Saturday, January 3, 2015

Non-Union Shows and Ticket Prices

And, speaking of wages and prices (as I was indirectly in my last post), allow me the luxury of grinding my own professional ax in this space.

Through a great deal of hard work, and not a little bit of luck, I have been able to join Actors' Equity and SAG-AFTRA, the two major unions that support the economic and professional interests of actors on stage, in films, and on television.  As a consequence, I am able to get work as an actor for better wages and working conditions than is often the case in non-union productions.  I should add that, on the subject of wages, that the difference between union and non-union productions is not just a question of getting better wages, but any wages at all.  That's the voice of experience (namely, mine).

But you don't have to take my word for it, or that of any other actor, for that matter.  All you have to do is go to any Web publication or other site that offers audition information.  You will find that the vast majority of productions are not only non-union, but non paying.  In part, of course, this reflects the fact that, at any point in history, there is always a buyer's market for actors.   But it also reflects a new level of muscle-flexing by producers.  Emboldened by a business and political environment that increasing favors the moneyed at the expense of everyone else, producers have increasingly competed with each other to see what are the worst working conditions actors will put up with, for the sake of being able to act.

This competition, sadly, has worked its way into the very upper echelons of the theater industry.  National tours of Broadway shows, which formerly employed all of their performers under Equity contracts, now frequently are produced and performed around the country with non-union performers.  That means that the productions you now see of those great new hits (and old ones) from New York that you've heard about so much now frequently star performers with less experience and, on occasion, less talent than the ones you can see on the Great White Way.

What isn't less?  I'll tell you, for the sake of creating a new class of educated consumers.

Ticket prices.

That's right.  The same ticket prices that formerly supported the wages and benefits of union actors are being paid by you.  The difference between those prices and the reduced wages and benefits (if any) are being pocketed by the producers as "profit."  As if their profits weren't generous enough.

This is something you should certainly remember the next time you hear grumbling in the entertainment industry about union demands.  Union contracts in film, TV and theater are in fact quite flexible about giving producers the opportunity to work affordably with union actors under a variety of financial levels.  Producers, on the other hand, are somewhat less flexible.  Once they have learned that they can "get away" with a certain level of pricing, they will treat that level of pricing as an entitlement.

Are you going to let them get away with it?  Or are you going to insist, even to the point of staying away from non-union touring productions, that they either employ union actors, or let their ticket prices reflect the fact that they are employing less expensive talent?

Ultimately, that depends on how seriously you take your power as a consumer.  But, if you take it as seriously as producers take their prerogatives, you have real power, power that can be used to affect other issues.  But, if you enjoy being powerless, if you love being played for a sucker, if you absolutely believe that the people at the top of the economic pyramid always have your best interests at heart, well, you go right ahead and do nothing.

I mean, it's your money, right?  Until you surrender it to them.  And, once you do, good luck getting it back.

In the meantime, see you at the movies (and proudly under a union contract).

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