To the Bored by Ann Marcus From the March '99 issue of Written By M any moons ago, before cellular phones or multiplexes, my husband and I went to see The Ten Commandments at the Egyptian. As you're well aware, it was a tremendous wide-screen production with a cast of thousands. During the intermission, we staggered out to the pay phones to call home and check on the kids, but we had to wait until the teenager ahead of us finished her call. Kind of reminds me of the reaction of many Guild members to what's been going on these past few years.
Guild business is boring.
It's boring, time-consuming and sometimes frustrating to serve on committees, negotiate residuals, revise credits so that they are more equitable, eliminate late payments and free rewrites and work to improve creative rights and working conditions. Trying to get the membership involved is as difficult as when that fabled Little Red Hen went around asking her farmyard buddies to help find and prepare food. Almost everyone turned the poor chick down. But when she asked who would help her eat the food, there were lots of volunteers and probably not a few malcontents who complained about the cooking. These are our members who lose their current status and fall into post-current or emeritus status because they can't get work.