Louisiana Entertainment Association

                                                                        III

Dear Members,

The following is a rebuttal to the petition that I sent out to you, I want to encourage all of you to read and do research and get various viewpoints on these issues so that we can come together as United Front on some of them to better ourselves and our film industry.

From Barbara Brinkley:

On Shreveport Actors Hub, Christopher Brown has posted a request for Louisiana actors to sign a petition to get SAG to try to get extras covered for features shooting in Louisiana. I think this is a very bad idea and
not one to even be attempted in any way.

Louisiana is a right to work State and having extras union would only open the door, be it ever so slightly, to a union environment for the industry as a whole. We have very good incentives in Louisiana, but as you know several states including Michigan, now at 40%, are pulling ahead and taking films away to other locations. Union extras would cause productions to leave Louisiana for better deals-I assure you.

Actors may think that with the number of projects shooting in Louisiana and the need for extras that is there-Wow! How much money they would make if they were being paid SAG rate. Yes, SAG would love to sell you that idea because if Louisiana extras were under Union contract the production would have to give preference to SAG members first for the jobs. The SAG member roles would flourish and the dues collected would be great for SAG. The little guy still working only as an extra is still out and would be paid a reduced rate. Not all extras on the set must be paid SAG rate. There is a minimum number with the rest anything goes.

The State of Texas built a film industry before incentives with right to work status and non-union extras. We have the added incentives in Louisiana and the great attitude of the entire communities that will continue to draw films to our area, but not if we tie the budget hands of production. The bottom line for production is money-period.

I really feel the answer to our extras pay problem comes down to minimum wage and paying at least that for all extras. It is up to the extras casting directors bidding the jobs to require minimum wage and overtime accordingly for the extras. The working conditions for extras also depend on the casting folks running extras on the set. Certain requirements for working conditions need to be established before the extras are hired and then maintained throughout the production. Extras casting is a department that should stand alone. The location casting director may be the supervisor of the extras department, but we have the same people trying to do both jobs. The bid of the location casting director includes extras as well. This does not work and we are seeing the results. The location casting directors will take a lower bid than what should be to cover both departments. They will staff up for the location casting and spend their budget there. Then extras casting comes along and they can't afford the staff and certainly can't afford the time-they are still booking speaking roles and solving location casting problems. There is nobody working just for the extras-they become an afterthought. The extras suffer from neglect and the production suffers from the neglect of not enough extras or the wrong ones for the scene.
The location casting directors who are responsible for extras casting as well are hesitant to make an issue with production on the "care and feeding" of extras because they want to get hired again for location casting on the next film.

Until we decide that extras are really an important part of the films we shoot in Louisiana we will continue to be paid sadly low rates and neglected on the set. I truly believe we are acknowledged for our worth-what we feel is our worth. I have always felt that extras are a very important part of a film-think of Spartacus with no extras-two chariots running up and down a dirt road. I have run extras on many sets in my thirty years of casting and had many confrontations with location managers, producers and craft service persons regarding the working conditions of those extras. Extras are always the "low man on the totem pole" but we have to be reasonable about hiring them, paying them and caring for them on a set. They are working the longest hours for the least money-let's give them respect and our thanks for a great job of helping make our film. We don't need a Union to "do the right thing." We can just operate as humans with respect and gratitude to everyone helping us reach our goal-making and keeping films coming to Louisiana.

As s final note: I am not opposed to SAG. Thanks to this great Union for actors many of us can and do make a living in the film industry outside New York and Los Angeles. I don't mean just actors, I mean crew as well. None of us working on sets Union or otherwise would have a chance at any pay that made sense without SAG, IATSE and the Teamsters. We owe them a great debt of gratitude and must support them in their efforts. If you are making a living working under a Union flag, qualify for benefits and using them, then I think you certainly must join and support the Union that made it possible. In a right to work environment, the decision to join or not join a Union is an individual choice based on many circumstances. I for one do not want to see that "choice" go away.

With great respect for actors and a true love for the film business,

Barbara Brinkley CSA
Shreveport, Louisiana &
Dallas, Texas

(Barbara Brinkley is one of the most respected casting directors in the biz. She is outspoken and direct. She also happens to be a fantastic acting coach and teaches classes on how to ace an audition. She is sought out by top professionals in the film acting and production world for her sage advice. If you wish to contact Barbara you can send a note to me and I will forward it.

dan @ LAReelDeal . com)