JOBS FOR PERFORMERS SHRINK 8 PERCENT IN 2004.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

A drop in the number of television acting jobs, especially in prime-time series, led to an 8 percent drop in overall roles for performers in 2004, according to casting data released Wednesday by the Screen Actors Guild.

This marked the second straight year of a downward trend for actors with 3,456 fewer roles cast television and film last year than in 2003.

``Our highest priority must be to create increased work opportunities for guild members,'' said newly elected SAG President Alan Rosenberg. ``The statistics this year are again disturbing, and the industry must begin to address this downward trend.''

Of the 40,826 total roles cast last year, 34,431 were in television and 6,395 were parts in feature films. While film roles increased by 4 percent, television parts for actors fell by 10 percent, a decrease SAG links to growth in nonscripted prime-time programming that grew from an average of 15 to 22 hours per week in 2004.

``The displacement of scripted series by reality programming continues to be a severe obstacle to a working actor's ability to earn a living,'' Rosenberg said.

Especially for those making a living primarily by playing supporting roles. The number of lead roles remained about the same overall, but the number of supporting roles declined by 3,338, with all but 2 percent of those lost roles being in episodic television.

Meanwhile, theatrical roles were up from 6,155 in 2003 to 6,395 last year but that total was still dramatically down from the approximately 12,000 roles in 2000.

The SAG report, compiled from employment data submitted by producers working under SAG's television and theatrical contracts, also broke down race and ethnicity trends.

Latino actors experienced a less than 1 percent increase in overall roles to 5.5 percent, the group's second-highest overall role share since its high of 6.0 percent in 2002. Latinos saw a dip in television roles but an increase in movie parts.

But Kathryn Galan, executive director of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, said Wednesday that the 5.5 percent total is still disappointing.

``We're 13 percent of the population but in Los Angeles County we're 45 percent,'' Galan said. ``But Latino regular characters appear in only one of out of eight series set in L.A. County. To us, that suggests that there is still a lot of work to do.''

Findings for other ethnic groups include:

--Asian/Pacific Island American actors were the only ethnic group to achieve an overall increase in jobs, rising from 2.5 percent to 2.9 percent. They had a gain of 21 percent in episodic television that offset small losses in theatrical productions and nonepisodic television.

--For African-American actors, their share of theatrical and television roles declined from 15.3 percent in 2003 to 13.8 percent last year. They had small gains in theatrical and nonepisodic television but suffered a severe drop in series television parts.

--Native-American actors, who remain largely under the radar overall, had 48 fewer roles in 2004 with the biggest loss coming in feature film opportunities.

--Caucasian actors had the largest net role loss with 2,127 fewer parts than in 2003 with the decrease concentrated in episodic television. But due to the the substantial losses for African-Americans, Caucasians still accounted for 74.5 percent of all roles cast.

Rosenberg said that while an increase in roles for performers over 40 and for Asian/Pacific Islanders is encouraging, the overall 2004 casting trends continue are disappointing.

``The guild will remain vigilant on this issue and continue to expand the opportunities available to all our members,'' Rosenberg said.

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com