I wonder how much money
is being wasted on unemployment for out of work actors. Work 14 weeks and get 26 weeks of unemployment pay.
This seems totally wrong.
OK....someone had to say something this stupid, so I guess I'll be the person that has to reply.
For one thing, while unemployment compensation in CA is higher pretty much any other state, it's no king's ransom. Most people can't truly "live" on it...it helps pay a portion of the bills. We're talking $475/week or so, and that is taxed so it comes out to $425 or so.
Second, no one wants to be on unemployment. Do you think any of the guys featured would prefer unemployment to working? No. However this is a profession that doesn't lend itself to 50 weeks of work in a given year.
Third, the ups and downs of each actor echo the ups and downs of the business. I'm in the movie biz, behind the camera. There are times where a bunch of things are being filmed at once, and you get a slew of offers at the same time. And then things get slow, everyone is sitting around, and no one calls. It's an intractable part of the business, and it's pretty much impossible to avoid it.
Lastly....to those that would say "have another job to 'fall back' on when you're not doing movies"...yeah, no one has thought of that. What, exactly, job is it that will let you leave it at a moment's notice? And not just go, but go for months...and then let you come back when you're done? And with actors, they have auditions to go to. If there were such a thing, every actor would be doing it.
Before anyone goes on a pathetic rant about money being "wasted" on unemployment for people in the turbulent entertainment industry, go see how much money is being wasted on defense programs that are unnecessary. Or how much we lost in cash in Iraq. Compare those figures to the costs of unemployment, with the ones I mentioned being in the BILLIONS, and tell me how the much smaller cost of unemployment is really hurting us.
I know "other people do it too" is no defense but it happens. I remember a news show (think it was 60 minutes) many years ago did a segment on people in Florida in the winter drawing out of state unemployment. The state you are in will be compenstated by the state where you last worked. So they don't have much incentive to make you take any job available. They know you will go back home when the weather gets better up north. Meanwhile you are spending dollars in their state.
Some were construction workers whose work dries up in the winter. But others were country club pros teaching golf or tennis lessions from up north.
Your excuses for actors perpetually getting unemployment are absurd!
"We're talking $475/week" - I wish I made that much. I live in California.
"No one wants to be on unemployment" - Well they are on it. So this is irrelevant. Nobody cares if they want to be on it.
"the ups and downs of each actor echo the ups and downs of the business" - This has literally nothing to do with why they should receive unemployment. It's a lie too. I don't remember that year when they stopped making films or TV shows. Oh, that's right, because it never happened.
"What, exactly, job is it that will let you leave it at a moment's notice? And not just go, but go for months...and then let you come back when you're done?" - This isn't a reason to give 200,000 people a comfy life of perpetual unemployment interrupted by a couple paying gigs. It's actually a reason for those people TO NOT ACT. There's no divine right to be given subsidies to act. If they didn't get such a bloated handout and they had to maintain regular jobs, it would actually force production companies to pay more money, so as to be able to sustain more permanent actors. Imagine that. The industry paying for the employees, not tax payers.
" go see how much money is being wasted on defense programs that are unnecessary. Or how much we lost in cash in Iraq." - You're comparing state vs. federal. They aren't comparable. Also, it's simply a dishonest method of arguing "Well because people waste money elsewhere, that justifies wasting money here!".