Generations Actors Guild Speak Out

The Generations Actors Guild (GAG), now in the second week of withholding their services from
SABC1 soap opera, Generations, convened a press briefing today to address the media about
the reasons behind the stay-away.

This was against the background of misinformation being communicated to the press,
particularly around issues of the actors remuneration and a misrepresentation of their
demands to the production house and the broadcaster. GAG also wanted to use the
opportunity to contextualize certain peculiarities about the creative economy, particularly the
TV industry where issues such as rates, profit share and syndication fees were concerned.

Actors around the world, and South Africa operate in a context where, much like professional
sportspeople, their careers have a limited life span. The pay structures of said careers,
therefore, are scaled differently in order to ensure sustainability of an actors career. This is
especially true when an actor is strongly associated with a particular TV show or character,
making them less marketable for other projects. Some of the devices employed are:

Syndication fees paid to actors whenever the programme is broadcast overseas, or residual
fees whenever the programme is repeated.
A fee whenever a brand pays the broadcaster to integrate their product into the storyline, in
such a way that it is endorsed by the actors.
A share in the bonus that the broadcaster pays the production house when the TV series has
performed exceptionally well.

Despite the fact that this is international best-practice, (and factored into their
contracts) Generations actors do not receive these fees fees that make the difference
between ensuring an actors revenue stream for life, or condemning them to an existence
where, despite being associated with an extremely profitable and successful project, once they
leave the show, its lights out - they do not receive the fees that they are contractually entitled
to, and their income is abruptly cut off.

There is a worrying reluctance to share real information of how many countries, and for how
much money, the show has been sold to over the two decades of its existence comment GAG.
This is a real issue, as within those sales, are our syndication fees and we have never
received them. If all actors in our country were paid repeat and syndication fees that theyre
contractually entitled to, the lives of most of our most gifted talent would look very different.
We wouldnt have these troubling reports of some of South Africas most loved actors dying in
poverty and obscurity, despite the fact that their series are on daily repeat or being broadcast
in markets overseas. We need to address this issue with urgency, and MMSV and the SABC
have been unwilling to come to the party and open the books to show us the money trail.

Where the issues of their rates & salaries were concerned, GAG explained that they are
subjected to particularly high taxes, since they are employed as freelancers. The realities of
their pay-packets, therefore, are markedly different from what has been communicated in the
media the average salaries on the set are actually R30,000 per month, not the sum of R55,000
communicated to the media.

Critically, GAG wanted to provide detail about how their fees are broken down, using the
fictitious R55,000 as a case study, to demonstrate that even a salary that looks quite generous
when communicated, is in reality much more modest when real costs are factored in as
follows:

R55,000 hypothetical gross salary - (no benefits.)
25% freelancers tax is R13,759, which leaves R41,241.0
subtract the 15% agents fee of R 6186.
That leaves R35, 054, 85 - as the REAL take-home salary.
Factor in medical aid, (without the benefit of employers contribution) at R3000 per person, for
the individual and 2 of their children R12,000 (for 3 people)
This leaves 23, 054.88 subtract 4,000 for life insurance, provident fund/retirement annuity
This leaves R19, 054.88 for living expenses - rent/bond, school fees, living expenses, vehicle,
etc.

If the amounts communicated above were for a professional who can anticipate a working life-
span of some 30+ years, there is a reasonable expectation that it is a manageable sum, even as
it is subject to heavy taxes and fees. However, the realities of an actors abbreviated career life-
span (average 10 years), are concerned, then it becomes clear that this is not a sustainable fee
to ensure that an individual is able to effectively maximize their monthly pay package for a
lifetime, in a way that a professional in another sector would be able to.

Generations is South Africas, indeed, Africas most successful TV programme but that success
has not filtered down to its key players the cast. A cursory investigation of how some of the
shows most prominent previous cast members are living today will confirm this fact and GAG
believes that this discrepancy needs to be addressed with urgency.

The creative industry in South Africa is operates in an unregulated environment there are no
mandated minimum fees, which makes actors extremely exceptionally vulnerable
to exploitation and to victimization. The employers set the terms, based on nothing but their
own perception of what they should be paying essentially, their whim. In a country that has
managed to set down minimum fees for some industries where exploitation is rife, such as
domestic work, it is clear that an intervention is needed in the creative sector. The members of
GAG are at pains to point out that their withholding of services is not the first time this has
happened other actors have spoken out, individually, and been blacklisted and sidelined for
it. The action that GAG has embarked on, however, is the first time it has happened on such a
large scale, and for comparatively speaking, such a long time.

We operate in an environment where there are essentially only 3 major players in the TV
industry who offer employment opportunities for actors the SABC, Etv and M-Net. We notice
that there have been calls for us to just leave and get another job, but its not as simple as that
when there are so few options. It made more sense for us to deal with the situation we were
in, as opposed to choosing to walk away. More importantly, however, is that there are some
fundamental wrongs that have become common practice in the TV industry that we felt it was
our duty to begin to correct. So, instead of retreating and looking for other jobs, we chose to
improve the conditions that we operate in, for ALL South African actors. To us, this is not a
struggle for the 16 people involved it is an industry-wide battle, and were fighting for a
wholesale transformation of how the industry is structured and run. explain the members of
GAG.

On Monday, 25
th
August, the Minister of Arts & Culture held a meeting with the members of
GAG and the SABC to explore options of how the current impasse could be resolved. The
outcome of the meeting was that the SABC requested a meeting with the actors to begin to
iron out their grievances, and look to how the situation could be worked out. The members of
GAG have accepted the invitation, and remain resolute in their goals to effect a wholesale
normalization of the industry.