The Oscars are well over and all eyes are now focused on the Spring festivals like Tribeca and Cannes. After watching the Oscars I was gratified to see The King’s Speech win. That and True Grit were my personal favorites. Afterwards I heard a lot of complaining about the show and in particular the gracious hosts. Firstly, the show has always had a comedian host with the likes of Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and Dave Letterman, certainly the cream of the crop in their field of entertainment. Anne Hathaway and James Franco are not comedians and so it is like comparing apples and oranges. Incidentally, I thought Hugh Jackman did an amazing job when he hosted it the year or two before. So rather than gripe about the hosts, I personally applaud them for their guts and courage to take on such a behemoth task knowing that they would be under the nation’s scrutiny to ‘make ‘em laugh’. The other thing that I noticed is that many of the winners thanked the unions. With all that is going on in Wisconsin, the cradle of all unions, I find it thought-provoking and pertinent. As Americans, and particularly recent generations being reared and almost overwhelmed by the choices of entertainment these days, we take for granted the hard work that goes into creating movies and episodic shows like Boardwalk Empire and Nurse Jackie as well as Network Television series. There are between fifty and one hundred people, more or less, working behind the scenes on any given project or show depending on the budget. These people are grips and technicians, make-up artists, location sound mixers, editors, day-player actors, craft people, set builders and dressers. Because the content is so readily available for a minimal price we don’t seem to value or consider the type of hard work and long hours that these people put in, in order to deliver a show or film on time. These people behind the scenes went to college or apprenticed for years to learn their craft to be good enough to be included in the union. And in return the union protects their interests and livelihood by creating a structure to work within: A fair day’s work, a fair day’s wages. And because the business of film and television production is so precarious, these people deserve to have healthcare and pensions just like the local police and firemen. The other thing that the union does is ensure quality and craftsmanship to the consumer. Which brings me back to Wisconsin and the union-busting that seems to be going on. Every other manufacturing field has outsourced to other countries for cheaper wages and no rules on workdays, hours or healthcare. The car companies, i.e. Ford, part of GM and Chrysler are the last vestiges of ‘Made in America’, but they are barely staying alive (with a bailout). Foreign cars made here in the United States operate outside of union control like the Mercedes and Hyundai plants in Alabama. Any household appliance on the market is almost always surely to be manufactured in another country and computers and clothing have completely vanished to China, Japan and India. There was an article recently about an Apple manufacturing plant in Beijing. Management had to put up netting around the building because many workers are so unfairly treated they would rather jump off the building to their deaths than to return to virtual enslavement. There had been several suicides in eighteen months. Apple has since intervened with Americans overseeing working conditions. This leads me to pose another question. What do movies mean? America is the birth of cinema. Sure the Lumiere brothers created the first cameras and actualities but it was D.W. Griffith who told a story through the new innovation. And this new form of entertainment helped get us through World War I and ever more importantly World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, reflecting back to us what we as a culture were/are experiencing. It is a barometer for social change and evolution. Not just during war but during the good times, too. These people are the dreammakers, wizards and magicians. They give us permission to leave reality and to engage our imagination. Sometimes with poignant reflection and other times with amazing and fantastic yarns. These are the people that gave us such masterpieces as Citizen Kane, The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, The Godfather, Inherit the Wind, To Kill A Mockingbird, Gettysburg, The Bridge over the River Kwai, They Shoot Horses Don’t They, Ordinary People, and 2001, a Space Odyssey. Not only do these positions behind the scenes deliver us magical distraction from our mundane worlds, but they are also a cog in the nation’s economy. Then there is the argument that Independent film (Truly Independent film, that is, operating far from the studios and large investors) will provide the content. If this is true will we see the majesty of another Wizard of Oz, Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter? or the breathtaking cinematic experience of 2001, A Space Odyssey? Perhaps in animation only by a brilliant kid living in his parent’s basement painstakingly animating for years on a computer. Film is a social medium. It is our own conscience and requires a village to create. Look at Norma Rae or Matewan. We cannot go back. The good ole' days weren't that good. Ask your grama.
I.A.T.S.E. was formed in 1893 to ensure the livelihoods of technicians, artisans and craftspeople devoted to theatre and film production. The Screen Actor’s Guild was created in 1933 in order to ensure the livelihoods of the people who dedicate their lives towards the craft of performance and to create humane working environments to the people locked into studio contracts at the time. The unions created child labor laws so that eight year olds do not work for twelve hours in factories. The unions created what we consider our weekends and our eight-hour shifts. The unions created safety regulations so that the tragedy of the Triangle Shirt Factory does not vanish from public consciousness. What amazes me is that people seem to resent the amount of money the unions require to do a job. Regardless as to whether someone works within a union or not each member of society needs to be able to earn a living in order to support themselves and their families and to create comfort in their later years. That is the American Dream. The union is one of the last forms of our country’s infrastructure---the working class. If the union goes then so goes a way of life that our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents worked so hard to achieve. It was not so long ago, about the turn of the last century, when the robber barons of the gilded age and the ultra wealthy conspired with corrupt law-makers to make it easier for them to get richer and neglect the common man. Theodore Roosevelt busted the monopolies and made it easier for competition as well as paving the way for organizing workers. We see ourselves looking at the same abyss once again with large corporations dictating policy and law-making to the detriment of its people. What does this have to do with movies? Once again, America is at the forefront of innovation and creative expression. If we outsource that valuable commodity sometimes called art, then where are we? Who are we as a culture? What do we really value and take pride in? 
I spoke with Elizabeth, the Director for A Rogue in Londinium and she said that she could not have made the same film without the union. “There is a certain pride and professionalism when working with union artists. That is not to say that non-union performers don’t provide the same professionalism. But I am guaranteed a level of quality.” She told me.
“As a matter of fact, our other film, ‘My Brother’s War’” a SAG signatory film, by the way, has been accepted into the New Hope Film Festival this year.”
“What will you do if the Governor of Wisconsin is successful in breaking the unions?” I ask.
“I’m not sure. Everything I’ve worked for will have gone up in smoke. I still operate in the truly Independent world but my goals are to be working wholly within union jurisdiction at a professional level where I don’t have to take on freelance jobs to supplement my income.” She said.
“Amen.” I reply.
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