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Two major entertainment industry unions have settled an internal streaming theater dispute, reaching a deal that should make it easier for professional theaters nationwide to film plays and musicals for airing during the coronavirus pandemic .
The conflict centered on a separate issue from the time of the pandemic: as theaters shut down by the epidemic attempt to broadcast productions, whether their contracts go to the union that represents the people who work in the theater or to the one that represents film and television workers?
After a sometimes bitter argument, the Actors’ Equity Association, which represents 51,000 stage actors and heads of state, and SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 people working mainly in film and television, announced the agreement on Thursday evening.
“It’s a beautiful day,” Kate Shindle, president of Equity, said in an interview Thursday. “It gives the people who make theater the ability to innovate in the way they need to survive.”
Shindle said she hopes the deal will allow theaters to air more work for the duration of the pandemic. “We want this work to be done,” she said.
Under the deal, which is tentatively scheduled to last until Dec.31, 2021, the two unions have agreed that Equity will cover recorded work for digital distribution that replaces or complements a live hearing.
There are many restrictions – the equity-covered work is meant to be distributed to ticket holders or subscribers, not to the general public. Audiences during streaming must not exceed double the capacity of the theater during this period, or triple the capacity of rooms with less than 350 seats.
“The program may not include works which are more like a television show or movie, including works shot in chronological order, which are substantially altered prior to the exhibition, or which include visual effects or other elements that reproduced live, ”says the agreement.
The unions have agreed that typically, that is, during non-pandemic times, most of the work done for streaming falls under the purview of SAG-AFTRA.
“The agreement preserves SAG-AFTRA’s historic jurisdiction while creating an important accommodation in the service of artists,” said union president Gabrielle Carteris and David White, the national executive director, in a letter to their members. . “We are happy to be able to help create work opportunities for AEA members when absolutely necessary, while protecting the work opportunities of SAG-AFTRA members now and in the future,” they said. added.
The dispute, between two unions that are both part of the AFL-CIO, has unfolded throughout the pandemic, as theaters increasingly turned to streaming because government regulations and protocols union security officials banned most shows before the live audience.
Both unions argued that they should have the right to represent artists who work on plays and live musicals; theaters and commercial producers were caught in the middle, often frustrated that Equity sometimes appeared to be an obstacle to doing work, but also aware that Equity opposed working theaters with SAG-AFTRA.
Equity had argued that SAG-AFTRA was reducing it, paying its members less and making it more difficult for them to access health insurance, while SAG-AFTRA had claimed that filmed entertainment had always been its territory.
Equity has filed grievances against some theaters over streaming deals already made with SAG-AFTRA, and those grievances have yet to be resolved.
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