LOS ANGELES (AP) -- New Screen Actors Guild President Melissa Gilbert is matter-of-fact about the challenges of leading a fractious union as it grapples with the changing economics of the global entertainment industry.þþ``Nothing, nothing in this building comes easily,'' Gilbert said recently as she sat in her office surrounded by photos of her family and a framed ballot from the first of two contentious elections she won against actress Valerie Harper.þþGilbert took office in March after the first election was rerun because of ballot irregularities.þþBut that was only a warm-up to the challenges she now faces. Chief among them is runaway production, which is costing the union thousands of jobs and compromising its clout in Hollywood.þþIn the months ahead, Gilbert will try to shore up a pension and health fund that has been deprived of an estimated $23 million since 1997 as actors take work in countries where union by-laws aren't necessarily followed.þþIn the process, she must enforce a rule that requires members to work only under SAG contracts -- even when those jobs are outside the United States.þþThe so-called Rule One was extended globally on May 1 in an attempt to curb the exodus of film and television work to Canada, Australia and other countries. Penalties range from reprimand to ouster from the union in extreme cases.þþEnforcement could lead to high-profile disciplining of major stars while putting SAG at odds with major studios that have insisted the union's authority doesn't extend beyond U.S. borders.þþOn top of it all, actors could find themselves in a situation in which the agents who are supposed to protect their interests also are their employers.þþThe problem was created when union members overwhelmingly rejected a contract regulating the relationship between actors and talent agents -- a contract Gilbert strongly supported.þþNow, agents are free to invest in production companies or advertising agencies that employ actors.þþAt the heart of Gilbert's challenge is a contentious, fractious membership of about 90,000 actors. A handful earn millions of dollars for a single movie, but most are unemployed much of the yearþþ``This kind of discrepancy is unique. I don't know of any other union in the country that is like it,'' said William Daniels, who served as SAG president from 1999 to 2001. ``When you're making $20 million per picture, sometimes you don't even know where your union headquarters is.''þþUnlike members of more traditional unions, SAG members can actually hold a variety of jobs, supporting themselves as waiters or accountants between acting gigs.þþ``We're not dealing with the traditional workforce where people have a lot of contact with each other or are in a work environment where they have a lot of internal cohesion,'' said Kent Wong, director of the University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Labor Research and Education.þþIn recent years, the union has had to deal with its share of labor disputes.þþA six-month strike by U.S. commercial actors in 2000 brought filming of television commercials to a halt. Much of that production went overseas and has not returned.þþIn 2001, the threat of strikes by actors and writers forced major studios to accelerate production of feature films. The strikes did not happen, but the subsequent lull put a lot of entertainment industry employees temporarily out of work.þþOn the runaway production front, SAG is now negotiating with studios film by film and recently reached agreements with Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount to honor SAG contracts on films being shot in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.þþMeanwhile, in its dealings with agents, SAG is working to bring individual state laws in line with the previous agreement to avoid commission hikes and unfair labor practices.þþSAG also has extended an olive branch to agents in hopes that the old agreement can be reinstated.þþThrough it all, the 38-year-old Gilbert is determined to provide strong leadership.þþHer first challenge is to dispel her image as the child actress who rose to fame on the television show ``Little House on the Prairie.''þþ``I think a lot of people underestimate the level of my stubbornness,'' she said. ``Not only do people still perceive that I'm going to be an absolute doormat, they perceive that I'm still 12 and am easily swayed and they are going to convince me to do whatever they want me to do. That just isn't the case.''þþEven critics give her credit for determination.þþ``I will say this about Melissa. She shows up at the guild every day,'' said Gordon Drake, a SAG board member who opposed Gilbert's election. ``She works hard and I do believe she has the better interests of the membership in mind.''þþGilbert said she hopes to change the perception of SAG as a disorganized, paralyzed union. But she is not expecting miracles.þþ``We're just a big, dysfunctional family of very dramatic and colorful people,'' she said. ``I felt it was my time to step in and see if I couldn't direct that energy and colorfulness, those eccentricities, in a more productive direction.þþ``Unity? It's a nice word. It's just not necessarily an achievable goal. If I set out with that in mind, with that high an expectation, I'll be ridiculously disappointed when this is over.''þþ
Source: NY Times
