[fezz]

Related: Peter Coyote's Open Letter To Lead Actors http://deadline.com/2008/07/peter-coyotes-open-letter-to-lea...

"Since 1990 the earnings of the top leading actors have increased exponentially while the salaries of nearly all other actors have been systematically driven down. In many cases, the earnings of established character actors have been rolled back by 60-70 percent. This occurs, in large part, because the working professional (as opposed to the star) is at a disadvantage when negotiating in the new corporatized production environment. We do not possess a unique, marketable (and often media exploited) brand, and consequently lack the power to make or break the existence or profitability of a film. Consequently, respected, veteran actors with numerous credits and hard-earned “quotes” now routinely receive “take-it-or-leave it” offers, often at “scale”—a beginners wage."

[danso]

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that the major studios aren't actively trying to improve their bottom line even if it means screwing over their employees and actors. Just that from the perspective of a working journalist, the influence and ubiquity of union work in film was very surprising, because I could not imagine such a situation in journalism. When my roommate had a drought of work, she looked for blogging gigs, which she did a decade ago and was compensated for as a freelancer. She was genuinely shocked when outlets who paid her in the past said she should be happy to now blog for free for the exposure.

[ChuckMcM]

Thanks for finding that again. All three aspects seem to affect the outcome, additional technological outlets, the make or break cost of a block buster, and the outsized role that social media plays in getting mindshare.

Like the author of the original piece I don't think this situation is very stable.