To Anyone Who Enjoys Movies

[derelict]

Capitalism is designed to allow for anyone to make as much money as they can, without any kind of imposed limits. Once you start forcing people to spend their money in a certain way or limit how much they can make for their work, you cross the line into communism.

Hit the nail on the head! Actors get paid ridiculous amounts because they can get away with it. It's like any other business... You are worth exactly what someone is willing to pay you.

BUT, in reference to what some have implied... the reason they can get away with it is not what most people think. When you pay 10 bucks to go see a movie, you are not only paying the actor, you are paying everyone involved, all the way down to the guy who cleaned the porta-toilets during the shoot! Boycotting movies doesn't "screw the Man".

The reason actors get away with demanding outrageous salaries is their celebrity status. Is an actor's job more important than the driver who drove him to set that day? No, but the driver is more replaceable because nobody knows who he is... Everyone knows who Brad Pitt is.

And who's fault is that? It's everyone's! Every person who ever buys a tabloid magazine or checks the celebrity gossip column or watches those stupid reality shows like "Hogan Knows Best."

Our society is obsessed with celebrity... we see a pretty face on the screen and we have this urge to know everything about them. Take away the interest, and you take away their one bargaining chip for demanding the huge dollars.

 

[GreyHoundSteve]

Wow, panties in a bunch doesn't begin to describe some of your guys here. Even when i state that THIS IS A JOKE you guys act like i just punched your mother... and you say you work in the "entertainment" industry?

Anyway, i defy you to show where i said i was some kind of expert. In fact, i don't believe that it takes much reading comprehension skills at all to realize that i am stating the EXACT opposite. I am simply a casual observer like the millions of other people that this stupid video is supposed to appeal to. What EXACTLY is it that this video is supposed to accomplish anyway?

Tell me some of the quality movies that you guys have worked on? Just name the best one even. I would like to know what exactly you do that makes you so irreplaceable. Are you the guy that digitally shadows Bruce Willis' bald spot? Seriously, i won't post another response if you tell me what exactly you have contributed to our viewing pleasure.:biggrin:

I gotta know what you guys have worked on and specifically done. I might be a fan of your work and don't even know it.

 

[lazynok]

Wow, panties in a bunch doesn't begin to describe some of your guys here. Even when i state that THIS IS A JOKE you guys act like i just punched your mother... and you say you work in the "entertainment" industry?

Anyway, i defy you to show where i said i was some kind of expert. In fact, i don't believe that it takes much reading comprehension skills at all to realize that i am stating the EXACT opposite. I am simply a casual observer like the millions of other people that this stupid video is supposed to appeal to. What EXACTLY is it that this video is supposed to accomplish anyway?

Tell me some of the quality movies that you guys have worked on? Just name the best one even. I would like to know what exactly you do that makes you so irreplaceable. Are you the guy that digitally shadows Bruce Willis' bald spot? Seriously, i won't post another response if you tell me what exactly you have contributed to our viewing pleasure.:biggrin:

I gotta know what you guys have worked on and specifically done. I might be a fan of your work and don't even know it.

I am just going to say no. Because my work has nothing to do with the actual movie/script/actors. I'm just going to leave my panties in a bunch because it doesn't matter if you like the work or not... you like it based on what the director/producer/writer/art have done to it... you can't even see what I do... but if we weren't there.... you would notice that everything looks like crap.

Oh, I'll list one for a good laugh.. Dance Flick, coming out Aug 14 to a theater near you. hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Oh and the video is not supposed to accomplish anything. Just create awareness about what is going on. Everybody donated their time/skills/equipment to help let people be away of whats going on.

And yes, I am replaceable. Replaceable by somebody who does the same thing I do... not somebody else.

And no, i searched this entire page and you're the only person to mention EXPERT on this thread. And I don't know why you think we're in a bad mood, this is actually entertaining I think.

lazynok, and derelict, where do you guys work?

I work where ever pays me. Most of the people who do my job are like this, sort of like independent contractors. We get called to work on a project, and when its done, go to a different one. A slight few of us will work at say, Paramount Pictures, and only at Paramount. I like to jump around.

 

[lazynok]

.

I just also noticed you're from Texas. Why does everybody from Texas on message boards all across the internet have a problem with California and the movie industry? And they ALWAYS bring up the cheaper home prices in Texas to compare. And YES I am stereotyping and generalizing because on all message boards, it's always a Texan to bring this information up. :biggrin:

 

[NSXGMS]

I'm not sure where this thread is going...is this just a rant about certain people being paid too much? Well, if you have any semblance of a capitalist or free market system that's going to continue to happen and needs to be gotten over.

If the thread is about the state of the film industry I say if the industry makes no money then shut down the industry. We don't need a film industry. If people aren't paying for entertainment then there will be no entertainment. There seems to be plenty of big-budget films out there and the studios seem to be able to make money or they wouldn't continue to do so. You had better believe if actors' salaries were compromising the studio heads' bottom lines significantly they'd be cut--across the board and industry-wide. They get the money because the market allows it to be commanded.

Of course, whenever any industry is in trouble these days the industry lobbyists (James Cromwell, in this case) have to jam down our throats how many jobs it's going to cost hard-working people and that that can't be allowed to happen. That statement is a welfare statement. If an industry isn't viable it should shut down or reconfigured at the industry's expense.

The concept of unemployment has become a spectre just like terrorism, communism and the Bogeyman. Unemployment isn't good but it can, does and will happen. No one should be scared into letting the government handle a threat, certainly one that is inherent in free-market economics. There is always risk when working for others and anyone is entitled to start their own business and eliminate that risk. I don't recall seeing the right to be employed in the US Constitution or anywhere else for that matter.

Clearly the film industry is an industry that is viable if run properly. With the advent of the internet it may be necessary to revamp the entire industry or perhaps time for competitors to come in and do things better. That chapter should be allowed to unfold. Of course, that's harder to do with unions. But if the film industry is viable it will survive on it's own and people will continue to pay for it or donate to it.

 

[GreyHoundSteve]

I just also noticed you're from Texas. Why does everybody from Texas on message boards all across the internet have a problem with California and the movie industry? And they ALWAYS bring up the cheaper home prices in Texas to compare. And YES I am stereotyping and generalizing because on all message boards, it's always a Texan to bring this information up. :biggrin:

Thats like saying why is it everyone outside of Michigan has a problem with how Detroit chooses to go about their business of making automobiles. They should be able to run their business poorly, make a subpar product and then get hand outs when they start getting outsourced because you don't want them to all be UNEMPLOYED do you?

Maybe its time to go back to the video plea drawing board and see if you boys can't come up with something more convincing. Maybe i just don't get why i should feel sorry that other places besides Hollywood are making movies these days. Why should film making be exclusive to la la land because like things in Detroit it seems you guys have had it too good for too long and the quality of your product has suffered all the while you expect everyone else to keep paying more for it or you'll threaten us with your imminent UNEMPLOYMENT.

Thats just this Texans take on it anyway and i'm very likely wrong.:biggrin:

P.S. I agree with everything that was posted above. NSXGMS has a much more elegant way of getting the point across. +1 to his comments.

 

[lrsudog]

Sheesh. Good to see that people still feel comfortable opining on an issue on which everything they know comes from "Access Hollywood" and five minutes of reading People magazine.

 

[tosugrad]

Capitalism is designed to allow for anyone to make as much money as they can, without any kind of imposed limits. Once you start forcing people to spend their money in a certain way or limit how much they can make for their work, you cross the line into communism.

You actually mean socialism, not communism. And guess which way the "good ol U S of mother fricken A" is headed?

Capitalism is dead.

 

[naaman]

You actually mean socialism, not communism. And guess which way the "good ol U S of mother fricken A" is headed?

Capitalism is dead.

A very fine line between socialism and communism....

I just hope that Obama doesn't start mucking around with my set up in the name of "equal opportunity."

 

[CL65 Captain]

I don't know anything about the film industry, however I think that the "little guys" in the biz should make enough to make a decent living in the profession. You should be able to work in a profession and not have to have a second or third job just to pay bills. You shouldn't have a full time job and also have to collect food stamps to get by.

 

[derelict]

Wow, panties in a bunch doesn't begin to describe some of your guys here. Even when i state that THIS IS A JOKE you guys act like i just punched your mother... and you say you work in the "entertainment" industry?

A valiant attempt at backpedaling... I award you 4 Internet Points for effort.

But really... you're the one who came out swinging in your very first post, dude. Panties in a bunch? The only panties I have bunched up are your girlfriend's when she left them on my floor last night. Oooooohhh!

(yeah, that line prolly doesn't work as well in a forum where the average member age is, like, 50...)

Anyway, all I was trying to do was decipher whether or not you were ranting about actors specifically or the industry as a whole. At first it seemed like you were saying the actors were being petty, which I agree with, but then you seemed to lump the rest of us in there when you said:

I know we have a few guys here who work in the industry and so i'll refrain from being too harsh

and

no matter what you do in the film industry i am confident in saying that YES, your job could easily be outsourced for much less than what your making now

So to review... it came across like you have a problem with an entire industry (which you obviously know nothing about), I tried to get you to clarify your position, and you're the one telling me I'm getting all panty-bunched? I mean, if it really matters to you, my job doesn't even have a union, so we never go on strike. And as I've already mentioned, outsourcing was a fad in the post-production industry a few years ago and we all survived. It leveled out. So quit trying to use that as the main crux of your argument.

Since I was unaware the video in the OP was a high-concept, abstract piece I will simplify it:

Hey actors' Union! Hey big Studios! Even though you want to fight about who deserves more money, if you go on strike please remember that all of our jobs are on the line! Don't do it!

Simple as that! The video was aimed at THE ACTORS UNION. Not you. Appropriate responses from you would have been:

Wow, yeah the actors are not thinking this through! Good luck guys, I hope this doesn't cause you to lose your jobs!

or even,

Well, I disagree. I think actors are very hardworking, plus they're hot and some of them flash their boobs so I think they deserve more money.

See how easy that could have been?

I would like to know what exactly you do that makes you so irreplaceable.

There, again... I can't tell if this is a serious question of if you're being snarky. If you are genuinely curious about how the industry works, there are many on here who would be happy to explain it. But wrapping curiosity in insult is not the way to find out.

But luckily for me, your opinion of my job doesn't make me any less valuable to the people who contract my services. Let me reiterate: I don't have a union. I don't go on strike. My job security is solely based on my performance. So go ahead, rant on about how I'm replaceable if you want... But that was never the point of the video. Or the thread, I dare guess. But thanks for playing.

 

[GreyHoundSteve]

Oh, so this is an "insiders" video aimed at industry professionals? Yeah, i definitely missed that. :redface:

It appeared to me to be some sort of cry for help from the outside world (which i'm a part of the last time i checked). I didn't realize this was intended for industry professionals only. Especially since i save seen it run before DVD's i've purchased.

The title of this thread doesn't exactly support your theory either but whatever. I am done with this thread. My original point was that this video appeared to me to be a cry for help from the outside world (which it is) and my opinion is that the hand outs and bail outs and threats of unemployment have to stop.

Maybe you "industry fellas" should keep a tighter lid on your internal video memo's so that you don't confuse the rest of us.

 

[lrsudog]

Since only SAG members can vote to authorize a strike, the opinions of those not in SAG who might see this video are largely irrelevant to the actors who participated in and funded it. The makers of this video just don't give a rat's ass what outsiders think, regardless of the opinion that it is a "cry for help" aimed at the outside world".

Frankly, the opinions of even all the rest of us who work in the industry but are not SAG members tends to be just as irrelevant to Actors as the opinion of someone who works a thousand miles away from Hollywood.

There is a little war going on between two factions in SAG right now. The "anti-strike" group seems to think that making this video available on the internet will get their POV across to SAG members, while the other side seems to think that complaining about how bad "The Producers" are screwing actors will be more effective.

 

[lrsudog]

Tell me some of the quality movies that you guys have worked on? Just name the best one even.

Let's see; in the past year or so I have worked (among others) "Ironman", "Cloverfield", "The Curious case of Benjamin Buttons", "Night at the Museum II", "Indiana Jones", "Dance Flick"...This very moment I am working on "Star Trek" and "Transformers II"....Of course, I also worked on "Garfield II". Imagine my pride.

I would like to know what exactly you do that makes you so irreplaceable.

After more than a decade of Sound & picture editorial in Features and Television, I now Produce and design Sound packages for the finishing of Theatrical trailers.

Until such time that the producers and directors themselves are "outsourced", my skills will remain needed in Hollywood itself.

I gotta know what you guys have worked on and specifically done. I might be a fan of your work and don't even know it.

I absolutely guarantee that if you have been going the movies in the last ten years, you have seen (or heard) the fruits of my labor.

 

[derelict]

The title of this thread doesn't exactly support your theory either but whatever. I am done with this thread. My original point was that this video appeared to me to be a cry for help from the outside world (which it is) and my opinion is that the hand outs and bail outs and threats of unemployment have to stop.

Look, I tried to say this nicely before but... you're just wrong. Your opinions on the subject are ill-informed and you don't listen to people who know more than you. It was explained over and over what this video was trying to convey, and you didn't listen. So if it appeared to be some sort of bailout plea to the general public, it's only because you refused to hear otherwise. Even when you were told multiple times.

As lrsudog pointed out, the video was put into the public to simply make people aware of what was going on. Which in turn, they hoped would put pressure on SAG to re-think their position. The reason for this thread, as I saw it, was to say "Hey if you're into movies, you may be curious about this current issue we are all facing." not "ZOMG we're going broke do u think the government will give us money??"

I'm glad you think the "hand outs" need to stop... I agree with you on this point. Good thing we're not asking for one.

 

[Midnight_Raven]

I have no problem with someone making a gazillion dollars a day, as long as that's what society values their work at. With the diminishing economy, however, the mega stars and athletes and such are likely to see some pay cuts as people cannot afford to do as many "fun" and "luxurious" things such as go to movies or get front row, 50-yardline tickets.

Capitalism is designed to allow for anyone to make as much money as they can, without any kind of imposed limits. Once you start forcing people to spend their money in a certain way or limit how much they can make for their work, you cross the line into communism.

IMO no ones contributes so much to society that you deserve more than 2 million a year. It's not about limits on what you can make a year, it's more like adjusting work value to society. I don't care if you find the cure for aids... well actually I say give that man more than 10 million since that is a big step that is valuable to all of man kind, but actors, athletes, etc don't deserve what they make because in reality the world wouldn't stop turning if they disappeared from this planet...

And if you're wondering, I don't go to watch games, and I don't go to the movie much. I rarely ever do. I've Gone a total of I say 8~10 times in my life, most of it when I was a kid where it was my parents taking me ...I don't like to support anyone who makes ridiculous amount of cash such as athletes and actors.

 

[lrsudog]

Really? And who gets to decide how much your "contribution to society" is worth? Do they also get to decide what mine is? What exactly qualifies someone for being the decision maker?

A wage is not paid because someone contributes to society, it is paid because that is the going rate for that work at that skill level. The market for labor decides the value of that labor, whether it is for a janitor or a Super Bowl QB.