He’s best known for local theater roles like Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” at Ford’s Theatre and Justice Antonin Scalia in “The Originalist” at Arena Stage. However, D.C. actor Ed Gero has also starred in popular TV shows from Netflix’s “House of Cards” to AMC’s “Turn,” filmed locally in Maryland and Virginia, respectively.
Gero joined WTOP to explain why his Screen Actors Guild just joined the Writers Guild of America for the first dual strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers since 1960. Roughly 11,500 writers went on strike in May and now 65,000 members of the actors’ union joined them on strike starting last Thursday.
“My dad was a local UAW president for 25 years,” Gero told WTOP. “His rank and file actually gave me a bond when I was born, and I used that money to join AFTRA in 1977 and I’ve been a SAG member since about 1980. I’ve done a few films, ‘Die Hard 2,’ ‘Striking Distance,’ I’ve done ‘House of Cards,’ I’ve done ‘Turn’ and lots of voiceover work for Discovery Channel. … I’ve been a card-carrying member for SAG and AFTRA for 40 years plus.”
He said it’s a misconception that the SAG strike is all about mega stars like Leonardo DiCaprio or Viola Davis.
“The first thing people need to know is that it’s not about Hollywood actors, it’s about all actors,” Gero said. “In fact, the Washington area has the third largest local [branch] outside of Hollywood and New York. It’s larger than it is in Chicago, so it’s about the middle class of actors, not the headliners. … It’s the folks like me who are working day to day to make enough money a year to get health care. We’re looking for a fair wage for a day’s work.”
Gero said 85% of folks in the actors’ union don’t make enough money a year to afford health insurance, let alone buy lavish mansions and fancy cars like studio executives and stockholders, who make millions of dollars a year and are now greedily trying to make even more by replacing living, breathing actors with artificial intelligence.
“I think it was [Disney C.E.O.] Bob Iger who said, ‘Here’s the offer from producers for background folks and extras: we want to buy you out and use your image in perpetuity throughout the universe,’ which means they own your image forever and can do whatever they want with it,” Gero said. “There was a really interesting piece on Twitter the other day where someone asked A.I., ‘Would A.I. work better for an executive in a studio or for an actor?'”
He also said the industry needs new rules to address the streaming revolution, which began a decade ago when “House of Cards” dropped all 13 episodes on Netflix in 2013. The timing of the strike is fitting as tomorrow marks 10 years since “House of Cards” became the first streaming series to earn an Emmy nomination on July 18, 2013.
“They never figured out how to pay artists in terms of residuals,” Gero said. “If you’re watching Netflix, how do you know how many people have hit it and how do you distribute that profit with the artists? … For example with ‘Die Hard 2,’ every time it’s relicensed for Europe, HBO or a DVD release, at the end of each quarter I get a little check, I go to my mailbox and there’s a check for $10 or $50. I made more money in residuals than the actual work.”
How long will the strike go on before actors and producers can find an agreement?
“I think it goes on until, say, November when the first quarter financials come in [from summer blockbusters] and it’s time for Thanksgiving and the release of big [Oscar] pictures,” Gero said. “[Actors] can’t do a red carpet now, that’s part of the strike, so the pressure is going to be on the producers to come to the table and get it done.”
Listen to our full conversation here.
