The Basic Facts On Clips

• The primary dispute over the reuse of film and television clips in new media relates to non-promotional uses.  Such clips are already widely available on Web sites and video sharing services as a result of Internet piracy.  A legitimate market would generate payments for Guild members by, for example, giving consumers the ability to legally purchase clips that they might otherwise obtain from an unauthorized source.
  
  
• The key to this new market will be the studio libraries of films and TV.
  
  
• Under the rules of the existing SAG and AFTRA contracts – rules which originated 50 years ago -- clips from the library – even those lasting only a few seconds – can only be used if the Producer “bargains” separately with every performer in the clip and reaches an agreement to pay each performer at least the day player minimum of $759.  This could require the Producer to bargain hundreds or thousands of times with an individual performer over clips from a single series or feature. Hundreds of thousands of separate negotiations would be required to clear a library.
  
  
• The existing rules, and the enormous administrative burden created by those rules, prevents the entire industry from developing a lawful clips market and allows a clips black market to flourish on its own -- with or without us and with no regard for how a performer wishes to control his or her image.
  
  
• The 50-year-old union rules at issue were intended for the few cases where a producer needed to license a film or TV clip for use in another program. No one envisioned that the Internet would come along and allow public usage of clips before either the Producers or performers would create a market.
  
  
• To allow our industry to compete successfully against fast-moving competitors on the Internet, the AMPTP has proposed to make a payment in lieu of the bargaining process.  Carrying over the existing bargaining terms, as SAG and AFTRA are insisting, would not be practical or feasible and would prevent the development of this mutually-beneficial new market.
  
  
• In short, the issue facing our industry is a fundamental one: Will we be required to compete against agile opponents in the Internet age while constrained by 50-year-old rules, or can we collectively find ways to take advantage of fresh market opportunities that will generate new revenue for both actors and producers?

More Detail on the AMPTP's Clips Proposal

• The primary dispute is over the re-use of film and television clips in new media for non-promotional uses.  The use of clips for promotional purposes is already permitted.

• AMPTP is proposing a new structure tailored to the unique challenges and opportunities of new media; SAG wants to carry over 50-year-old union rules.

• A significant black market for clips already exists.  Clips are already available on black market Web sites and video sharing services as a result of Internet piracy.  These clips will be out there with or without our industry.  That means that actors have already lost control over their images without receiving any compensation whatsoever.

• There is the potential to create a significant legal market for clips, which would generate new revenue for actors.  Given the public demand that already exists in the black market, there is a high likelihood that a "clips iTunes" would be a success.

• Film and television libraries are essential to the creation of the new, legal market.  Existing rules would require the Producer to bargain hundreds or thousands of times with an individual performer over clips from a single series or feature.

• Under 50-year-old SAG and AFTRA rules, clips from the library, even those lasting only a few seconds, can only be used if the Producer "bargains" separately with every performer in the clip and reaches an agreement to pay each performer at least the day player minimum of $759.  This administrative burden will prevent the industry from developing a lawful clips market and allow black market to flourish on its own.

• AMPTP has never proposed to sell clips without paying actors.  Indeed, a legitimate market would generate brand new sources of income for Guild members.

• Producers also have no incentive devalue their own product by allowing clips to be used for unauthorized purposes.  AMPTP has proposed various safeguards – including continued consent for scenes involving nudity – to help protect actors from what is now occurring on the black market.