Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

The news seems to be rolling in a little at a time, something tells me that that this is going to be something to watch.

Film workers protest against strike at SAG meeting
A dozen film industry workers protested outside a town hall meeting of the Screen Actors Guild last night, pleading with actors not to authorize a strike that would bring the entertainment business to a halt.
The workers held up signs saying "Please No Strike Now - The Crew" in the rain outside the complex housing the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards.
The group of protesters, location scouts, technicians and camera-equipment vendors said work has dried up since the actors' contract expired in June because studios have delayed making movies for fear of a damaging walkout.

MSNBC: The ABCs of a possible SAG strike - ‘American Idol’ won't be halted, but ‘Housewives’ and ‘CSI’ may be. <SNIP> What shows would be affected by the strike?
So a strike won’t halt such videotaped or live programs as “American Idol,” “Deal or No Deal,” 60 Minutes,” “The Daily Show” and NFL football.
But filmed productions that include Top 20 series like “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Desperate Housewives” and “House” would be affected — to a point. Viewers can be thankful that the studios learned from last year’s strike and accelerated production schedules. Many primetime series already have between 75 and 90 percent of their season wrapped up.
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

It's ridiculous for any union to even comprehend a strike in these economic times!

Alan Rosenberg is out of touch!
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

:lol: This just gets better and better, or wierder and wierder.

TVGuide: SAG Strike Vote Delayed Over Divisions
The Screen Actors Guild will delay its strike authorization vote by two weeks as the organization's leadership tries to contain growing dissent in the union. - The guild had planned to send out ballots Jan. 2 and to tabulate them by Jan. 23. But it now plans to delay sending out ballots until after an emergency meeting to be held Jan. 12 and 13, SAG national executive director Doug Allen announced late Monday. - Allen said he and SAG president Alan Rosenberg had agreed to delay the vote to "address the unfortunate division and restore consensus."

VARIETY EDITOR BLASTS SAG STRIKE STRATEGY
In a lengthy commentary featured in today's (Wednesday) issue of Daily Variety and headed "SAG should face the facts Guild needs to find exit strategy," Deputy Editor Cynthia Littleton suggests that the union's bargaining strategy has already cost its members dearly. She asks, "How can SAG leaders justify to members why [actors] working under AFTRA deals have been collecting higher minimums and new media residuals for nearly six months while SAG holds out for different terms [than] those agreed to by AFTRA, the DGA and the WGA, after a 100-day strike?" She goes on to argue that the union's leadership has failed to take into account the "historic transformation" being brought about by new media, particularly the Internet. "Everything in television is in flux and will be regardless of whether SAG has a contract or not." She concludes "Rather than trying to build consensus on a doomed negotiations strategy, SAG's leaders should be looking for a graceful way out."
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

Union Update: SAG Delays Strike Authorization
Instead, the guild, whose contract talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have been stalled for six months, will hold a face-to-face national board meeting Jan. 12 and 13, with strike authorization balloting scheduled for the following three weeks. (Click link above for more).

SAG: No Good Reason to Strike
There's turmoil planned for the upcoming Jan. 12-13 SAG National Board meeting, reports the LA Times. SAG's National Executive Director Doug Allen and the current negotiating committee may find themselves bounced out unceremoniously by the moderates--or they may not. The strike authorization vote, postponed from its original Jan. 2 mailing date, may get canceled altogether--or it might not. (Click link above for more).
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

Well we have some more news for what it is worth.

LATimes: Screen Actors Guild close to booting chief negotiator Doug Allen
Members of the 'moderate' faction of the board say Allen mishandled contract talks with the studios and deepened divisions within the union. His backers work to block a vote on his ouster.

Board members of Hollywood's biggest union moved closer Monday night to ousting the guild's chief negotiator in a revolt against his handling of contract talks with the studios and impatience over bargaining strategy in the face of a worsening economy.

A coalition of Screen Actors Guild board members introduced a resolution calling for Doug Allen, the guild's executive director and chief negotiator, to be fired. The move was the latest sign of turmoil in a union that has a history of internal strife and warring among its members.

Variety: SAG's Doug Allen out as negotiator
Board taking steps to table strike vote.
A badly split SAG national board has removed national exec director Doug Allen as the guild's lead negotiator, according to a prominent board member.
Seymour Cassel said Allen had been ousted Monday, while SAG spokeswoman Pamela Greenwalt disputed that assertion and insisted no vote had taken place. Meanwhile, the board — which began an emergency meeting at 9 a.m. Monday — continued meeting into the early hours of Tuesday.

For more on each story see the links provided.
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

i'm so glad we got past that first WGA strike and came out the other end okaay :cardie:
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

Well here is a little bit of good news...

SAG Abandons Plan for Strike Vote

The Screen Actors Guild has decided not to even give members a chance to authorize an actors' strike.

In suspending their plans for a vote, which had already been postponed after originally being scheduled for Jan. 2, a SAG rep said that the vote was unlikely to garner the 75 percent support needed to even consider staging a walkout.

Actors union loses support for strike vote
The Screen Actors Guild has lost the support of a majority of its board to proceed with a strike vote after a hardline faction within the union and the guild's president on Thursday backed a plan to suspend the vote.

A group of Hollywood actors, led by guild president Alan Rosenberg, said Thursday it is also recommending sending the movie studios' final three-year contract offer directly to its 120,000 members for a vote.

These are just snips for more on the articles click the links provided. ;)
 
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Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

Mr Allen has left the building lol.

Hollywood actors union ousts chief negotiator <Snips>
Union moderates fighting for control of the deeply splintered Screen Actors Guild on Monday ousted the hard-line chief negotiator they blame for months of stalled contract talks with Hollywood studios.
The removal of Doug Allen as both SAG's national executive director and head of its bargaining team capped a turbulent period for the union that raised prospects of a strike, then saw power shift away from militant leaders as their stalemate with studios dragged on and the U.S. economy worsened.
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Allen's dismissal was carried out by way of a "written assent," a seldom-used procedure that enables a majority of SAG's national directors to take action outside the boardroom. SAG's moderate faction, known as Unite For Strength, tried to oust Allen and the rest of his bargaining team during a contentious, 30-hour meeting two weeks ago. But they were thwarted in parliamentary maneuvering by the union's more militant board members, led by SAG President Alan Rosenberg.

Rosenberg, who has steadfastly supported Allen, was quoted by Hollywood trade publication Daily Variety on Monday as saying: "This is the darkest day within my memory. It kills democracy at SAG." In a statement issued hours later, SAG said the board's latest actions, including termination of Allen, were effective immediately. Replacing Allen as chief negotiator is John McGuire, a longtime senior adviser to the union who has been instrumental in settling dozens of SAG contracts. Lawyer David White, who has served as SAG general counsel for several years, succeeds Allen as executive director on an interim basis. The board also dissolved the negotiating committee and appointed a smaller "task force" to seek a final deal with the studios.

Hollywood labor experts said Allen's dismissal would likely hasten a breakthrough in the months-long stalemate. He and Rosenberg had long held fast to their Internet demands, insisting they needed a credible strike threat to get a better deal, even as the studios refused to budge.

For more on this click link provided.
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

Talk about desperate, Rosenberg tried to sue his own union to get Doug Allen back as their negotator, which in the process would have halted the negotations that are going on, he as well filed a restraining order to get said talks stopped and that didn't work.

ALAN ROSENBERG - ROSENBERG WANTS FIRED ALLEN BACK AT SAG
Judge denies bid to halt Hollywood contract talks
SAG, studios to hold two days of talks
Rosenberg's Appeal Denied

The basic's from each story is this, A California appeals court on Friday denied an attempt by the president of the largest U.S. actors union to block upcoming contract negotiations with Hollywood's major studios.
Alan Rosenberg, president of the Screen Actors Guild, earlier this month sought a court-ordered injunction to block a new SAG negotiating task force -- put in place by the union's national governing board -- from resuming long-stalled labor talks with Hollywood's major studios.

For more click each link provided above.
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

According to an article from this morning the Screen Actors Guild has rejected the producers final offer :scream: come on guys in this day and age you should be thankful you have a job. Accept what is being offered and lets get on with the business of entertaining fans.

SAG rejects 'final offer'
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

Look, finally! Link to article

Actors, Hollywood studios reach deal, avert strike
By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hollywood studios and the largest U.S. acting union said on Friday they had reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, ending an acrimonious nine-month deadlock and averting a possible film and TV industry strike.

In a joint announcement, the Screen Actors Guild, which has 120,000 members in film and prime time television, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the major movie studios, gave no details of the agreement.

They said it would go before SAG's national board of directors for review on Sunday. If approved, it would then be put to the union's rank-and-file members for ratification.

The tentative deal would replace a contract which expired on June 30, 2008. Hollywood productions have slowed in recent months amid the labor stalemate.

One of the main sticking points in the last nine months has been compensation for work delivered by new media, including over the Internet and mobile phones which are seen as the main distribution pipeline for visual entertainment in the future.

The lengthy talks split the SAG membership, and moderates ousted hardliners from the negotiating task force earlier this year.

Film and television production was crippled in late 2007 and early 2008 by a five-month strike by Hollywood screenwriters that cost the Los Angeles economy an estimated $3 billion.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

Finally some good news for a change. If it is passed then everyone can breathe a sigh of relief until the next go round :rolleyes: Thanks Dizzney for the link :)
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

Can we say "we have a deal"....
SAG Votes Overwhelming "Yea" on New Contract

Oh, those showbiz folk. Such divas, always running late.
Nearly a year after their previous deal expired, members of the Screen Actors Guild voted 78 percent in favor of approving a new two-year contract, effective June 10 at 12:01 a.m., covering film, TV, digital and new media projects.

Approximately 35.3 percent of SAG's 110,000 members mailed in a ballot.
SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers hammered out a tentative deal in April, as SAG's leadership—which believed it was getting screwed over financially in multiple ways—finally took a cue from its increasingly disgruntled membership and opted to put the terms to a vote.

"This is a great decision for SAG and I'm so appreciative of everything the new leadership is doing to put the Guild back on track," Monk star Tony Shalhoub said in approval. "They've obviously got the right ideas for making SAG stronger."

As when the Writers Guild of America went to battle with the AMPTP, SAG's major sticking point was new-media residuals and protection for actors as their projects go digital.

"The membership has spoken and has decided to work under the terms of this contract that many of us, who have been involved in these negotiations from the beginning, believe to be devastatingly unsatisfactory," SAG president Alan Rosenberg said in a statement.

"Tomorrow morning I will be contacting the elected leadership of the other talent unions with the hope of beginning a series of pre-negotiation summit meetings in preparation for 2011. I call upon all SAG members to begin to ready themselves for the battle ahead."

Oh, boy.

The new contract contains $105 million in wage increases for union members, though, per studio estimates, actors have also lost out on about $80 million in raises by working under the terms of the old deal—which expired June 30, 2008—for the past 11 months.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

Writers Strike Could Cost Actors Jobs
 
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Re: Directors/Writers/SAG Contracts & The Effects

Given that this hasn't been posted in, in a while, I am thinking of untacking it for now, should this subject arise again we can always put it back up. ;)
 
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