When the regular business organizations and wall street
became involved in Not-for-profit companies, in this
case recording projects a few years back, for the purpose
of having a business write-off as well as hiding funds, the
Congress passed a law which made such practices illegal.
It hurt all of the regular artists who had been able to
save a little money for project capital by having a Not-
for-profit designation. A NFP company designation
cost for incorporation went from between 100 to 200
dollars to 1800 dollars while a for profit company
was under five hundred. All because the purpose of
a "for profit" company is to find ways to use the law
to avoid paying taxes and having the mental attitude
that such a practice is not irresponsibility but responsibility
to company and shareholders.
This Micro-soft issue will probably drive more Entertainment
companies abroad to do their work. As noted in the NYTimes
article you posted. Edward Deming's lectures published in
1995 stated that the Arts and Entertainment business in the
U.S. was the highest export sales of any American business.
One out of the five largest Entertainment Media companies
in the world is American owned while only three out of the
seven largest movie companies are American owned.
Much is made of the fact that American Entertainment spans
the globe and American culture is considered a big threat in
many places. So abroad, American media is considered big
tough business while at home it is considered a threat to the
"real Judeo-Christian" culture of America.
Meanwhile,
American business can't wait to imitate its use of "flexibles"
and the free lance situation that all of us in the performing arts
have to struggle with. The situation that makes the average
actor make $5,000 a year in his profession and the average
musician (trained practically from birth with his family's private
money) $15,000 a year.Most of the trained artists do not
even qualify to be listed as such by the U.S. Department of
labor because they make most of their income waiting tables,
working in bookstores or teaching school even though their
talents, training and mastery is in the performing arts but
they don't have "jobs"!
This is then exacerbated by the influx of State trained and
State developed performers from the old Soviet Empire. The
spotty training and limited experience of most Americans is
not competitive with such high quality instruction and experience.
As a teacher I have directly experienced the difference in the
quality of professionals who come for coaching.
This is also the dream of Cypress Semi-conductor's CEO T.J.
Rogers who wants to undercut American trained computer
program workers by hiring directly from the former Soviet
Empire in the same way that American artists
are unprotected.
The official word is that American's are
not hired because they are inferior. Much like the story that
says the Arts are so poorly supported here because they
are not popular as if "like" had nothing to do with ignorance.
So we have a lousy situation, but America and the courts will
make the free lance situation for us even less tenable by making
Bill Gates and other's immoral stance in a factory venue illegal.
That in turn will probably make the TRULY Virtual companies
that come into existance for a single project and then fold, the
movie business, act as if they were permanent. That will drive
up costs so radically that there will be NO movie work for any
American in the United States. Terrific! considering that we do
not use up natural resources and create nothing but pleasure and
a raising of consciousness in the population. Dumb!
How about some genuine conversation on these kinds of issues?
Ray Evans Harrell, artistic director
The Magic Circle Opera Repertory Ensemble of New York, Inc.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cordell, Arthur: DPP wrote:
This could have postitive implicaitons.
COURT SAYS TEMPS DESERVE EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
A federal court of appeals has ruled that about 10,000 temporary workers at
Microsoft are entitled to take part in the discounted stock-option plan the
company offers to regular employees. Industry analyst Rob Enderle says,
"This is a broad decision, and it applies to all businesses. If you've got
a temp worker putting in 20-plus hours a week, you better start considering
him or her like you would a part-time worker" -- and provide employee
benefits. The ruling indicated that a temporary worker can be considered a
"common-law employee" if the person's work was controlled not by the
placement agency but by the company for which the work was being done.
Microsoft plans to appeal. (New York Times 14 May 99)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/05/biztech/articles/14soft.html
