Their offer, confirmed by Clooney’s spokesperson on Thursday, would provide the union an extra $150 million over three years and could help fund improved health benefits.
Clooney also said top stars would only collect residuals once lower-paid actors received theirs.
“A lot of the top earners want to be part of the solution,” Clooney told Hollywood publication Deadline, which first reported the news. “We think it’s fair for us to pay more into the union.”
A SAG-AFTRA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Just because you personally benefit from the existing system doesn’t mean that you should accept it as OK the way it is, or that it is not capable of being changed to something better, and rejecting the existing system is always a choice. (I thought we went over this in the movie already!)
So, having a production company (I just want more of me on the credits OK?) doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t to march and picket and fight for what’s right.
It’d be a beautiful thing if the top Hollywood stars showed some real solidarity and started/used their own production companies to give SAG-AFTRA a fair deal and make some creative, original films. It’d probably scare big studios knowing there was money being made that they weren’t getting their cut of.