The
Generations Actors Guild (GAG), now in the second week of withholding
their services from SABC1 soap opera, Generations, convened a press
briefing today to address the media about the reasons behind the
stay-away.
This
was against the background of misinformation being communicated to the
press, particularly around issues of the actor’s remuneration and a
misrepresentation of their demands to the production house and the
broadcaster. GAG also wanted to use the opportunity to contextualize
certain peculiarities about the creative economy, particularly the TV
industry – where issues such as rates, profit share and syndication fees
were concerned.
Actors
around the world, and South Africa operate in a context where, much
like professional sportspeople, their careers have a limited life span.
The pay structures of said careers, therefore, are scaled differently in
order to ensure sustainability of an actor’s career. This is especially
true when an actor is strongly associated with a particular TV show or
character, making them less marketable for other projects. Some of the
devices employed are:
- Syndication
fees paid to actors whenever the programme is broadcast overseas, or
residual fees whenever the programme is repeated.
- A
fee whenever a brand pays the broadcaster to integrate their product
into the storyline, in such a way that it is endorsed by the actors.
- A share in the bonus that the broadcaster pays the production house when the TV series has performed exceptionally well.
Despite
the fact that this is international best-practice, (and factored into
their contracts) Generations actors do not receive these fees – fees
that make the difference between ensuring an actors revenue stream for
life, or condemning them to an existence where, despite being associated
with an extremely profitable and successful project, once they leave
the show, it’s ‘lights out’ - they do not receive the fees that they are
contractually entitled to, and their income is abruptly cut off.
“There
is a worrying reluctance to share real information of how many
countries, and for how much money, the show has been sold to over the
two decades of it’s existence” comment GAG. “This is a real issue, as
within those sales, are our syndication fees – and we have never
received them. If all actors in our country were paid repeat and
syndication fees that they’re contractually entitled to, the lives of
most of our most gifted talent would look very different. We wouldn’t
have these troubling reports of some of South Africa’s most loved actors
dying in poverty and obscurity, despite the fact that their series are
on daily repeat or being broadcast in markets overseas. We need to
address this issue with urgency, and MMSV and the SABC have been
unwilling to come to the party and open the books to show us the money
trail.”
Where
the issues of their rates & salaries were concerned, GAG explained
that they are subjected to particularly high taxes, since they are
employed as freelancers. The realities of their pay-packets, therefore,
are markedly different from what has been communicated in the media –
the average salaries on the set are actually R30,000 per month, not the
sum of R55,000 communicated to the media.
Critically,
GAG wanted to provide detail about how their fees are broken down,
using the fictitious R55,000 as a case study, to demonstrate that even a
salary that looks quite generous when communicated, is in reality much
more modest when real costs are factored in – as follows:
- R55,000 hypothetical gross salary - (no benefits.)
- 25% freelancers tax is R13,759, which leaves R41,241.0
- subtract the 15% agents fee of R 6186.
- That leaves R35, 054, 85 - as the REAL take-home salary.
- Factor
in medical aid, (without the benefit of employers contribution) at
R3000 per person, for the individual and 2 of their children – R12,000
(for 3 people)
- This leaves 23, 054.88 – subtract 4,000 for life insurance, provident fund/retirement annuity
- This leaves R19, 054.88 for living expenses - rent/bond, school fees, living expenses, vehicle, etc.
If
the amounts communicated above were for a professional who can
anticipate a working life-span of some 30+ years, there is a reasonable
expectation that it is a manageable sum, even as it is subject to heavy
taxes and fees. However, the realities of an actors abbreviated career
life-span (average 10 years), are concerned, then it becomes clear that
this is not a sustainable fee to ensure that an individual is able to
effectively maximize their monthly pay package for a lifetime, in a way
that a professional in another sector would be able to.
Generations
is South Africa’s, indeed, Africa’s most successful TV programme – but
that success has not filtered down to its key players – the cast. A
cursory investigation of how some of the show’s most prominent previous
cast members are living today will confirm this fact – and GAG believes
that this discrepancy needs to be addressed with urgency.
The
creative industry in South Africa is operates in an unregulated
environment – there are no mandated minimum fees, which makes actors
extremely exceptionally vulnerable to exploitation and to
victimization. The employers set the terms, based on nothing but their
own perception of what they should be paying – essentially, their whim.
In a country that has managed to set down minimum fees for some
industries where exploitation is rife, such as domestic work, it is
clear that an intervention is needed in the creative sector. The
members of GAG are at pains to point out that their withholding of
services is not the first time this has happened – other actors have
spoken out, individually, and been blacklisted and sidelined for it.
The action that GAG has embarked on, however, is the first time it has
happened on such a large scale, and for comparatively speaking, such a
long time.
“We
operate in an environment where there are essentially only 3 major
players in the TV industry who offer employment opportunities for actors
– the SABC, Etv and M-Net. We notice that there have been calls for us
to ‘just leave and get another job’, but it’s not as simple as that
when there are so few options. It made more sense for us to deal with
the situation we were in, as opposed to choosing to walk away. More
importantly, however, is that there are some fundamental wrongs that
have become common practice in the TV industry that we felt it was our
duty to begin to correct. So, instead of retreating and looking for
other jobs, we chose to improve the conditions that we operate in, for
ALL South African actors. To us, this is not a struggle for the 16
people involved – it is an industry-wide battle, and we’re fighting for a
wholesale transformation of how the industry is structured and run.”
explain the members of GAG.
On Monday, 25th
August, the Minister of Arts & Culture held a meeting with the
members of GAG and the SABC to explore options of how the current
impasse could be resolved. The outcome of the meeting was that the SABC
requested a meeting with the actors to begin to iron out their
grievances, and look to how the situation could be worked out. The
members of GAG have accepted the invitation, and remain resolute in
their goals to effect a wholesale normalization of the industry.
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