept on her person at all times.  I could not have been more wrong.  For weeks afterward, that casting director called me constantly for work.  After some time she forgot why I was foremost in her mind.  I guess it proved true that old bromide that there's no such thing as bad publicity.

I was talking to a Stage Manager just yesterday who was asked by the artistic director of a theatre where she was working to do additional work out of the purview of her Equity contract, and for no additional money. She complied, thinking that if she refused, that artistic director might find a more willing (and cheaper, as this SM had been there for quite a few seasons) employee.  I got apoplectic for her.  "That's why you have a deputy!" I yelled.  She acquiesced and was later replaced.  A fellow SM who took umbrage and spoke up, did not submit to the boss's request and stillworks there. Coincidence? Luck?

Sometimes the only thing we have is the courage of our convictions.  Most of us have that voice in our heads, or in the pits of our stomachs that tells us when things are right or going wrong. Yes, the possibility always exists that we might piss someone off.  More often I have found that standing up for oneself is more respected than blithe complicity.  It also seems not only to not emplace one onto the non-existent blacklist, but on the whitelist (?) which seems to increase the frequency of work.

If we heed Polonius' advice and are true to ourselves we might find more and better work in the aggregate. I want to shake Actors who sell themselves short. There is one school of thought, too, which says that it's better to be feared, than liked. Let us not give up our considerable power.

The Future Of The Agenting Business?

Irving "Swifty" Lazar.  Agent extraordinaire.

Fast-talking, cigar-chomping, Swifty is the picture that many of us have when envisioning the archetypal talent agent.  The bombastic ten-percenter, to use Variety-speak.  Back in the day, there were hundreds of them, often occupying offices cheek-by-jowl in edifices along The Rialto; working the phones - later fax machines and email - and hustling to book their clients and collect however many ten-percent commissions were possible.

Nowadays, agents are consolidating, diversifying and integrating vertically.  Congloms like CAA, William Morris and ICM have become powerhouses that not only rep performers, but other creatives - below and above the line - and market whole packages which include almost every element in an entertainment project, from the script and stars on down to the day-players.  The specter of these behemoths getting too big and crushing the rank-and-file actor is one reason that (legacy) SAG voted not to approve their long-standing ATA agreement.  Equity and (legacy) AFTRA both have franchise agreements, but the actor's relationship with agencies has changed and we will never go back to the old model.

There used to be an ant hill-like traffic throughout New York City.  As breakdowns came over the wires, assistants would assemble packages of headshots; messengers would pick up and deliver same to the myriad casting directors and auditions would be appointed.  My mother was an actress.  In her day - the 1950s - one would "make the rounds" of agents and producers.  It was a personal, face-to-face business, and casting directors were the receptionists who pulled photos from a file cabinet drawer.

Today, with the advent of the daily Breakdown Services casting is almost exclusively via the web, and the movement of physical client materials is less now that the digital age is here. More and more, electronic submissions are becoming the norm - even for theatre jobs.  In Los Angeles it is now extremely rare for hard copy photo/resumes to make their way from agent to casting director.  More middlemen stand between the actor and his or her job.

There are exceptions, of course. Breakdown Services has a service called Actors' Access.  When casting directors are willing to have unrepresented actors submit themselves, they might post a breakdown on AA.  Usually these are postings for off-types, or for low-paying gigs, but every now and again an actor has an opportunity to self-submit for a choice job and the playing field is an equal one for represented and non-represented alike.

I always say, "my picture won't get me called in, but let me into your office and I will charm the pants off you." There is far less face-to-face in our business. Starting in the 1970s, especially with the advent of solitary women running offices as well as the decaying safety situation in cities like New York, office doors started staying locked.  ("Please place photos in mail slot," and the like.)  I was with one agency for three years before I actually met my agent!

I know what my capabilities and - dare I say - "type" are better than anyone else.  Perhaps it's time to introduce what has been a common practice in the UK for may years - that of the collective agency.  Collective agencies are registered with British Equity, which is analogous to the franchise agreements that American agencies have with the performers' unions.  They are run by actors, for actors.  Commissions go into a pot to run the agency and what is left over is shared.

This approach would not be for every American actor, but there certainly are a great many of us who would prefer repping ourselves and keeping the commissions.  Many of us want more of a control of our careers, and this would be one way to achieve that.  Actors' Equity has a robust franchise agreement and good relationship with its franchisees.  SAG-AFTRA, though, currently has no agreement with agencies who negotiate the extant SAG contracts.  Perhaps a good place to start?

Here a few websites for collective agencies in the UK: Performance Actors, Denmark Street Management, 1984 Personal Management.

Freelance

I have worked quite extensively in Europe and just returned from a tour in Germany.  We did 23 different cities in 6 weeks and put in over 4000  miles (6400 km). We had one stretch where we played a matinee in one town, did an evening performance in another, then back the following day to the first city and then the evening in the second city.  Only those who negotiated for it got any extra money, and no one got enough sleep.

One does not have to work long in another country before realizing that American actors have the best working standards in the world.  A few years ago, in partnership with Fédération Internationale des Acteurs or FIA, Equity hosted Sankwe Michael Nkambole, who was then the president of the National Arts Association of Zambia (NATAAZ).  We showed Michael around New York, took him to see a few shows and had him as a guest at one of our monthly Council meetings.  He let us in on the state of the theatre in his country. Many of our actors snicker at seemingly frivolous requirements like the "Equity cot," while in Michael's country, when a production there got a bit controversial, and angered faction burned the theatre down.

In Germany, the arts are state-supported.  Most medium to large city have a Stadtheater or city theatre, and each of Germany's 16 states or Länder have their own Staatsheater.  These facilities are as good or better than anything we have on Broadway.  Most have full staffs of stagehands, stage management, front of house personnel, actors, dancers, orchestra, ballet corps, etc.  Actors get a 2-year contract and are therefore civil servants.  The idea of a freelance actor for the most part, does not exist in the consciousness of those in the lively arts.  Though the romance of words like "Broadway," and "Hollywood" resonate with German actors, when I explain the day-to-day life of auditions, meetings, agents, staged readings and the realities of the 90/10 ratio of unemployed/working, they are horrified and grateful that they are where they are.

They still long for America, though.

Though my tour did not involve anyone blowing up the theatre, I was still wanting many of the standards and protections afforded me as an Equity member in the States.  Though the GDBA Genossenschaft Deutsche Bühnen-Angehöriger (the German theatrical union) certainly has its standards and practices, it is nowhere near ours.

American actors have the idea that they are out battling the elements all alone.  So many long for a greater feeling of community.  Do you remember before you had your Equity card?  Having the card seemed like an unattainable goal; one that was prized and coveted.  How long did it take for some of us to lose that sense of accomplishment and fall into the jaded, been-there-done-that feeling that being an Equity member is now but a veritable tax which one is subjected to.

I got involved in things Equity like many, in that I was angry and "wanted to tell those clowns down there" a thing or two.  Very quickly did I find that I could not only affect change for the greater good, (as well as my own) but that I was part of a very vital community of artists and business people.  Yes, I am a free lance - roaming the countryside plying my trade - but I am also surrounded by a collective populace heading in the same direction.  It's a voluble, passionate, gregarious and talented group.  And I am one of them.

You can be, too.  Go to a quarterly membership meeting; join a committee (there is a committee for just about any facet of life in the theatre; attend a Council or regional board meeting as an observer (any member in good standing has this right) or run for Council.  You will get back much more than you give.

American Autumn and the Unions

Dr. Cornel West calls it the U.S. Autumn. 

For thirteen days, as of this writing, hundreds have been occupying Wall Street to protest what many see as an evolving plutocracy in the US.  Many of the occupiers have been angered at the dismissal of their movement by the corporate press.  (see Ginia Bellafante's article from the New York Times of September 23)  Many seem to automatically reject this movement for its lack of a centralized, organized center.  O.W.S. is grass roots in the strictest sense.  (unlike the so-called Tea Party, for example: an organization funded by large organizations attempting to appear as an upswell of popular rage)

A common canard (often heard these days in this anti-union climate) is that a labor union is but its own clunky organizational machinery, which serves to feed itself, rather than to facilitate and uplift the will of the group with common aims that formed it.  Local 100 of the Transit Workers Union or TWU, has joined O.W.S. So has Teamsters Local 814.    My hope is that all unions, including the performers' unions, Equity, SAG and AFTRA, will throw their support behind this movement.  After all, there are more of us (i.e. non-rich people) than them (e.g. millionaires who hold undue influence on our government and economy).  The same epithets lobbed at protestors of the Viet Nam war, The Civil Rights Movement, Women's Rights and the like, are being yelled from the balconies of the rich upon the regular folk below (See video at the end of this post).  Despite characterizations of "the great unwashed" and "unemployed trust fund babies," change was forced.

Keep up the pressure!  Make the American Autumn a force that changes our world.  Solidarity forever!

Thespianic Civil Servant

I have worked quite a bit in Europe, quite a bit in Germany.  It is fascinating to talk to European actors.  Sitting over kaffe in the theatre's kantine - the small employees only restaurant in the basement of most municipal theatres.  - very civilized - I have swapped stories with many actors from across the pond.  Their concept of American actors?  "Hollywood!" "Broadway!" "Gelt! (Money)"  German schauspielers are surprised when I tell them the reality of our gold-paved streets.

The concept of the freelance actor, for the most part, does not exist over there.  A German actor, for example, usually gets a 2-year contract and is attached to a local theatre. There is usually no guarantee of roles and one receives a regular salary, whether one is actually working on a show or not.  The drawbacks?  More or less like ours.  Directors have their favorites.  Company A is substandard according to common lore; Company B is preferable because of an established artist or its location, etc.  This is much like the life of those who do regional theatre in our country, with the difference being the removal from the equation of the constant search for the next job.
Theatre was invented by the Greeks, but show business was invented by Americans.  Could the actor-as-civil-servant be a viable model down the road for regional theatres in our country? Aside from a very few like the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, theatre companies - i.e. companies of artists who work together over a period of years - are a thing of the past.  Mike Daisey, the monologist, in his very funny, HOW THEATRE FAILED AMERICA, talks about the current system of creating theatrical works as being in the main a chemistry experiment - add actors and a director for a few weeks and see what happens.  We know what happens - hit or miss.

Does not a country like ours deserve better?  The echo I already hear reverberating is "The Economy-onomy-onomy."  The money is there.  It's just apportioned to other things.

The actor as civil servant, hmm....

My Friend, The Producer (Part 2)

When your boss is a producer, an artistic director, a colleague as well as a friend, how do you deal with him or her when on the other side of the negotiating table?

A greater degree of intimacy with an artistic director/producer gives you an idea of how the field lays when it comes to contracts. Regional theatre in today's United States is not on its strongest footing ever. Very few, if any, have bucketsfull of money hidden away. The best way to negotiate contracts (and a couple of key contracts, like LORT, are up for re-negotiation soon) is to use all that knowledge that we have from working closely as colleagues and friends as a yardstick to know what we can successfully demand, and realistically achieve.

Most theatres of the same economic plane have similar needs and ways of operation. Some are better business people than others, of course. It is our collective wisdom that will allow us to know what and what not to demand; knowing that we seek to, form a symbiosis between our employers and ourselves and not so much a stand-off. Those who are more comfortable in the position of negotiator tend to spearhead contract talks for the producers' side. The signatories-to-be (the producers not actively involved in contract talks) trust in the wisdom and ability of their asignees.

There are producers who enjoy the contract negotiation process. It is the thrill of combat that spurs them along, as well as the actual benefits for their respective business plans. They are committed. They are smart, and they have more money, as a collective, than our union does. We always have an edge in that, they can't present their shows without us. That is power.

That is the macro-relationship. In the micro-relationship, that is the producer in negotiations with a potential and unrepresented employee. There are contract minimums. There are regional producers who will not budge on salary. It never hurts to ask, however. If you are negotiating your own contracts, (many of are right now doing just that. It's Stock Season) make sure you have a list of things that you want and things that you need. Chief among these for you will probably be salary considerations. Have a high (What you think you can get if the market will bear) and a low (the least that you can realistically accept)

If negotiating for salary points comes to a dead end, sometimes it is possible to get a producer to add a per diem. Not all contracts require a per diem. But just because it's not required does not mean that you can't get it. The advantage of per diem, for the producer, is that there are no hidden additional costs. With salaries, the rule of thumb is that on top of the actual salary, the producer will have to pay an additional 40% in fringe benefits. Fringe benefits include AEA pension and health contribution, payroll taxes, unemployment and processing. The advantage for the actor or stage manager, of course, is more money.

Per diem has no on-the-top expenses for the producer. You end up getting more money, but the producer pays less fringes. Of course ones unemployment rate is based on ones salary alone, not salary plus per diem.

There are other points of bargaining, however. Many regional theatres get support, not in money, but in goods and services. There are negotiating points which are not covered in any rule book. Many are locality-specific. Some of them include: lodging upgrades, travel upgrades, temporary health club memberships, comp tickets, and others. Be creative.