Its not so much that they have jurisdiction over the web, (lthough they use that phrase themselves) so much as there are probably now enough people working in new media that they've decided to focus some attention on that area.
See this press release: http://www.aftra.com/press/pr_2007_04_16_new_media_wrkgrp.html This sort of stuff is pretty much a non-issue if you are an individual vlogging, or do not employ people. But if you start to resemble a traditional employer of actors etc, you are going to run into a minefield that people in the traditional media, holywood, etc, will have many decades of experience with. I dont know enough about this stuff to talk further on it, but whilst I support the concept of labour organising, and ensuring there isnt mass explotation by unscrupulous employers, some aspects of this stuff is likely to resemble some of the worst aspects of the guilds that had so much power in Europe hundreds of years ago. These guilds and unions probably wont have much trouble adapting to commercial new media, but some of the ideas of blogging & vlogging in the broader non-commercial sense, eg, shock-horror, non-union amateurs 'taking the pros jobs', might lead to considerable battles in the future. Its one of the funny contradictions about the USA from where Im sitting, the seemingly all-pervasive free-market ideology, has some exceptions when it comes to certain strong guilds with power. Cheers Steve Elbows --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "Justin Kownacki" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hey folks; > > One of our cast members joined AFTRA today (for an unrelated > production), and it turns out the gent he was talking to at AFTRA > knows of our show. He also explained that AFTRA has full jurisdiction > over internet productions, and they'd like to sit down with us to work > out a deferred payment contract for our entire cast. > > Has anyone else been involved in discussions of this sort? I'm > completely unaware of AFTRA's jurisdiction over the web, though I > presume I must be late to the table on this. > > Anyone have any negotiating tips? > > Cheers. > > Justin Kownacki > Producer, "Something to Be Desired" > http://www.somethingtobedesired.com >
