Strategy is key for MembershipFirst, Unite for Strength
A divided SAG is nothing new.
When the union was formed in 1933, in that respect were actors who supported forming a performers conglutination and those who opposed it.
Not much has changed in 75 age as Tuesday's announcement of 84 candidates out of Hollywood vying for seating on the union's national board demonstrated.
The New York division has 20 candidates in the running for five national board seats and nine-spot alternates. There also ar seven other national board seats for branches outside of Hollywood and New York open.
In addition, the Hollywood division has 11 seats for the national board open, along with 22 alternates. Two factions have emerged in the battle for those seats.
On one slope is MembershipFirst, the faction that currently holds the majority of SAG's national board and Hollywood display board. MembershipFirst has 22 incumbents and 11 newcomers looking to fill up the 23 open seating room on the national board.
On the other side is Unite for Strength, a group that came unitedly during the current negotiations stalemate by members defeated with what they see as MembershipFirst's focus on battling sister union AFTRA at the expense of getting a new deal with the studios.
MembershipFirst's slate wants to continue what it calls a four-year streak of "firsts" for the order, citing the development of an online actors' directory, iActor as well as forming new technology/new media and organizing departments inside the social club and negotiating basic cable residuals.
"We're the outset group to help create a $20 million excess," said Anne-Marie Johnson, a SAG circuit board member and MembershipFirster. "We're also the first chemical group to manage SAG's commercials contract topping the $800 million mark."
Unite for Strength, lead by veteran worker Ned Vaughn, lists new media as its whirligig issue merely also is focusing on unity among the guild and disposing of factionalism that it says has "damaged the guild's effectiveness."
"We offer alternatively our commitment to service and our extensive personal experience of what it takes to make a living in this tough business," the group says on its Web land site. "We know that putt SAG's rank first means getting results for actors; talking tough is nonmeaningful if it isn't backed up with strategy and unity."
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