Posted by
mikeboy on Saturday, March 07, 2009 12:00:00 AM
Here's a link to a 1-minute video featuring the very hot and adorable German TV star Andreas Stenschke, who tells us why it's important for U.S. actors and other professionals to stand firm in negotiations with the networks and the studios. Why? Because Europeans get no royalties at all and the same may happen to American artists if they cave in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PPZV3dTzbg
It's uncanny how those in the entertainment industry have been
lulled over the years into taking for granted benefits won by their
forefathers so many years ago. Some actually believe it's impossible to
return to the dark days when there were no residuals, but the evidence
is clear that the studios' baby steps on the Internet are a clear
indication of the burgeoning distribution system it will soon become.
And the paltry offers to the WGA, DGA, AFTRA and SAG are not opening
offers that they plan to enlarge upon when the monies they earn become
grander. Anyone who thinks otherwise should take a look at their recent
residual checks from cable reruns or VHS/DVD royalties, technologies in
existence for decades that have enriched the studio/management coffers
in extraordinary fashion.
That's why it's important to take a look again at the future that
may be ours, an existence currently lived by our European colleagues
who once had residuals of a sort, but who now live paycheck to paycheck
even as the companies who hired them reap millions through reruns and
foreign sales.