Read the Real BBH Letter to Actors

You may have seen BBH’s open letter to actors. We believe it was a dishonest piece designed to mislead our members. While BBH is trying to illegally abandon our agreement, the Commercials Contract is both fair and constantly evolving to meet the needs of the advertising industry. Don’t believe their lies. The black copy below is what BBH published. The red copy is what BBH actually meant to say to you, the working commercial actor.

MESSAGE TO THE TALENTED ACTORS WHO WORK WITH BBH US
MESSAGE TO THE COSTLY ACTORS WHO WORK FOR BBH US

BBH US is privileged to work with the creative community’s best of the best. We thank you for being our partner in the work we love, using our combined creative power to produce ambitious ideas for ambitious clients. Your involvement in our work is crucial to delivering the high-caliber products our clients have come to expect from us.
BBH US must hire actors who wreck the bottom line. We begrudgingly acknowledge you for being our hired help. Your required presence in our money-making operation is an unfortunate necessity to delivering work that allows us to recruit more business and afford giant homes in Westchester County.

It’s precisely because we respect your contribution that we want to communicate directly to you about why BBH US has decided to exercise our legal right to not renew our participation as a signatory to the SAG-AFTRA contract.
It’s precisely because we are forced to deal with you that we want to tell you why our sweat shop has decided to illegally try and break a contract that inconveniences us with ridiculous things like fair pay, health care contributions and safety measures.

In short, we are hired to operate in the best interests of our clients, and part of that is being able to deliver the greatest level of flexibility and value for the work we do. We are simply looking to level the playing field for all of us. The current contract was put in place nearly 20 years ago, when the internet was in its infancy and the advertising world was a vastly different place, with vastly different economics. The cutting-edge work we do at BBH US across all mediums is not well-served by a contract that was designed for a traditional media landscape. The need for speed, agility, and greater efficiencies in how we produce work has become increasingly important in today’s market. Many of our peer agencies are not signatories, making it hard to compete sustainably in a way that benefits our clients.
In short, we love money. It’s in our best interest to exploit you while charging clients lots of cash. We are simply looking to increase our profits, pay actors as little as possible, and undercut all the other award-winning signatory agencies who value professional performers. Sure, the Commercials Contract was updated one year ago thanks to a Low Budget Digital Waiver. But the work we do at BBH US is not well-served by a contract that was designed to let people afford rent. The need for paying less, exploitation and lack of safety on set has become increasingly important to us. Many of our peer agencies are not signatories so this gives us the right to also screw actors.

We immensely value the creative talent we work with, and this decision does not change our commitment to fair wages and working conditions. We simply need the flexibility that this current contract does not allow in order to continue to do great work with great actors, both SAG-AFTRA and non-SAG-AFTRA talent alike.
We don’t give a rat’s ass about the actors we hire and this decision is all about paying you less. Our live bear audition was perfectly safe, trust us. This reasonable union agreement, which we want to skip out on, does not let us take more profit off the backs of actors,  both SAG-AFTRA (only when we absolutely need it) and cheaper non-SAG-AFTRA talent (a lot more often) alike.

It is unfortunate that the current SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract has placed signatory agencies at a competitive disadvantage. In withdrawing as a signatory, BBH US can operate in precisely the same manner as its peer agencies, providing work opportunities to performers across the full spectrum of the creative community.
The SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contracts gives us plenty of flexibility to compete with other agencies but we want to pay you less so we are conveniently calling it old and out of touch. In illegally trying to withdraw from the contract, BBH US is simply trying to pay actors less, exploit their talent, and provide cheaper and unsafe work opportunities to performers across the full spectrum of desperation.

While this was a difficult decision, it was one we had no choice but to make. We look forward to continuing to collaborate on work for some of the most innovative marketers in the world.
While this was a difficult decision if we believed in healthcare for children, it was one we made easily when we saw the new Maserati. We look forward to making more money at your expense.

Sincerely,
It’s all about paying you less,

BBH US