Best Marketing For Any Union Ever – Richard For Equity

/ February 12, 2019

Richard’s Twitter game is really strong these days. New year, new resolutions? Whatever it may be, but today’s early morning tweet (4.51am for cod’s sake!!!) is fully endorsed by me.

What’s best about this (apart from the fact that he is very unlikely to delete this message) is that it is a message that can be retweeted, applauded and supported entirely and without reservation. Taking it on a slightly more general level – because I am obviously not a member of the actors’ union – I think it is fantastic to see RA supporting workers’ rights and workers’ demands. Across all industries, unions provide not only their own members but *all* workers a voice. They are a collective power that can argue and negotiate for all workers of a particular sector. And they make sure that our rights and interests are being protected. In both of my careers, I have been a member of the respective union, and while still in my previous line of work, the union helped me survive a nasty case of workplace bullying that went all the way to arbitration – without their mental support and legal expertise I would’ve given in and given up. 

Man, is *that* a gorgeous photo. I love about *everything* about it…

So, I appreciate unions. And I appreciate Richard being part of this marketing effort. I believe that union membership nowadays is not quite as obligatory as it was when Richard joined Equity in 1990. Back then, it was the only way of being allowed to work as an actor. But nevertheless it is more important than ever to remember workers’ rights and to come together in solidarity for collective power. In a world ruled by capital and multinational conglomerates, unions have been eroded and excluded from many a workplace *again*. A worrying development, if you ask me. So a marketing drive like this is great!

“My card, my union” is a great slogan. And of course Equity is lucky – *they* have all the recognisable faces and names at their disposal. Unite, SIPTU, DGB, NEA et al. won’t be that lucky. But well, maybe we have power in numbers instead. So in a rare show of solidarity, this is My Card, My Union.

Are you a member of a union? Care to show? No obligation, you can stay anonymous, of course!

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111 thoughts on “Best Marketing For Any Union Ever – Richard For Equity”

  1. My other fave actor Bertie Carvel is a big supporter of actor rights and Equity on twitter…check out his feed. Good to see Richard doing something to raise the profile too.

    I’m member of BSDHT which isnt quite a union bit it’s a society that works in favour of hygienists and therapists

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  2. Great post Guylty. It is time to celebrate the support that unions give and to emphasise the danger of their power being eroded. I have always joined the union of my work and am currently a member of Unison but it is a boring card with no pic. On a more important note, he is so beautiful! And do I spy the ice-cream signature? You were right!

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    • Hehe, yes, ice cream all the way. Looks as if he is spreading his gospel in subtle ways 😉
      And I think it is fab how a little photo and tweet by some actors is sparking discussion now. I’m glad he is part of that campaign.

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  4. Equity just struck on Broadway for profit-sharing and got it. Seems only fair. As a Wisconsinite I can’t discuss the theme of unions without experiencing apoplexy (google “Act 10 in Wisconsin” if you’re interested in the whole brutal story) but I have been a union member when I was not legally prohibited from being one (as I was in Texas), and I’m generally in favor.

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      • Considering WI was the first state to have collective bargaining for public sector workers, it’s hard to stress what a curve ball it was and is. It’s also double-decimated the teaching profession here (in a state that always had excellent schools and waiting lists to teach in them). More than 25 percent fewer students are studying education, and now there’s a teacher shortage. Tja.

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        • Honestly, I am absolutely flabberghasted that this is being allowed to happen. I stand by my opinion that the trade union system is one of the great achievements of humankind. A collective insurance and collective voice – together we are strong etc. How do politicians get away with effectively assassinating the unions? I mean, I know the US is by and large rather anti-union, but nevertheless…

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  5. That said (sorry, forgot) I don’t see any significant different in his Twitter game except for some reason he’s become more self-promotional.

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    • Hehe, ok, well, Twitter game strong in the sense that he is tweeting something vaguely (?) political. And leaving it there (I assume).
      But yeah, it’s also self-promotion, not just Equity promotion. Fair enough, if you ask me. I am just glad that he is actually taking part in a promotion effort that I find worth-while.

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      • Guylty, I think he’s using Twitter positively and his whole game is STRONG. He deserves to self promote The Stranger after the shit show of BS and Epix numb nuts. I mean as long as he keeps those itchy fingers from revealing too much plot I’m glad if he tweets a lot especially Brexit stuff as that looms and social causes, economic causes so I was happy as you were to see his My Car My Union tweet this morning!

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        • Well, you know, personally, I would like to see him use Twitter a bit more cleverly – if self-promotion, then do it in such a way that your personality comes across. And that can be done in a way that still keeps a lid on private info. Take pics of your surroundings like Hewson does. Tweet with fans when a show airs that you are in, like Orser does. Even rant online like Forbes does. Like these people or not – but you get a sense of what and who they are. RA, OTOH, remains vague. As it is, his Twitter could be interpreted as rather boring and vain (no insights, only pictures of himself… is that what he wants to be seen as???). *We* may know that he is not like that. But people who are just passing through?
          Anyway, having said all that – I am glad he is taking part in that Equity anniversary drive. Not least because the photo is great!

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    • Yes, more self-promotional – but he finally has a few things that seem promising. I do think a bit of the old humour is back though. I had been feeling it was missing for a while.

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      • oh i feel really bad now, i was going to comment and say the photographer has knocked 10 years off everyone-but i didn’t realise Olivia was only 45. Used to love her in Green Wing

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        • Colman was fantastic both in Nightmanager and The Favourite. (Totally missed the boat on Broadchurch.) And yes, she is not as old as she has been made to look in The Favourite. I very much respect any actor who is willing to look ugly/older unlike what is considered beautiful by today’s standards in their films.

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              • I don’t think she looked that ugly. The real Queen Anne was 37 and had survived 17 pregnancies at that point; her only surviving son had died a couple of years before. Gout is immensely painful, and there are theories that she suffered from an auto-immune disease. I thought Colman looked how someone of that period (in which 37 was really middle aged with life expectancy at birth not being anywhere what it is now) would look after living through all that, but not ugly. Normal, I’d say. She looked normal.

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                • Ugly – is a difficult concept. EDITED: Leaving it at that sentence and also saying that I did not mean to upset anyone with my comment on Olivia Colman and why I admire her, particularly in The Favourite. I fully know that beauty is a construct, too, and that it is all relative and subjective. What I find ugly may not be ugly in your eyes. But by all standards of the audience TODAY, Queen Anne wasn’t exactly pretty. And the film made her look as she might have looked in RL. (Unlike usual Hollywood crap – where everybody is beautiful and thin.) As you said, she was middle-aged, overweight, and mostly looked unhappy. None of it really something that would be considered attractive – TODAY.

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                  • Queen Anne would have had calorie rich foods which only the wealthy could afford, being overweight (as we would consider today to be bad for our well being), was a sign of affluence.

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                  • Beauty is not totally in the eye of the beholder, imo. It’s a somewhat relative concept, but like most value judgments it is not only relative.There are criteria at play that can be debated and defined. Attractiveness is not equal to beauty — people are attractive for many more reasons than their physical appearance, as every wealthy man knows. And plenty of unhappy and fat people are considered beautiful. I just disagree with calling someone who looks like a normal middle aged woman “ugly.”

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                    • I actually agree with what you are saying here. And I don’t want a discussion on “ugly-shaming” or something like that. After all I am sitting in the glasshouse myself. Just to say that in the film it occurred to me that Colman had a difficult role in comparison to the other two lead actors who were allowed to shine in conventionally beautiful terms.

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  7. Great post G, and I agree completely the importance of supporting unions and equity of workers (sorry Mr Thornton) I haven’t belonged to a union since my early working days but saw first hand how they worked tirelessly to protect the rights of me and my coworkers.
    I loooooved this pic of RA. Even posed he just looks so natural and gorgeous. That picture of you is none too shabby either. You happen to have lovely cheekbones btw and absolutely no sign of a malicious croc in sight lol ❤️x

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    • Yep, I am currently not in need of representation as such, but I like to be a member because my membership fees help keep up the service.
      And yes – nice picture, it is. I just can’t believe how young he looks in this. And alive, and somehow happy. (Dare I say he looks better there than in the posed con photos last weekend? I don’t mean that as a dig at the people who posed with him – of which I was one, too. But just to say that I felt his slight uneasiness with the event was reflected in his demeanor?)
      And ha, yes – my slavic cheekbones. Me and Mads Mikkelsen! 😂

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  8. Ich kann dir nur von Herzen zustimmen. Bin selbst auch gewerkschaftlich organisiert und habe im näheren Freundeskreis erlebt, wie überaus hilfreich das sein kann. Der Zusammenhalt ist sehr wichtig.
    Wie erfreulich, dass RA hier Stellung bezieht (und den Vorteil nutzt, mit all den “großen” Namen genannt zu werden). 😉
    Auf dem Foto sieht er richtig gut (erholt) aus und ich wundere mich, was er wohl unter dem Pulli um den Hals trägt? (Ist das bekannt? Hab ich mal wieder was verpasst?)

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    • Ja, es ist das alte Konzept von “zusammen sind wir stark”. Irgendwie hat sich da ja schon fast bei RA der Kreis geschlossen, wenn man bedenkt, dass sogar der fiese Kapitalist Thornton letztlich die Solidarität der Arbeiter unter sich akzeptiert hat 😉
      Über das Lederband habe ich auch schon spekuliert. Gesehen haben wir das ja schon früher auch. Nur was da jetzt dranhängt, das wissen wir nicht… Talisman?

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          • Dachte ich zuerst auch, aber eben beim reinzoomen sieht das äußere “Band” dann plötzlich aus wie so ein Ketterl aus kleinen Kugerln und zwar nicht entlang der Pixel-Grenzen – aber eigentlich ist es ja auch egal ;-P man braucht nicht unbedingt noch eine Ausrede um sich dieses Bild immer und immer wieder anzusehen…

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            • Wow, du hast Recht. Definitiv eine andere Kette. Ich würde sogar sagen, dass das nicht diese Kügelchen sind, sondern richtige Kettenglieder.
              So, und Herr A sieht im Moment gut und happy aus, und macht gerade einen großen Schritt auf seine Fans zu… irgendwie setzt sich da gerade für mich ein Puzzle zusammen… New love????? (würde ich ihm ja wünschen! Ein bisschen private Happiness hat er nach dem schweren Jahr 2018 echt verdient.)

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    • In the past he’s worn three things (that we are aware of) around his neck — a gold disc (around 2006 or so), a Maori charm (in the Hobbit era), and a St Christopher’s medal (during the Crucible). So it could be one of those things or something completely different. What I thought was interesting was that he seems to have two of them on.

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      • Yep – there is a metal chain/necklace, and a leather necklace…
        Could be just me, but in the past I had the impression he was wearing these when he was happy in love… Totally not back-up-able, but anyway…

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        • Und dass er das Geschmeide auf so einem offiziellen (Werbe-) Foto trägt, wo er doch sonst immer recht privat ist… “grübel”
          Mir selbst sind in den letzten Jahren immer nur Armbänder aufgefallen und über diese wurde mir gesagt, dass sie von seinem jungen Schauspielerkollegen aus “Urban & the Shed Crew” stammen würden. Er trägt so etwas aber eher bei Audible Werbefilmchen, in denen er immer so aussieht, als würde er dort grundsätzlich nur Wohlfühlklamotten tragen und von den Aufnahmen in schöner Regelmäßigkeit überrascht werden.
          Hach, ich würde ihm einen romantischen Anlass ja von Herzen gönnen.

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          • Och naja, man sieht es ja nicht so direkt… Wir sehen nur die Ketten/Bänder um den Hals. Und das war ja schon oft der Fall. Trägt er natürlich nie bei der Schauspielarbeit – aber auf verschiedenen Promo-Events ist er ja schon öfter damit rumgelaufen, von SDCC bis Audible.
            Aber mit Audible hast du absolut Recht – da ist er immer in Räuberzivil. Was ich ja auch super sympathisch finde, dass er da nicht adrett und wie aus dem Ei gepellt sitzt, sondern eben gemütlich sein dunkelrotes Sweatshirt anzieht. Und die Schuhe aus – barfuß beim Vorlesen…
            Und ja – bitte gerne ein bisschen Liebe in seinem Leben. Hat er wirklich verdient.

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