Erlanger
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2002
- Posts
- 1,693
I came across this and the first thing I thought of was this is like the airline industry. We have plenty of pilots that would work for free, sell their soul to fly; whatever and not think of the consequenses for themselves and the rest of us. Can you imagine management making demands like this, before we could move on to, a bigger and better airline with more pay and better work rules and telling us, that they're doing us a favor, by helping us launch our careers.
'Saturday Night Live' received some negative publicity in 1999 when it was leaked that, henceforth, actors joining the show would have to agree in their five-to-six year contract that, upon request, they would act in up to three movies by SNL Films, for fees of US$75,000, US$150,000, and then US$300,000; and also that, upon request, they would leave SNL and act in an NBC sitcom for up to an additional six years. This appeared to be a reaction to former cast members such as Adam Sandler and Mike Myers going on to movie stardom.
Some agents and managers characterized these long-term contracts as involuntary servitude, saying that almost any young, undiscovered comic would immediately agree to any given set of exploitative contractual restrictions for the opportunity to launch their careers via the show. NBC publicly defended the new contracts, saying that SNL was doing a service to young comics by launching so many careers.
Last edited: