welcome to Mark comstack he is the state rep for sag after we're going to talk about the strike we've been following this situation of course as it has moved along since the beginning and we will continue to do so because it is important for our state for a lot of reasons uh Mark let me um ask us just going to concentrate on local New Mexico things of course as you might imagine I'm just curious how this strike in May uh as it started will impact local folks here um what's your sense of that what's your what are you hearing on the street about how this is being impactful under Mexicans so far well you know it's it's just the same as it is in any other Market just a little bit on smaller scale because we're because we are a smaller market right but we're not because we have great Partners which we hope to get back to the table with like Netflix and NBC Universal um the immediate impact has been pretty minimal I would say on sag aftra um but it's going to be the hospitality it's going to be the mom and pop businesses to do the catering it's going to be those businesses that the film industry kind of feeds into and I say this all the time Gene is that film incentives get a bad rap with their label because it sounds like it's just for actors and crew and all that and really film incentives are job created so um the jobs that stem out from that not just us on the last Senate thing we had a gentleman from one of the rental car companies say hey they had so many truck rentals they had to open up a specific Truck Rental business here so that's the impact it has and I'm worried how immediate that will impact those businesses right right and let's remind folks we don't want to take things for granted or that we're talking to other people in the industry but we're talking about the Screen Actors Guild as we're talking about sag so we're talking about actors and how we'll get to the after stuff here in a second but particularly for actors um I believe there was a strike action a couple of days ago at Netflix up on Mesa Del Sol today at the game that's correct right that's correct that was our first uh local picket and um we had uh over 400 people um not just sag after members but our sister brother and sister unions as well as some labor organizations and just civilians who were coming out and showing the support and it was it was fantastic and as we tape this another situation in Santa Fe you've got folks of course have a hot better filmmaking in Santa Fe so there's representation on this street as well what's the scene as we taped today which going on in Santa Fe uh yeah we're going to be coordinating an event up there and we hope to have some more dignitary speaking and we're also going to be looking at having a Park event on a weekend because people start sending their kids back to school uh where we can also get some uh some VIP speakers and things like that um but we're going to keep having events until the strike is settled Mark Comstock how are actors locally based getting by during this strike well you know acting is such a weird you know we were the gig economy before we called it the gig economy right you work work and then you don't so you have your as I like to say you have your day job while you while you pursue the dream job and um but some of our members who were making a full-time living as that have had to pick up some gig work or uh you know look into if they have some uh viable unemployment claims or um reach out to places like the actors Foundation that gives uh Financial relief uh I don't know if you heard Dwayne Johnson gave a million dollars the other day to the fund it's the biggest single donation and that those funds will come here as well so the actors that really need that for um to stay afloat right Mark could you explain uh to us the difference between independent filmmakers and filmmaking and the bigger Studios and how the interim agreement for the smaller projects come into play and if you could is this impactful on New Mexico are there any Productions right now that are up and running uh that are working under the interim agreement uh not to my knowledge but I do understand that we've had several uh apply for the interim agreement and basically those production companies that are applying are not affiliated with the amptp they're their own entity but this interim agreement they are going they are paying what we are currently asking for in the new contract so what they're saying is we we can afford this we agree with your demands our negotiates demands is too hard a word for what your wants are and um they're able to do that and they're able to pay so it's we know that the bigger the bigger players can and so I know I spoke to a few filmmakers at the Netflix rally and that's what they're pursuing and that's great because um that'll get our local members working yeah and that includes crew too right and back on that point I'm glad you kind of brought us back there um can I ask you explain just a little more how this affects the overall economy of New Mexico this strike you had mentioned of course there are other categories that are working in the industry but yeah you know not to you certainly but to me and others I think it's very surprising how deep and wide the film industry at this point and now that we've been running for quite a number of years here impacts any manner of small business here in a way what's your sense of how it affects our overall economy this strong well you know uh prior to uh covet and the strike we had 600 million over 600 million dollars in direct spend so what that kind of means is for every one dollar we get in incentives we get 8.61 back into the economy so uh had the strike not happened and delayed a lot of these projects we were easily on Pace to have over a billion dollars uh of direct spend back into the state [Music] you know that's a big chunk of change it really yeah as anywhere New Mexico California anybody would would see it that way absolutely um let's get right to the reason why people are striking yeah what what what are the folk what are folks from stag particularly looking for why did it come to such an impasse where it had to come to this and what are the stakes at play here right the the two biggest sticking points is since our contracts were last negotiated we've lost about 37 percent in earning power um and that's because the streaming model has become the main model and our contracts are outdated to that format of doing business so what we are looking to do is update that to reflect the current technology that we have so if you've got a number one show on a streaming platform you're residual which is additional payment reflects that and if you know and if it's not terrific then your payment will reflect that as well and there's a real sticking point to show us that data from all the streamers because they seem to say they can't find it but I can tell you when a show gets canceled they know exactly who was watching it they know what you know what devices we are watching it on where we're watching it on so that is one and then the number one the other one is uh artificial intelligence um you may have heard Fran Drescher and Duncan Crabtree Ireland's press conference where he mentioned that their offer for AI was they would scan a background actor's image pay them for one day's work and then they would have control of that image in perpetuity to put it into whatever project they wanted so that wouldn't just stop with background eventually that's folks like us here in New Mexico who are what considered day players guest star co-star roles um you know our biggest earners aren't worried about that because they've got legal teams and all of those things to make sure you know Tom Hanks does not have to worry about someone stealing his image right but Mark comstocks do and so that's what this fight is about how can we we know the technology is not going anywhere but how can we work with it and protect our jobs and our members at the same time right you know interestingly uh there was a quote I'm sure you've seen as we're flying around uh Facebook it's a meme from Justine Bateman about the 10 points about why I see you you've seen that and one of the points a made that really was a subject of us at here at New Mexico InFocus in kme behind the scenes was the point about being this may be the only time to strike the iron because if it's three years from now actors and everybody else is gonna are gonna have zero leverage because all these things will be moot so the studios will have Incorporated all these things nobody would have anything to you know to block it are you are you in agreement with that sentiment it's now or never a hundred percent I've been saying since day one that this is a generational contract vote that we're up for and the fact that our membership voter turnout's not always very high on like local and national elections but this strike authorization vote was 98 of our members said yes that's the most unified I've ever seen our Union on any issue so the fact that so many people agree and realize that the stakes are so high uh Justine is absolutely 100 correct it's it's a little frightening I mean it just I don't know I just there's something there's a lot of worry here Mark and one of them is do we have the potential to have a bit of a different relationship at the it's all said and done with NBC Universal Netflix all the partners you mentioned earlier these are tough negotiations and sometimes those reverberations after the fact uh that can go for quite a while when it when it's really this this intense is that a worry for you personally but those relationships um yes because you you know we want to have partners that value our work and giving us skin in the game and we want to create stories that that drive people to their businesses and keep their businesses afloat I mean it's very a very symbiotic relationship and I would love to see that grow um but I think it's like any negotiation both sides will dig in and at some point there will be a little bit of a Breaking Point what what's really interesting to me is these platforms have amazing shows about the underdog you know the Flaming Hots the Ted lassos and all these projects and don't seem to realize that their actions are the bad guy they don't see that the the correlation they put out content where the underdog overcomes and there is a happy ending and I think we can get there um but when they come out and say things like yeah our goal is to make sure that people lose their homes or apartments and then we'll come back to the negotiating table that's a tough adversary um if they're done that dug in so hopefully we can strike for a little bit and then come back to the table and at least start talking again um I was staffed at the wga back when the last writer strike was so uh you know this is all very Deja Vu to me except it's my union this time and that strike was a hundred days and I think we're close to 80 already for the rider strike so I would not be surprised if this was like a two 250 day strike interesting interesting I hadn't thought about it that way that's very interesting along you know sometimes it does take being out for a while to bring people around uh and let me ask you know you know I've talked about this with a number of folks on the street so to speak not connected with the business not media not anything else and it the discussions go one of two ways people understand that the Hollywood is swimming in money like this there's plenty of money for everybody if if it's just an attitude you know what I mean and it's really about you know because they're influenced by those memes that show these CEOs of these companies making extraordinary salaries and I've just got to wonder sometimes how that just must dig at an actor you know having to live hand to mouth at a craft that just requires so much that you have to give and there's plenty of money floating around right I mean you know it comes back to that you know this is probably since labor and uh businesses for the beginning time how much is enough right how much is enough you know uh Mr zazlev I think 247 million is probably enough right and it gets a little tedious when they mention they're taking all the risks when I know crew members have worked 12 or 14 hour days and fallen asleep driving on their way home um you know there's there's the real risk is us with the long hours and all of those things and you know a Financial Risk uh which they can then write off is different than the the daily laborer who's working on these things and is you know driving and trying to work out schedules and getting their kids to school and all of those things while creating something that those amptv will turn right around and promote right right um that's all success falls on them and if it's a failure it's because the director writer or actor didn't didn't deliver so it's it's all the good is for them and all the negative is is for us when really we share in both we share in both we can produce a bad film but you could also have bad performances and collectively it'll be a bad experience that's right but it's the either or it is so exhausting I hear that I hear that that's an interesting way to put it I hadn't I consider that because I'm not an actor and that's an interesting way to look at that uh let's leave it with this Mark you know is there anything you want the general public to know about what this is fundamentally about what's your message to people who are not connected with this business at all they're coming into a lot of misconceptions or it's zero uh you know conception of what you guys do for work what do you want folks out there what do you want New Mexicans to know about this what I would really love them to know that this is not just about the film industry this is a labor movement this is about truck drivers who are being replaced by Ai and this is about pilots who they're starting to do cargo planes by drone with a joystick right this is about Labor in general and the stronger our unions whatever business they're in that are in New Mexico the stronger our economy is because you will have a solid middle class we're not working for a king's Ransom we are working for a living wage and there's a huge difference so no matter what your profession is if you've got a good owner and you have skin in the game or a boss and you feel valued there's no reason to unionize but when you have these big organizations the only leverage we have is collective bargaining and a strike so this isn't just about us this is about raising all labor and wages in in general in our state because if wages go up for one industry they usually are reflected in other Industries as well that's proven that that's that's been a uh much uh studied phenomenon quite quite right state by state Mark Comstock sag after New Mexico local president thank you for your time and helping us understand the stakes at play here for uh our New Mexico based actors as my pleasure and thank you so much for having me on and uh you know I'm here if you need anything else you may call on you we may call us yeah it's gonna take a lot of twists and turns before it gets there so don't be a surprise yeah thank you so much thanks Mark really appreciate it