The Morning After The Morning After

Well then.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, then you probably have an inkling of which direction my politics run towards... and you can probably guess at the feelings of disappointment I was suffering yesterday as the full impact of Tuesday's election began to settle in. Now, I know plenty of people who aren't as disappointed as I am... and that's ok. I don't agree with them, but they're entitled to enjoy the GOP's victory... I myself see a rough two years ahead, full of partisanship and gridlock.

Welcome to 1996, ladies and gentlemen. The new Republican-led House of Representatives hasn't even been sworn in yet, and already two Republican Rep's are planning to open "Whitewater-style" investigations of the Obama administration.

Even before the election, Republican leaders were saying that their top priority was not to put people back to work, not to fix the US economy... but to stop Obama from being elected to a second term.

If my friends who helped put the new Republican majority in office are expecting to see movement in Congress... if you're expecting to see things "get done..." well, I think you should settle in for a couple years worth of disappointment. The kind of disappointment those of us who didn't vote for the GOP are feeling today. Like I said, Tuesday's election was just a return to 1996-style politics, and just like 1996's "Republican Revolution," this new Republican wave isn't going to "fix" anything. They've got one overwhelming goal - "Get the President!"

Before we fall into a post-election funk, however, I'd like to pass on some advice to my fellow liberals (yes, I happily wear that label. If it was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me!) While organizations like MoveOn were moping yesterday morning and licking their wounds, CREDO Action took a pro-active stance. They sent out the word that, even in the face of disappointment, there are things we can and should do:

Click here to read the introductory paragraphs

...But now we need to brush off the dust, suck it up, and plunge back into substantive fights. Politics is not fair — indeed, U.S. elections are rigged in profound ways! But walking away is not an option at CREDO Action, and we hope you will join us in some of the actions below we think are strategic in the new political landscape:

1. Commit to Taking Down FOX News. So long as FOX News has any credibility within the Beltway, it will be a pipeline for malicious material that will poison our political culture. Join our friends at Color of Change: turnofffox.org/landing?credo.

2.Tell the Senate to pass the DISCLOSE Act during the lame duck session. We were able to defeat the Texas Oil Initiative, Prop 23 in California, in part because we knew who the enemy was — having disclosure of corporate contributions brings the enemy out in the open for us to take on and fight. The DISCLOSE Act passed the House and came within a single vote of passing the Senate. One vote. You can join this fight by taking action with Public Citizen at citizen.org/disclose-act-action.

3. Keep fighting to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. This issue will get resolved during the lame duck session. Take action at act.credoaction.com/campaign/bushtaxcuts.

4. Sign up for the fight for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision by declaring that corporations do not have the legal rights of humans. This may take years, if not decades, but we should start now. Please join Free Speech for People: freespeechforpeople.org/.

5. Tell the FCC to use its existing authority to establish and defend net neutrality. Our friends at Free Press are leading this charge: act2.freepress.net/sign/put_up/.

6. Demand that the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service investigate the political organizations set up by Karl Rove to launder millions of dollars in secret cash to change the outcome of elections. Act now at act.credoaction.com/campaign/investigate_crossroads.

7. Defend the EPA from castration by pro-coal interests in Congress. The EPA accomplished almost nothing during the Clinton years because the Gingrich-led Congress used the budget process to prohibit the agency from doing its work. This battle has already started. The Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign is a great way to join this fight: sierraclub.org/coal.

8. Convince the Obama administration to stop appealing progressive court rulings on matters like the Defense of Marriage Act, Don't Ask Don't Tell, and the state secrets defense against torture and wiretapping. Urge the Department of Justice to change its approach at act.credoaction.com/campaign/stop_appealing.

9. Urge Democratic senators to do away with lifetime tenure for committee chairs and open up all chair positions to majority vote elections. This will go a long way towards more progressive legislation. Take action with us at act.credoaction.com/campaign/end_seniority_system.

10. Demand that the Department of Justice enforce the provisions of the national voter registration law that require state governments to offer to register all voters at departments of public welfare and motor vehicles. Many state governments simply ignore these requirements and this is a cheaper and more inclusive way of registering voters than the campaigns of the now dead ACORN. Urge Attorney General Eric Holder to expand voter registration: credoaction.com/campaign/enforce_motor_voter.

I suspect you are angry and exhausted at this point. I know I am. But let us not forget that the values and ideals we fight for are greater than any one election. They still endure, and so must our fight. We have a lot of work to do.

Michael Kieschnick, CEO
CREDO Action from Working Assets

I know. I know it's disappointing to see so many Americans turn off their critical thinking and allow themselves to be taken in by GOP and Tea Party marketing ("Obama bailed out Wall Street?" Really?) I know it's frustrating to see the Democrats cave (again) and talk about bi-partisanship (again) when they've received NO bipartisan effort from the Republicans for the past two years. I know it's tempting to hide in bed and pull the covers up over our heads... but we can't do that. If we care about the issues and we want to keep moving the country forward and not back to 1996, we have to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get back on the horse. We have to keep pushing forward, keep making noise, keep bringing the facts to the attention of those countrymen and women who are more easily swayed by emotion.

It's what we do. We're Americans. We believe in a better tomorrow, and providing for the next generation. We believe that this country was, indeed, established to promote the general welfare of its people. We believe in the ideas that this country was founded on - but no one gave us the nation based on those ideas that we have today, while we sat back and waited for it to arrive. Our forefathers (and mothers) had to fight for it. They had to make it happen - and they had to stand up and pull the country back on course when they saw it sliding away from those founding principals. They had to push to move forward... to progress into the future. That's where the term "progressive" comes from, after all.

It's our turn. It may linger for a few more days, but the hangover's done. Now it's time to roll up our sleeves and get back to work. It's the American thing to do. (And to my Republican friends - you know who you are... push on back. That's what you're supposed to do, too. That push-and-pull is one of the things that makes our country strong!)

What Can The Oregon Film Industry Expect From A New Governor?

Well, someone out there gets it! Take a look at what showed up in my change yesterday when I bought a Viso at my corner mini-mart!

While the legality of writing on US currency is a bit questionable, the message is clear - the Film and TV industry in Oregon is bringing money into the economy! Film and TV dollars aren't just going to rent equipment and cater the craft services tables on the set of Leverage... they're going into the pockets of people who spend those dollars at the corner store, keeping local merchants in business.

This is a message that needs to be repeated often, especially in light of the upcoming governors' race here in Oregon. Whether John Kitzhaber or Chris Dudley moves into the Governor's Mansion this November, they're going to have a lot of hard work to do. Oregon's economy is still in trouble, and our current budget shortfall has brought proposals for a 9% across-the-board cut in state agencies - bringing drastic cuts to Oregon schools, health services, and other programs. Add to this an 11% unemployment rate, and whomever the new Governor is... he's going to face some challenges.

The problem here is revenue; most industries in the state have seen their income drop - and the taxes they pay on that income have dropped as well - which has reduced the amount the state has to spend on services it provides. This is a pretty simple formula, right? When Oregon industry does well, the state gets lots of money in tax revenue... when Oregon industry does poorly, the state doesn't have as much money to spend.

In an environment like this, it would seem logical to shore up the industries bringing jobs and revenue into the state - yet, to date, both Dudley and Kitzhaber have been silent when it comes to their support of one of the few industries actually growing here in Oregon - the film and TV industry.

According to Susan Haley at the Governor's Office of Film and Television, this industry brought $62,000,000.00 into the state in "direct spending" last year (Portland AFTRA president and SAG National Board member Mary McDonald-Lewis points out that "indirect spending" has a conservative multiplier of 2 - by industry standards - which makes the actual total brought in more like $124,000,000.00).

As of February of this year, TNT's hit show Leverage - just ONE project in this industry - had hired over 900 Oregonians to appear on camera - and many more to work behind-the-scenes as carpenters, grips, drivers... you name it (sadly, I don't have any figures on crew positions at this point.)

Now, there's been a lot of negative buzz lately about the "worth" of film incentive programs throughout the country... as this recent article in Parade Magazine points out, several states are suspending or reducing their incentive funds in the quest to balance their own budgets. Looking at the numbers above, it's patently obvious that Oregon would be mistaken to follow this trend. When Ms. Haley at the GOFTV gave me last year's revenue figures, she also gave me another figure - the amount the state spent as an incentive to bring outside projects in to shoot (the Oregon Production Incentive Fund gives producers a rebate - up to 20% - on what they spend here in Oregon when they shoot... unlike many other film incentive programs, though, producers have to spend their dollars in the state before they see any return). That figure? $7.8 million.


So, lets do a little math here... the Oregon film and television industry spent $7.8 million to bring production into Oregon... and that production brought at least $62 million into the state (or, if you factor in "indirect spending" - the hotel rooms and restaurants cast and crew eat at, the rental cars, the cell phones... etc, perhaps as much as $124 million.)


And at least one of those dollars ended up at my corner store. We can only wonder how many more have filtered into the rest of the Oregon economy at-large. So the question to the candidates for Oregon's governor is clear - what are you going to do continue this industry's growth, and continue bringing the jobs and revenue our state so desperately needs?


We're still waiting for their answer...



-Harold

I'm Not A SAG Member, But...

...that doesn't mean I'm not watching today's SAG elections closely. Look, I'm a non-union actor, but what happens within the guild (and within AFTRA, the television and radio union) affects me - and more importantly my local market - a great deal.

Hey, it's no big secret. My business is changing; we saw more than a few nods to that fact at Sunday's Emmy Awards when half the jokes were about the "death of traditional television" and the rise of "new media." The amount of work I've been doing over the past couple of years is directly related to the way the industry is changing - inexpensive equipment and editing formats, digital self-distribution, "web-tv," and increased state incentives have all conspired to make this a golden age of opportunity for actors around the country. Now more than ever, you don't have to live in New York or Los Angeles to have a career in the entertainment industry.

As I said before, I'm a non-union actor... but that doesn't mean I'm anti-union. The reality of the Portland market is that, currently, there's more non-union work available than union work. Union actors are barred from working non-union jobs, and that's posed a real catch-22 for SAG and AFTRA members here in town - most union actors weren't able to work more than a couple of jobs a year, unless they wanted to work "off the card," withdraw from the union(s), or go "financial core" - any of which would serve to weaken the purpose of the union, which is to provide uniform protection and collective bargaining for the acting profession.

Looking at that catch-22, I've opted to stay non-union... for the time being. Recently, things have been shifting in the Portland market. Big out-of-town productions such as Leverage, Twilight, and Untraceable have been shooting here regularly. More importantly, support for the actors unions has been growing within our local industry; I've talked to at least four filmmakers in the past year about projects they're planning to mount in coming months - all of them plan to be SAG or AFTRA signatories. The official announcement has been made that Electric Entertainment is going to bring Leverage back to Portland third season... and then there's that Daniel Baldwin guy...

Besides, I may have to join the union(s) before too long... generally speaking, you can only work one union job as a non-union actor (under the Taft-Hartley law). In order to work on another union shoot, you must join the appropriate union. I and other actors here in Portland are thinking that our non-union days may be numbered... which, given the circumstances I outlined above, isn't as scary a prospect as it might have once been.

What keeps it from being so scary is the increase in union work in my region... and that's why I'm watching this SAG election so carefully (you didn't think I'd ever get back to the point, did you?). For those of you not following SAG politics, the two major candidates for president this year are Anne Marie Johnson (representing the "Membership First" faction) and Ken Howard (representing the "Unite For Strength" faction). I'm not going to go into the differences between the candidates and the factions... click the links if you want to find out more about them.

What's got me watching so closely is Johnson's recent statements of support for the SAG "Branches" (Portland constitutes one of these), and the Regional Branch Directors responses to these statements. Now, generally speaking, the respondents to Johnson's statements have been in support of Howard, and I haven't seen a similar breakdown of Howard's attitudes and opinions on the branches... but that last article from SAGwatch gives me pause, and makes me wonder just how much support SAG Portland is going to get from a Johnson presidency.

I'm not a SAG member, but that doesn't mean I won't become one. Whether I, and other non-union actors in the branches actively seek membership in the unions depends largely on the amount of work we can expect in our areas... and that's going to depend on how much support the branches get from the national union. Look, guys, production is not going to stop leaving Los Angeles for other areas of the country; as I mentioned above, technology and incentive programs have made sure that you don't have to be based in LA to get films and TV shows made. It seems to me that it would be in the union(s) best interest to strengthen their presence in these outlying areas, to preserve the overall amount of union work. But hey, what do I know... I'm just a non-union actor in a Branch, not a "real" actor in LA, right?

I hope that SAG voters think about the future, and the way the industry is changing when they cast their votes. I guess we'll find out when the results are announced tomorrow...

-Harold