The Reasons Behind The Rule

THIS WEEK...

HOW BIG IS NEW MEDIA?

We know the Internet is big. But just how big is this whole new media thing? Measuring the size or the amount of productions being made for new media is nearly impossible, but we can look to popular video distribution websites to give us some indication of the potential of the market.

Right now, YouTube alone receives 13 hours of video for every minute the website is up on the net. If just a small fraction of these uploaded videos are something other than “dogs on skateboards,” that would still be a huge number of acting opportunities for our members. In fact, if only .01 percent of the YouTube uploads were videos our members could work in, that would translate to more than 40,000 new opportunities for work every year! Just to put that number into context, Screen Actors Guild signs only about 5,500 television episodes and films each year, collectively.

So by comparison, the opportunities in new media are astronomical.

Furthermore, whatever work you do for the Internet today will theoretically live forever somewhere as a digital file. It will never lose its original quality, no matter how many times it’s duplicated or e-mailed. (Think viral.) It will never deteriorate, never be lost or destroyed; it lives forever.

Because the Internet is so vast, it makes sense that actors consider it the means to promote their careers, and frankly it is. The opportunity afforded by new technology also means that your performance can be exploited in countless ways in infinite virtual venues that may make money.

In new media you never know where your work will find an audience or a revenue stream, so make sure you’re covered from the start. If you are producing your own project, a SAG contract means your project and your interests are protected. The more new media projects produced under SAG contracts, the more leverage we have in new media show business. Think about the business side of that equation and act like your future depends on it.

On January 1, 2009, SAG Rule 1 will be vigorously enforced in new media. It is every member’s right and responsibility to insist on a union agreement. (SAG members may also work in new media under an AFTRA collective bargaining agreement.) To learn more, e-mail us at organizingnewmedia@sag.org, or call (323) 549-6777.

ACT AS ONE
SAG RULE 1
ON 1/1/09

Next time --- Why new media is like a game of chess.