Producers petition to change AMPTP’s name amid Hollywood labor dispute – Deadline

exclusive, Updated with PGA statement: More than 2,300 film and television producers delivered a message to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Tuesday. “Please ignore us.” The organization delivered a petition to AMPTP President Carol Lombardini this morning, demanding that the “P” be removed from the acronym of the organization, which has just concluded brutal negotiations with the WGA. We hope to see it completed and in the final stages of the SAG-AFTRA agreement. One of the longest strikes in Hollywood history.

Taking them out of a labor dispute in which they had never participated was an early impetus for filmmaking, but the rules meant that they would not receive medical care and would be paid at the end. It’s just a first step that producers hope will lead to a rethink. and television projects.

The producers have collected 2,338 signatures since June, when they first posted the petition on Change.org. This document was written by Andrea Sperling (transparent), Bonnie Curtis (private ryan), Kathy Shulman (queen), Dede Gardner (12 years of slavery), Grant Heslov (Argo), Guymon Cassady (game of thrones), Jason Reed (teenage mutant ninja turtles), former MGM Motion Picture Group president and Glickmania principal Jonathan Glickman (Creed III), Jennifer Fox (night crawler), Fred Berger (la la land), AMPAS President Janet Yang, Blumhouse’s Jason Blum, and Lynette Howell Taylor (A star is born), Mark Vahradian (transformers), Nina Jacobson (hunger game), Molly Asher (nomadland), Wyck Godfrey (twilight saga), Todd Garner (mortal kombat), Peter Saraf (little miss sunshine), Kimberly Steward (manchester by the sea) to name just a few examples.

See the full list of signatories and the letter below.

It’s not surprising that producers don’t want to be considered part of AMPTP. The AMPTP Group is made up of signed studios and streamers. Not only have producers been hobbled by the strike in the same way as screenwriters and actors, but the lack of an effective union has put them in an unenviable position with the real members of AMPTP. How enviable is that? In addition to guiding a project through production and solving problems along the way, producers often generate ideas for a project and package them with writers. What is the reward for being the catalyst on the ground floor? Most of them do not receive their fees until production begins. They can spend years on a project and get nothing back if it’s stillborn. And they are always the first to be asked for a haircut by a studio. , do you really want to kill this project you’ve been putting together for so long? Only producers are in that position, since everyone else is subject to union protection. Granted, many producers are wealthy in fees and on the back end, and some have overall deals with studios to pay their staff and keep the lights on. However, producing businesses often lead a highly speculative life.

Writer, director and producer Billy Ray has been campaigning to remove producers from AMPTP since he launched the Deadline show. strike talk Podcast with Garner. He said this is a misnomer because producers were not involved in the labor struggles that shut down their businesses.In fact, Garner had to retire strike talk Heading to Australia for filming mortal kombat 2only had to stop preparing when SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA on the picket line.

Shulman, Oscar winner crash The producer, who previously headed Women in Film, said people should stop being lumped together with the employer side of labor disputes. Most producers have been vocal about supporting writers and actors.

“Producers tend to say, ‘It’s me who’s miserable.’ I live on my own island and I’m miserable,” she said. “Seeing our colleagues come together and fight side by side for what is right motivated us to take an active role in our own salvation.”

“The value of our profession is declining.”

A petition to change the name of AMPTP was launched over the summer by the Producers Association, a group that has sought to establish itself as a collective bargaining unit for producers but has yet to garner significant support. The Producers Guild of America has been unable to fulfill its function despite years of concerted efforts to make that possible. This trade association is first and foremost a voice for producers and is not a hands-off investor or operator who uses producers’ influence to gain credit and is contractually listed. He is also the person who evaluates whether a given producer is actually worthy of consideration during awards season. client. In a statement in response to today’s report, a PGA spokesperson said: “The Producers Association is a producer association that advocates for the fundamental rights of producers, including fair pay, essential benefits and access to healthcare. We support the efforts of all producers.”

Schulman said that in the early days of the WGA strike, producers engaged in “heinous” acts against the guild based on the mistaken belief that they were part of or sided with AMPTP in labor disputes. He pointed out that the hostility was directed at the producers, accusing them of doing so. .

Garner said the petition is part of an attempt to find out who the producers are and what they’re doing.

“The value of our profession is diminished because our roles are poorly defined,” Garner told Deadline. “Redressing this deterioration and restoring the respected reputation of our profession is a complex and ongoing challenge.”

While meditating on the strike, strike talk In their podcast, during Hollywood’s grueling summer of labor, Ray and Garner advocated for AMPTP to be renamed the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Companies, or AMPTS, with an “S” for studios and streamers.

Related: Deadline’s Strike Talk Podcast: Billy Ray breaks down WGA agreement with negotiators David Goodman and Chris Kiser

“Producers are people too,” Ray told Deadline. “This alliance is an inappropriate group of companies and I have never felt they were producers. Why would we give them that identity?”

Oscar nominee known for films such as. little miss sunshine and FarewellSaraf made a similar point, noting that the companies represented by AMPTP are “mostly financiers, distributors, and broadcasters.” Although they are an essential part of our ecosystem, they are not producers. ”

Shulman said producers, like writers and actors, were introduced to the industry decades ago and became institutionalized in the same way as the 10% commission agents earn or the $5,000 a month most clients pay their publicists. He pointed out that they were victims of a structure that The “P” in AMPTP refers to his 1940s-’50s studio system, when producers were “actually employed by the studio” and worked on a contract basis, just like actors, screenwriters, and directors. It is a vestige of By the ’70s, this system collapsed as agents gained influence over star clients and were rewarded with upfront payments and back-end deals. That didn’t happen for the vast majority of producers who lost the safety net of the studio. Shulman said producers began receiving development fees in 1971, adding that the studio had “only $25,000” to cover the finances before production. Currently, when producers earn development fees, “this is very rare, less than 10%,” she added. She was paid $12,500 upfront for the fee, and the asking price was still $25,000 for her.

This has made it difficult for producers to survive, said Laura Lewis, founder and CEO of Rebel Media, who said that when it comes to production, there are “those who cross the line and those who don’t.” They are being denied the basic rights that everyone is entitled to.”

“Movie producers are the only people on a movie set who don’t pay health insurance or pensions,” Schulman says. “The studio executives who greenlit the movie and everyone else working are benefiting from it. That’s not the case. Simple things that other unions have been able to accomplish, but we still haven’t. We haven’t achieved it.”

We’re getting to the point where if you’re not a billionaire, a dilettante, or a neophyte baby, how many opportunities can you create?

— Producer Kathy Schulman

Even more problematic than the lack of health insurance, producers are “required to work without pay throughout a film’s development, while screenwriters and rights holders are exposed to this type of culture, business, and customs.” she claimed. Receive options and payments. ”

Mr Lewis said: “We shouldn’t work for free. That’s not right. It should be illegal. That’s the basic understanding we want to start with.”

Given standard “customs and practices,” Schulman said, “producer fees are customarily withheld and sometimes not paid until the film is completed.” Add to that the humiliation of initially being asked to take a pay cut by the studio and being asked to “exchange producer credits” with actors, managers, and other non-starring actors to get the project off the ground. . Delays in service delivery, causing a “total erosion” of fees, which are not being paid quickly enough. Managers who are the actual producers of projects involving clients are particularly susceptible to this effect. What happens if you refuse to lower your rates and jeopardize the project your client wants? New producers often run into clauses that can be removed without cause. This means you only have to pay up to the point where the project continues without a producer.

In Ray’s eyes, the way the industry has systematically penalized the very producers tasked with bringing products to life is simply “un-American.”

For Schulman, pushing for industry regulation on behalf of producers is, at one level, a matter of their desire for “respect and recognition for the work that we do,” and that it is a matter of “hyphenation production” that may emerge in the future. It is distinguished from what is done by a person. parallel. “It’s frustrating, but the accomplishments don’t really matter,” Schulman said. “The misuse of the term ‘producer’ is causing erosion and fee splits that are forcing producers out of business. We’re getting to the point where if we don’t, what opportunities can we create?”

Much of the agenda pushed by WGA leadership was to strengthen the ecosystem by limiting mini-rooms and allowing future showrunners to learn by being in the room. Shulman believes producers have a similar fundamental duty of consideration.

The current structure “dissuades growers from entering the industry and causes a lot of growers, young growers and emerging growers, to exit the grower industry,” Schulman said. “Why? How are they going to support themselves until the movie gets greenlit? And how are they going to train if all the overhead deals are scrapped?”

Promotion of labor unions

As it stands, a weakened pipeline “for developing the next group of producers” is just one of the major problems for an industry that cannot produce great creative products without established talent. . “There are realities to the facts,” Schulman said.[creating this] Products require thought and time, oversight and experience, all of which are required. ”

Lewis said the “P” indentation is “the first step in a larger fight to represent the values ​​and jobs of producers,” which will ultimately lead to a broader push toward unionization. I feel deaf.

As Mr. Ray pointed out, even though producers almost universally do not control the purse strings, the National Labor Relations Act designates producers as “management” experts, so unions Efforts by producers to form a group are being thwarted. He said producers, like everyone else, are actually “employees of LLCs that produce movies and television shows,” so their ability to unionize is clearly “a natural.” It is said that it is “thing”.

“It’s unclear whether a group called the Producers Union is the right path,” Schulman said. “So what Career Producers is trying to do in the meantime is use our collective power to run a ‘hearts and minds’ campaign. And when I say Heart and Mind Campaign, [I mean] To change hearts and minds. For example, I talk to people in the studio about, “Why shouldn’t just my kids have health insurance, but why do I think everyone else in the business should?” Do you really believe that’s fair? ”

Click below to read the producer’s letter to Lombardini, including a list of petition signers.