WRITERS, ACTORS PICKET AD TALK UNIONS CALL FOR ROLE IN PRODUCT PLACEMENT.Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer A large and boisterous group of writers and actors picketed outside the Beverly Hills Hotel The Beverly Hills Hotel is a hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, at 9641 Sunset Boulevard. It was opened on May 12, 1912 and started by Margaret J. Anderson and her son, Stanley S. Anderson, who had been managing the Hollywood Hotel. Wednesday morning to protest the expanding practice of product integration on television shows and in films. Members of the Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is a term often referring to the joint efforts of the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, west. Jointly, the two guilds act as the collective bargaining representative, or labor union, for writers in the motion picture and , West, and the Screen Actors Guild spent more than an hour in front of the hotel while a branded entertainment Branded Entertainment, also known as Branded content or Advertainment, is the combination of an audio-visual program (TV, radio, podcast, etc.) and a brand. It can be initiated either by the brand or by the broadcaster. conference called ``When Commerce Meets Content'' was being held inside. ``They have excluded us from the proceedings and we are the ones who create the content,'' SAG (1) A momentary drop in voltage from the power source. Contrast with spike. (2) (SAG) (SQL Access Group) See CLI. President Alan Rosenberg Alan Rosenberg (born October 4 1950) is an American actor of both stage and screen, and current president of the Screen Actors' Guild, the principal motion picture industry on-screen performers' union. Biography Rosenberg was born and raised in Passaic, New Jersey. said as he stood with protesters along Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades. . ``You have all the major advertisers in there, major corporations, and they are missing half of the equation. They are discussing issues which impact our lives greatly, our livelihoods.'' Rosenberg was joined by WGA WGA Windows Genuine Advantage (Microsoft) WGA Writers Guild of America (union for screenwriters) WGA Wise Giving Alliance (Better Business Bureau) WGA wheat germ agglutinin President Patric Verrone Patric Verrone (born Patric Miller Verrone on September 29, 1959 in Glendale, Queens, New York) is an American television writer. He served as a writer and producer for several animated television shows, most notably Futurama. in addressing the troops. ``It's a matter of consultation,'' Verrone said in an interview after the rally. ``We're being asked as the writers and editors and producers of television to integrate products that don't necessarily belong in the programming. It's one thing to put a can of soup on the table, it's another thing to get our characters to talk about its creamy goodness.'' Rosenberg and Verrone had asked to participate in the conference hosted by Advertising Age magazine but said their request was denied. The magazine's representatives could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The unions are pushing for an industrywide in·dus·try·wide adv. & adj. Throughout an entire industry: sales that have decreased industrywide; industrywide cooperation. code of conduct that would govern the use and disclosure of this kind advertising that has become more commonplace in the age of TiVo where consumers can easily zip through commercials. They propose that the code require the disclosure of product integration at the beginning of a program, place strict limits on placement in children's programs, and give creative artists input into how a product or brand is integrated into the movie or TV program. Rosenberg said there is the issue of ``the public's right to know when they are being sold. So there needs to be regulations. It would be much better for the employers, for the advertisers, to meet with us and partner up with us on this than for us to have to partner up with the (Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. ). It's much better for us to regulate the industry ourselves, the artists and the employers.'' In addition to television shows, Rosenberg said he is aware of budgets of feature films being partially funded by product integration. The SAG president said that on one film six different scenes were written at the last minute to advertise different products, but he declined to name the film. ``We're kind of getting hit on both ends,'' Rosenberg said. ``If product integration is meant to, in part, replace traditional advertising, then our members are losing work and we're not being compensated for the advertising we do within the product integration.'' The guilds first raised the issue publicly when product integration in television and film hit the $1 billion mark in 2004, with an 84 percent increase in television alone. ``There's five media companies that control show business and they produce all of television, all of movies. As they develop their business models based on new streams of advertising, we need to be a part of that discussion,'' Verrone said. ``As the technology expands, it's meaningless without the content, and we're the folks who give them that content. If we're being forced into alliances with products, with advertisers, against our will or more importantly, against the artistic integrity of the shows, I think everything and everyone is going to suffer.'' Greg Hernandez, (818) 713-3758 greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion