Mr. Moore's guest lecture on
diversity, racial equality and equal rights standards in the entertainment
industry brought a new dimension to entertainment that I was not aware of. I
was most surprised by Mr. Moore's explanation of how to obtain a guild card.
Traditionally, actors achieve guild memberships by progressing from extras or
non-speaking, minor roles to a speaking part in a guild approved film. In their
first speaking part, the actor has all the benefits of the guild but is neither
part of the guild nor does the actor have to pay guild residuals that role.
However, when the actor achieves a second speaking role in a guild-supported
film, it must register for the guild and is contractually binding for the rest
of their career. The most surprising part of this process is that many actors
try to bypass these regulations and obtain a guild card through an illegal
distributor. These distributors ask for a certain amount of money and in
exchange the actor receives a guild card, or so they think they do. These scams
surprised me because I do not know how a fraudulent business can still be
legally running, have the decency to take advantage of individuals who do not
know better and yet people still get sucked into these scams thinking they will
actually be a guild member.
One topic I wished Mr.
Moore touched on was the types of revenue streams the guild receives from its
members, specifically from residuals on their members' work. After learning so
much about residuals in my classes and how members try to avoid paying guild
fees, I wanted to know from a guild's perspective how they feel about
individuals who try to do this. Members try to avoid guild fees from PDF
agreements, loan out corporations or escrows and to see how guilds try to take
down or take control of these sneaky agreements is an interesting relationship
the guilds have with its members that I would have liked to been
explained.
The most valuable
piece of information I took from Mr. Moore's guest lecture was how he works
with producers, directors, networks and studios to ensure that portrayal of
real life is maintained through diversity amongst roles. Whether it is the main
characters or the extras used in a film, I found it incredibly interesting that
guilds also enforce racial standards for on entertainment projects to prevent
misconstrued "realities."
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