Dear VO friends, Last night I found out our livelihood is at stake. We all know that Netflix, Hulu and other interactive and streaming outlets are the future of entertainment. A bulk of your auditions lately have been for shows airing on these outlets. This Saturday, the National Board of SAG-AFTRA will vote yes to a New Media contract that states: NO MINIMUMS FOR SESSIONS NO LIMIT ON TIME FOR SESSIONS NO LIMIT ON VOICES NO LIMIT ON EPISODES PER SESSION NO RESIDUALS UNLESS WE STOP THEM!! Please please please print out and sign the attached document with your name and SAG ID#, then take a picture of it with your phone and email it to brooklynboymike@gmail THIS MUST BE DONE BEFORE SATURDAY!!!! Here is the template to fill out and send to: brooklynboymike@gmail TO THE SAG-AFTRA NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS: I am shocked to learn that the current Animation Contract Proposal for SVOD (i.e. Netflix, Amazon, etc.) has NO minimum scale, NO limit on session duration, NO limit on number of voices and NO limit on number of episodes per session. Furthermore there are NO residuals for actors in animated programs for SVOD that are budgeted “under $1.3 million dollars.” Are you aware that currently 100% of all animated programs for SVOD are budgeted under $1.3 million and over the next three years of this contract there will be an essentially RESIDUAL-FREE zone for animated programming? I am already auditioning for a significant number of animated programs being produced for this platform (and there is no doubt that there will be a veritable explosion of animated content on SVOD for the proposed duration of this contract.) Actors who choose to take this work in the next three years will have NO income from the SVOD reruns of these programs in perpetuity. I am also shocked to learn that I will NOT be able to vote on this contract. As a working voice-over actor I demand that the Board of Directors send this contract out for a vote to the affected membership. PRINT NAME SIGNATURE (if possible) SAG-AFTRA#____
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 22:02:44 +0000