Once upon a time, I wanted to be an actor.
No kidding. I was in dozens of shows. I even have an official college degree in acting and everything. Neat, huh?
There was just one problem. I wasn’t a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild or Actor’s Equity, the unions for both screen and stage actors, respectively.
How do you become a member of said unions? Well, you get a role in a film or a play that requires union membership. And how do you do that? Well, first you have to be a member of the union. Anyone else see the problem here?
Unions, at least in the entertainment industry, have nothing to do with helping actors or writers or anyone else. It’s solely about protecting union members. And the way to do that is to keep new actors out of the union. The only way you can get in is if someone breaks the rules for you.
I was reading an article linked over at the Drudge Report about the upcoming writer’s strike, and several of the comments came from members of the writer’s guild. Then a guy named Daniel dared to say this:
The bright side is that maybe unknown writers like me will be able to get their work noticed out of sheer desperation. Hopefully they will find the talented, unnoticed writers that were unable to get their scripts noticed.
Good idea, right? Then a union thug responded with the following:
Daniel – on behalf of my fellow members of the WGA, I want to remind you that if you submit materials to the signatory studios and production shops during a strike, your action will effectively ban you from joining the WGA, thereby stopping your prospective writing career before it has even begun.
Way to encourage a colleague there, you union thug!
Once upon a time, unions might have been a good thing. Now they do more damage to their professions than management has ever done. If you doubt that, just take a look at education, where every common sense reform that requires even a scintilla of teacher accountability is stymied at every turn. Al Shanker, former head of the national teacher’s union, famously remarked that “When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.” Charming.
Surprisingly, I’ve been able to make a comfortable living while never belonging to a union. I’ve dealt with a bunch of them, though, and their purpose is always to encourage mediocrity, to punish management, and to get more pay for less work.
I’ve never belonged to a union, and I never will.
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