Garden Cinemas in Greenfield to donate ‘Theater Camp’ ticket sales to striking actors

By DOMENIC POLI

Staff Writer

Published: 08-03-2023 12:13 PM

GREENFIELD — The Garden Cinemas had planned to start showing “White Bird: A Wonder Story” on Aug. 25. The problem is, Lionsgate bumped the film’s release date because there are no actors promoting it due to their union’s much-publicized strike for better pay and benefits.

So Isaac Mass, who owns the theater with his wife, Angela, scrambled to find another movie, acquiring “Theater Camp” from Searchlight Pictures. And, with their lineup filled out, the couple has decided to use this opportunity to support the striking thespians, committing to donate to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation all of the profits the PG-13 flick brings in the week it runs in Greenfield.

“We’re fully supportive of the actors and writers who are on strike,” Isaac Mass said.

“Theater Camp” is a comedy about an eccentric group of upstate New York theater camp staffers who must band together when their beloved founder falls into a coma. The movie is directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman and stars Ben Platt, Molly Gordon, Jimmy Tatro and Ayo Edebiri. Tickets and the trailer are available at bit.ly/3rSVbzn, and tickets are also available at the box office.

Mass said he picked this film because he figured it would appeal to the demographics already anxious to help the striking actors.

“Kids who are in theater camp, people who are into film and into theater in general, are going to gravitate to that,” he said. “And those are people who would, like we do, want to be out supporting the actors during the strike.”

Members of SAG-AFTRA (which stands for Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) voted overwhelmingly to strike and it began on July 14. The Writers Guild of America went on strike on May 2 over ongoing labor disputes similar to the ones involving performers. The complaints include the use of artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT.

One of the actors’ demands is an 11% increase in general wages in the first year of a new contract. Actors, the vast majority of whom are not wealthy stars with household names, also want to make up for what the union has called an erosion in residuals payments, or the pay performers get when a movie or TV episode they appear on re-airs. Streaming services don’t pay actors each time an episode of a show or a movie they appear in is viewed. Instead, performers are paid a smaller amount to have shows or movies available on the platform.

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“The streaming issues have been going on for a long time for actors, and it’s just coming to a head,” Mass said.

Angela Mass said the strike has a trickle-down effect on others, such as food vendors, because fewer people are going to movie theaters right now. She said it can also negatively impact contractors theaters hire to make improvements on their buildings.

“I hope that [actors] get what is fair,” she said, “and I hope that it happens quickly.”

She said box office numbers for “Barbie, “Oppenheimer” and “Barbenheimer,” the unofficial double feature consisting of the two unrelated films with polar-opposite themes, have been just shy of pre-pandemic ticket sales.

The actors’ strike marks the first time they have initiated a labor dispute in the United States since 1980, and the first time actors and writers have walked out simultaneously since 1960.

Isaac Mass said the Garden Cinemas, which he and Angela purchased in November 2019, has been around for 94 years and he wants it be here for another century.

“To make sure that happens,” he said, “you’ve got to pay actors and not steal their likeness.”

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.

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