Those are interesting observations, Farmer, to which I would add:
Lizz Winnstead's situation is probably different from Al Franken's or Janeane's in that her previous career credits have been not so much as a performer as a writer, director and producer; therefore, she is probably not collecting much in terms of residual payments for previous film and television work. Furthermore, she has indicated on her website:
I have just arrived back in NYC from 2 weeks in Minnesota where the siblings Winstead have successfully moved our 2 parents, 2 walkers, 2 oxygen tanks, 1 scooter, 1 nebulizer, silos of pills and Kleenex into a fab assisted living facility.
So I'm speculating that Lizz probably needed to kick in her share of a considerable expense. (My experience has been that those assisted living facilities cost approx $3500-5000/month). In short, she may simply have needed the cash more immediately than her fellow AAR celebs, and that predicated her decision to stand up to AAR and put the squeeze on them. I also retract any notions that she was fired because of "creative differences", low ratings or any job perfromance-related issues. She probably just faced down mangement, indicated her intent to pursue legal action to collect back pay, and they decided they had nothing to lose by firing her.
I'm also speculating that Sam and Janeane are also owed a lot of back pay, as Farmer indicates, posibly even more than Lizz. Public disclosures have been made that Franken's contract was for at least $1 million. Franken also stated after the financial scandal that resulted in bounced paychecks for AAR employees that he and other celebrities were willing to forego backpay until the network got back on its feet.
Contrary to popular belief, celebrities aren't fools when it comes to money. Most have financial advisors. I would further speculate that Franken and Janeane may well have cut a deal where their back pay will be compensated in terms of stock options or some other capital investment in the company. In fact, once I even heard Sam discussing on the air that he was investigating such options with AAR. This would explain Janeane's need to do other projects to supplement her cash flow, as well as AAR's indulgence in giving her the necessary time off to film movies and television pilots.
In the long term it would also mean that Franken and Janeane would have growing influence with the company and more say in terms of management decisions. This probably also explains why they are holding their tongues in regard to Lizz's firing and other recent management decisions. I also have to concur with Farmer that Lizz's long-term chances of recovering her back wages are fairly optimistic, since eventually her own peers may be in a position to influence the decision. I doubt whether Franken and Janeane would screw over "one of their own".
Finally, this entire scenario goes a long way toward reaffirming the true commitment of the celebrities to this project, since most people in the "real world" would have walked off the job a long time ago under such tenuous financial arrangements.
