Okay,
I have been trying to find out from the beginning just what SAG was going to try to do for the background actor under the new contract proposals. Now, finally in September of 2008, I find that they are only asking to add 2 SAG background actors in the first year, add 3 more in the second year, and 3 more in the last year.

I find this horrendous and completely unacceptable. Background actors used to have their own union, Screen Extra’s Guild, before they were taken over by SAG. They had a far better contract back then than they do now or will in the near future.

As I have stated time and again, I don’t believe anyone wants to be a background actor forever. Although back ground acting is nothing to be ashamed of. There are times, on most major films, when a background actor really does some acting. I know, I have been there dozens and dozen’s of times. Also, on the last show I worked on, “State Of Play,” there was a core group of 50 of us hand picked by the studio to do just that. They know who we are and they know what they can get out of us. The problem is, they just don’t want to pay.

I can certainly understand the need to keep control of costs. But when a star gets tens of millions of dollars for sixty days of work, it just isn’t fair. Try to do a show of those magnitudes without quality background. On “Yes Man,” they fired the whole lot and brought us in to replace them. Because we are professionals. Although there is always going to be a twenty year old PA who doesn’t want to treat us as such.

We also show up, day after day, right on time, sometimes taking hours on a bus only to get sent home before lunch, which the studio would know a head of time. When you live near the bottom of an industry that is so cool and fun, you rely on your union the make things right. We stand in rain soaked tents and get pneumonia, but no one pays our medical bills. We cannot afford insurance, under the contract there is no way. I am embarrassed for the Union, I was so proud to join.

Although I’ve done other roles I had to take a break for multiple catastrophic injuries. Then when I finally returned, the writers strike brought work to a screeching halt. Although I marched with the writer’s in their rallies, week after week. They didn’t have a plan on how to win what they wanted, and a million people suffered. They also did not want to listen to ideas from anyone who knew anything about union-labor tactics that I am familiar with. That financial suffering continues, because a lot of us had to move away temporarily just to survive. The cost of living in LA is not adaptable to being without funds.

I would rather be an Actor, at any cost. Working any other job just doesn’t seem right. The scores on my personality profiles, say that is what I should do. It’s a 40 year career for me, not an over night idea. Although I’m not stupid, and have worked many high tech jobs, acting is where I and many other actors’ who have worked for it, belong.

By comparison, in Socialistic countries, actors get paid the same as everyone else. Wages, house and things are covered by the state. They just show up and do their job and everything is okay. They will never know the cost of going hungry, getting evicted or loss of medical care.

So what do we do now? Do we go back out on our own? Do we reform the Extra’s Union or do we just sit back and take it? For me, I don’t want to take it. I am ticked off that I never received a reply on the numerous inquiries I made to SAG regarding just what they were going to ask for when it came to background actors. When we go to vote, if you haven’t already, make sure you look for someone who will represent the background actor.

My name is Peppi Turco, sometimes I go by Joe. But you will never see that on a credit for any background show!