With appearances in nearly 80 television shows spanning a 30-year career, actor and Virginia Beach native Keith Flippen’s current role involves donning his acting union’s “SAG-AFTRA strong” shirt and publicizing the ongoing nationwide strike by screenwriters and actors.
“We’re trying to share with people that we are not Hollywood. We are people that work right here in the local [union chapter] and that we are not rich and we are not famous,” Flippen said. “We are just laborers, and the value of our labor is not being heard.”
Last month, the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists joined the Writers Guild of America in a dual strike, the first since 1960, after they were unable to reach a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, the trade association that represents Hollywood studios and production companies.
Both unions are seeking higher wages, regulations on the use of artificial intelligence in TV and film and a restructuring of how residuals — long-term payments to actors and writers for the repeated use of their work through streaming services and television reruns — are determined. They say the need for all of the changes has been exacerbated by the increased use of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.
Flippen said he would be in a much better financial position if he received the same residual payments now that he received from network shows early in his career.
“That residual would keep me eating, keep my bills paid and keep my heat on and pay my mortgage. … It was possible to earn a living when we were just networks,” he said. “The residual payments on streaming are much, much lower and they diminish more quickly.”
The lower payments also mean Flippen hasn’t met his union’s $26,000 minimum earnings requirement to qualify for health insurance in 13 of the past 20 years.
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