The actor who played the father of the Mircea Bravo character in Nunta pe Bani joined a protest, reported the Monitorul newspaper. (Monitorul means “the monitor, so it feels redundant to call it “The Monitorul” but “The Monitor” would also feel weird, as we still say “Le Monde” or “Le Figaro” when we refer to French language newspapers. So, why not just Monitorul? I don’t know, that also feels strange.)
“Zeci de artisti” or tens of artists, protested outside the national theatre in Cluj against new regulations which would bring the 8 hour work day, or perhaps give days off to actors, in the culture sector.
This has to be the strangest protest yet. Most protests this winter have been against austerity measures. Students protested against rising tuition, something they did in the United Kingdom a generation ago when tuition fees were introduced by Tony Blair. Teachers going on strike is also something that is universal, teachers need money to eat.
But protesting because of working hour regulations? It’s like something from a comic book. There are funny protests like that related to building the pyramids in Asterix, or the Wizard of Id when the king protests saying that “workers are unfair to management.”
Apparently, what they are afraid of is more paperwork. How does an actor prove how long he worked? How does an artist prove how long she worked?
Well, during the golden days of Hollywood, there were working regulations. A lot of top films worked under strict union rules, with lunch breaks and maximum hours and all. James Cagney could give a great performance without having to keep trying until midnight. Early Hitchcock classics kept to tight schedules.
It was when mediocre actors like Dustin Hoffman needed thirty takes to get their lines right that the working hours lengthened. And when over-rated directors like Stanley Kubrick needed many takes to get what they wanted that the working hours continued lengthening.
From the perspective of a foreigner, it is funny to compare short working hours to the 1980s. The 1980s is when they started working actors like John Candy to death, eventually giving him a twenty four hour straight stint in 1990s Home Alone. The lack of health of musicians and actors of the American 1980s and later has lowered the life spans of artists.
Of course, not all overtime led to death. When Michael J Fox worked two jobs to create Back to The Future while still shooting Family Ties, he survived. Did it contribute to his Parkinson’s? Maybe. In any case, most of the cast and crew worked half as long.
Simply clocking in and out is not a lot of paperwork. I think if those in the creative industry knew their history, and the history of the creative industry in other countries, they would welcome the working regulations.
It seems the best know actor to join the protest is Mircea Bravo’s dad. So maybe most of the cast and crew knows better.