Ed Pawlowski wrote:
"-MIKE-" wrote in message
But ABC/Disney should be ashamed of not paying you and the other workers.
They will make hundreds of thousands of dollars from the episode, if not
over a million.


That would cause more problems that it solves. How much do you pay?

Scale for the television/screen actors' guild.

Do you
pay the unskilled volunteer as much as the pro? Who keeps track of all the
people and time and expense of it all?

The same people who are doing it now. It's a television production, they
already have people keeping track of all that for everyone else involved
in the production... who are getting paid for their services.


All the materials are donated as is
the labor, the builder's time etc.

The material is hardly "donated." No, there isn't an invoice marked
"paid," but they wouldn't give any of it anonymously.

The show is a mini infomercial with all the product placement and
company logos and the mentioning of those companies having donated their
stuff.
Just like when you watch Nascar and BillyBob wears a Valvoline
hat and mentioned their name in every interview. They pay BillyBob for
every second the hat is shown on TV and for every mention of the company
name. The bean counters know that equates to sales... they have it down
to a science.


If not for ABC/Disney, it would not be
possible at all to do this in the first place.

That's another debate, but not why I'm taking issue.


There may be some legal
entanglements also.

If you pay one volunteer $5, then you start a nasty chain reaction. Why
should I donate material if they can pay the workers?

They would get paid as cast members or extras, using the screen actors
guild rates.

Sears and CVS seem to be two of the biggest donors and I commend them for
it.

The fact that you know this and are mentioning it, shows that they
have been paid in full. NO corporation does anything charitable without
showing their shareholders it will be profitable to do so.
And I don't have a problem with that.


What is wrong with giving some time anyway?

Ask ABC/Disney that question. They're not exactly a 501c.

Like Sears and CVS...
they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, they are doing
it for profit. I'm not against profit... quite the opposite. I'm not
against helping the downtrodden... quite the opposite.

The ONLY problem I have with all this is the hypocrisy of asking all
these people to volunteer so they can milk it for ratings = big bucks.


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com

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