SAG RULE MAY EQUAL JOBS ENFORCEMENT COULD BRING 3,000 POSITIONS.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Up to 3,000 new jobs could be created over the next five years with enforcement of a new rule requiring that overseas movie productions comply with the same Screen Actors Guild contract provisions as U.S. productions, according to figures released by SAG on Thursday.

Movies such as ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' and ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' are among the nonunion productions filmed in foreign countries last year as well as the HBO miniseries ``Band of Brothers.''

``In the past, if you turned down a movie because it was it was nonunion and being shot in New Zealand, the part would go to another actor who would be perfectly happy to have the money up-front and not think about if they need their insurance for the next year,'' said actress Tess Harper, a member of the SAG Global Rule One Task Force. ``As a guild, we are standing up and enforcing this.''

But in what is an indication of the fractured state of the guild's leadership, the number of potential jobs to be gained is disputed by some SAG members. They say the number is made out of ``whole cloth'' and tied to the political effort to pass a proposed agreement announced this week between SAG and industry agents that would relax financial interest rules that have been in place for more than five decades.

``They could have said 500 or 5,000 jobs,'' said SAG Treasurer Kent McCord. ``I am 100 percent in favor of Global Rule One but that should have nothing to do with the negotiations with the agencies.''

Since a grass-roots movement for extending Rule One began more than six years ago, actors have seen an increasing amount of film and television production leave the United States to such countries as Canada, Australia and Great Britain where production is less costly.

According to figures released by SAG, overseas production has resulted in the loss of $22.9 million from the SAG Pension and Health Plan over the past five years. In addition, it has led to more than $3 million in lost dues and $165 million in lost earnings for SAG members.

Beginning this year, an actor must earn a minimum of $9,000 from union productions in order to qualify for SAG benefits. Currently, 77 percent of the guild's membership does not make enough money to qualify, a situation exacerbated by nonunion productions shot in foreign countries.

The guild projects that without global enforcement of Rule One over the next five years, SAG will lose $35.8 million from its pension and health plan, $4.83 million in dues and $258 million in lost earnings.

SAG's national board voted unanimously last summer to extend and enforce Rule One internationally and endorsing the effort were such high-profile actors as Harrison Ford, Holly Hunter, Laurence Fishburne and Kevin Spacey.

Global Rule One is also a key component of the proposed three-year franchise agreement between SAG and agents that will be considered by the guild's national board March 11, then be voted on by the guild membership.

But it comes with baggage as it is only one element of the proposed agreement with the agents that also would allow agencies the opportunity to invest in a film or television production, among other things.

Under the proposal, the agents would be obligated to determine whether a prospective employer is a part of the SAG agreement. The agents are not to enter into any negotiations on behalf of an actor until the employer has signed the agreement. If an agent does commit a client to nonunion work, the agent would be forced to forfeit any commissions from that work and the actor would be subject to union discipline.

``The current regulation is that the agent will make their best efforts to get a SAG contract for the people they represent. The agents have always felt that anything that has money attached to it has to be passed down to their actors,'' Harper said. ``The new contract says they must procure a SAG contract. For the agents to stand with us, it gives us two shields in the battle instead of one.''

While the proposed deal has been endorsed by SAG's negotiating committee and SAG President Melissa Gilbert, the overall deal has been blasted by actress Valerie Harper who is pitted against Gilbert in a high-profile rerun of the election of SAG's national officers, which will conclude March 8.

Harper, who has been strongly opposed to giving any financial leeway to the agents, is in favor of the implementation of Global Rule One but is against other deal points in the proposal that she deemed ``very dangerous.'' The actress said this week that the new rules could result in agents becoming an actor's employer. She predicted that the proposed agreement will ultimately be voted down by SAG's 98,000 members.

McCord said SAG has the ability to implement Global Rule One among its own membership by disciplining any violators.

``They are trying to intertwine these things,'' said McCord, who is also a candidate in the second election. ``I think having the agencies on board is a benefit but I don't think it's worth the cost of allowing that to be the reason, or even one of the reasons, of creating this tremendous conflict.''