WAGE WARS INSIDERS' VIEW OF THE ACTORS' CONTRACT DISPUTE.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

Picture a middle-class wage earner, one who pays taxes and the going rates in rent or a mortgage, food, gasoline, utilities and insurance, as well as union dues.

Could be you, you're thinking, or your neighbor, son or daughter, maybe.

Here's a difference: If that middle-class earner is a member of the Screen Actors Guild or the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists - a familiar face but by no means a star - he has other big chunks taken out of his income that physical therapists, computer technicians and plumbers don't surrender.

And his way of life is feast or famine. He may breathe a sigh of relief when a good TV guest role or small feature film part comes around, but that feeling of success and satisfaction often is short-lived.

In between shooting days, these actors are always on the lookout for the next role - updating their resumes and reels, mailing out their head shots, touching base with their agents, honing their skills in acting, dance and voice classes and, on a good day, auditioning. Such is the life of the almost famous.

These performers, earning $30,000 to $70,000 a year on average, are the ones SAG and AFTRA say are at the heart of their current contract talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, representing studios, production companies and TV networks.

They are not the largest percentage; SAG says 6 percent of its members fall in that range, while a whopping 70 percent earn $7,500 or less through the guild each year. But this is the range that represents a realistic goal for those just breaking in and the 18 percent who fall in the $7,500- $30,000 range. And this is the segment that pays a good portion of the guild's income-scaled dues, feeds its health and pension plans and gives it clout.

Honey, I shrunk the wages

Because of a news blackout, SAG has not divulged the terms of its proposal currently being kneaded, pinched and sliced in its negotiations with AMPTP in Encino. But SAG chief negotiator Brian Walton is fond of the term ``salary compression'' to describe the shrinking personal income of thousands of SAG and AFTRA members and has said he thinks the studios and producers can improve the situation with increases in residual payments and minimums and by using SAG contracts even on foreign shoots.

If not, guild officials have said, over time its middle class will disappear, leaving the two extremes of top-dollar superstars and those actors who work only occasionally or are retired.

``If there isn't a viable middle class, who are Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts going to have to act against in their films?'' SAG spokesman Greg Krizman said.

SAG says salary compression is the result of a number of factors:

There have been significant leaps in inflation and in studio profits from cable, but the percentage formula for actors' residuals has been largely unchanged since the early '80s when the cable industry was still young.

Runaway production has become epidemic with the majority of movies and miniseries for American TV being shot in Canada and other countries. Unless a SAG actor or the agent specifically demands that a foreign-based shoot meets SAG conditions, the actor may have to accept less than scale and probably won't earn residuals for future play. ``I think producers would love to stay home and shoot - they're people like we are,'' actress Tess Harper said. ``They're not doing it to be vindictive. They're doing it because that's the best deal.''

Unlike Hollywood trades that are tiered in apprentice, journeyman and master craftsman categories, actors are not assured incremental increases for accruing experience. Insiders say a seasoned Oscar-winning actress recently was paid scale for a guest role on a high-rated drama series. ``If these people can't progress to the point where they feel they can be master craftsmen, what incentive is there to be in the business?'' Krizman said.

Some TV series (sources cite ``The West Wing,'' ``Once and Again,'' ``Providence,'' ``Charmed'' and ``7th Heaven'' as examples) have pushed their budget limitations on star salaries, forcing their producers to save money elsewhere. In its last contract talks, SAG negotiated a good increase for guest-star roles in one-hour prime-time network series, a minimum weekly rate of just under $5,000 known as ``major role player.'' But actors and agents say only some actually get paid that rate, and fewer still negotiate for more. Armin Shimerman, who does frequent guest shots, said, ``It is rare indeed when a show will break minimum, usually for a guest star who will bring in viewers from TV Guide.''

TV veteran Clyde Kusatsu agrees. ``A smart producer or production manager will get all the (guest star's) scenes done in one day so they'll offer you the day rate but give you the guest-star billing. They said, 'This is what your guild did for you.' Either you refused it or you went, 'OK.' What could you do?''

(For an actor, the financial difference is dramatic: The rate for a one-hour episodic network TV show is $617 per day. A guest-starring role is eight times that, nearly $5,000.)

Residual payments are shrinking as a result of entertainment company mergers. Residuals for repeats, foreign or cable release in some cases are based on a percentage of the show's licensing fee. When entertainment conglomerates exercise synergy by selling, say, a network-televised movie made by Warner Bros. to TNT - a sister division under the AOL Time Warner umbrella - they strike a very friendly bargain price that then drives down the actors' residuals.

AMPTP officials refused to comment on those points, saying they do not want to negotiate the contract issues in the media.

But one film and television producer who asked to be anonymous denied that he and his peers are trying to shortchange actors by finding loopholes. ``The actors' decision to make these kinds of baseless allegations at such a sensitive time may make for great drama, but they do nothing to further any progress being made at the bargaining table to help improve overall labor-management relations,'' the producer said.

The price of marginal fame

If you're still looking at that $5,000 figure and thinking, ``Five grand for a week? I could handle that!'' - think again. The guest star doesn't get $5,000, nor even the net after taxes. Subtract 10 percent for the agent's fee, 10 to 15 percent for a manager, maybe another 5 percent for a business manager. If the actor wants a publicist on the string, that's another $1,000 to 1,500 a month.

Then there are other career maintenance expenses: health club membership, photos, resumes, video reels, cassettes or CDs for voice-over artists, postage, assorted classes to keep skills up to par, and frequent visits with a hair colorist (no icky roots), dentist (bleaching or capping) and dermatologist (no zits allowed in close-ups). And many - they know who they are - require the services of a cosmetic surgeon or a therapist.

Tim Angle is president of Don Buchwald & Associates, a talent agency whose client base includes many midrange SAG and AFTRA members. As his company income is tied directly to actors' gross earnings, he agrees with the guild's salary compression assessment. Sources say another agency, Susan Smith & Associates, closed its doors in large part because of it.

``I don't know how you negotiate around the problem. I'm very sympathetic to the problem and wish I had a solution,'' Angle said. ``But it's set in the market.''

Angle said entertainment has gone the way of some professional sports where there are huge sums paid for stars and the rest of the team gets minimum.

``As people at the top are paid more, where's the money going to come from?'' he said. ``I appreciate that (SAG and AFTRA) are attempting something. If I read a proposal that I felt reasonably addressed it, certainly it has my absolute support.''

Take it or leave it

It's true that actors are culpable in this price-cutting process. After all, they accept the terms when they accept the role. But they say they're afraid to drive a harder bargain because it would cost them that job or a future one.

``Either you work or you don't,'' Kusatsu said matter-of-factly. ``It's an implied thing. You have to choose when to make a stand.''

Angle said it's hard to determine whether there is any real backlash from an actor demanding more, or if it is an irrational fear.

``I think shows have policies they're able to enforce so therefore the offer, when it comes, is kind of a take-it-or-leave-it offer,'' the agent said. ``I don't think it's black-balling or anything. It's just, if you don't take this job someone else will.''

Aw, quit your whining or get out of the business, you may be muttering. That's a good suggestion, except for two considerations: our need to be entertained, and performers' irrepressible need to fill that demand.

``Actors are a miserable lot,'' writes Bruce Campbell in his new autobiography, ``If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor.'' ``They are insecure, vain and temperamental, clawing about in a world more competitive than almost any other profession. How many rocket scientists would line up around the block, in the rain, lobbying to work for just one day?''

STILL TALKING

The current TV-theatrical work agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers covering 135,000 performers in SAG and AFTRA expires June 30. The two sides began negotiations May 15 and have held 11 formal bargaining sessions to date at the Encino offices of the producers' alliance.

In between, there have been informal talks and committee sessions. Sources say the pace will pick up on Monday as the deadline approaches. (Regardless of the negotiations' status on the evening of June 30, SAG president William Daniels has informed his team he plans to be celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife, actress Bonnie Bartlett.) Last year, SAG went on strike for six months against commercial producers.

- Valerie Kuklenski

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover) More than just faces

They may not be stars, but as strike deadline looms midlevel screens actors are hoping for a little security.

(2) BRIAN WALTON

SAG chief negotiator

(3) Bruce Campbell

(4) Clyde Kusatsu

(5) Tess Harper

Box: Still Talking (see text)