OP/ED by Tim Tritch
One of the main criticisms of the industry’s testing program is that performers pay all the costs, or the large majority of the costs. OSHA, AHF, and County Health point this out every chance they get, along with the privacy issues of the AIM system. And these are legitimate points.
Producers have argued that it wouldn’t be fair for them to pay for a performers test today, and then that performer uses that tests on another company’s shoot tomorrow. Also a legitimate point. And agents know that good health means good business. STD’s mean lost work days and cost everybody time and money.
So here is my Forty Dollar Solution.
Every company makes a thirty dollar donation to AIM for each performer they hire. And the agents make a five or ten dollar donation for every performer they book for a scene. Not much to ask. A shoot with as many as ten performers would only cost $300.00 to the producer, and fifty to a hundred for the agent.
And here is the best part. Everything is voluntary. Nobody can stop the producers or agents from doing this, not OSHA, County Health, AHF, ACLU, nobody. And its a tax deductible donation too!
And lets not forget the performers either. They could still pay a fee of say $25.00 each time they test.
This would easily cover the entire cost of the testing, and probably generate enough revenue to pay for hepatitis B testing and vaccination, and antibiotic treatment for gonorrhea and Chlamydia. It might even be enough to got to a two or three week testing interval.
By providing the performers with this service the industry can eliminate another piece of ammunition from the arsenal of its detractors. GONE is the argument of performers paying for everything. GONE is the argument that producers don’t do anything regarding health and safety. GONE is the argument that the testing is too expensive. GONE is the argument that one producer is paying for a test to be used on another shoot. Its a pay as you go system.
There has always been talk of two week testing. But with performers paying all the cost that will never happen. There are more details to this plan, such as for first time testers, and follow up testing for positive results. It may even be possible to have donations made in the individual names of performers. There are lots of options available. What if individual performers used Twitter and Myspace to solicit donations for tests. What better way for a performers fans to help out. There’s lots of options here.
This, along with my previous suggestion to changing the reporting system, will take these pieces of ammunition out of the hands of industry detractors. This is a chance for producers and agents to share and show responsibility, and relieve themselves from possible litigation in the future. And its tax deductible!
As I said in 2004,"If you guys don’t change and improve your system, somebody else is gong to do it for you." If the industry tries to rest its case on the status quo, you’re going to lose. That’s my opinion.
Any comments or suggestions are welcomed.
Thank-you
Tim Tritch
tritchtm@ca.rr.com