SAG says no to majors’ final offer
July 27, 2008
From Variety:
SAG’s national board has unanimously backed its negotiating committee’s stance that the majors’ final offer is unacceptable because it allows non-union work in new-media productions.
The vote, taken at an all-day meeting Saturday, probably means the month-long stalemate between SAG and the congloms will persist for the foreseeable future.
The resolution said, “It is a core principle of Screen Actors Guild — That no non-union work shall be authorized to be done under any Screen Actors Guild agreement and; That all work under a Screen Actors Guild contract, regardless of budget level, shall receive fair compensation when reused.”
Hollywood actors and studios mum after latest meeting
July 19, 2008
From Reuters:
Hollywood studios and the Screen Actors Guild on Wednesday held their third meeting since the studios declared an end to contract negotiations, but the two sides parted company again without any public comment.
The uncertain outcome of the session came as the stalemate between SAG and the studios’ bargaining agent, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, dragged into its third week with no final act in sight.
“A small group from AMPTP and SAG met today. Both parties agreed that the contents of the meeting should be kept private,” the producers alliance said in a terse statement, adding that no further meetings were scheduled.
A corresponding message from SAG likewise said both sides agreed to keep their interaction confidential, adding only that the meeting lasted for two hours.
The contract at issue covers the work of 120,000 SAG members in prime-time TV and movies, an industry still reeling from a 14-week screenwriters strike that ended in February. A strike by the actors is widely seen as unlikely, for now.
The old SAG contract expired hours after the studios presented the union with their “final” offer as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition on June 30.
The parties met again on July 2 for what they described as a question-and-answer session about the studios’ 43-page proposal, which management says is worth more than $250 million in additional compensation to actors over three years.
Cut! Actors’ strike threatens to bring Hollywood to a standstill
June 24, 2008
To have one trade union paralyse Hollywood was strange; two doing it in quick succession feels like carelessness. A threatened walkout by actors, which could begin as early as next week, is throwing major film and television studios into chaos.
The contract dispute, this time between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and their white-collar bosses, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), is causing what industry experts have called a “virtual strike”.
Production deadlines for dozens of major projects have been scrapped amid growing signs that the SAG, which has 120,000 members, will fail to resolve its dispute before a deadline for industrial action on Tuesday next week.
Most major film shoots are now either being put on hold, or wrapping-up early to avoid disruption.
“No one is doing anything that finishes after 30 June, and nobody’s starting anything now,” one lawyer representing actors told The Hollywood Reporter. “This is the impact of a strike already.”
Victims of the crisis include Sir Ridley Scott, who has delayed filming his Robin Hood remake, Nottingham, until late summer. Martin Scorsese, Peter Jackson and Steven Soderbergh are meanwhile rushing to finish their current projects by 1 July. Those films are Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, The Lovely Bones and The Informant.
- from UK
Hollywood actors and studios clash over Internet clips
May 13, 2008
Getting Hollywood actors paid for their smallest performances — video clips on the Internet — is shaping up as one their biggest sticking points in stalemated contract negotiations with major studios.
Whether actors must give consent for snippets of their film and TV work to be displayed online, and how much they should earn for them, was the No. 1 disputed issue cited by the Screen Actors Guild after labor talks broke down last Tuesday.
Studios want to freely distribute YouTube-style clips of old TV shows and movies without seeking actors’ permission and pay them a flat fee rather than bargain on a price with each performer individually.
The actors’ union staunchly opposes that move.
- From Reuters
Hollywood on Strike 2.0?
May 7, 2008
Major studios and the Screen Actors Guild broke off three weeks of contract talks without agreement on Tuesday, stoking fears of renewed Hollywood labor unrest after a 100-day writers strike that ended in February. News of the stalemate came in a statement from the studios’ bargaining agent, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), about 90 minutes after a self-imposed deadline for reaching a settlement had passed. The AMPTP statement blamed “SAG’s continued adherence to unreasonable demands,” citing the union proposals to increase the “residual” payments actors earn for DVD sale. - From Reuters
Hollywood actors and studios extend labor talks again
May 3, 2008
The Screen Actors Guild and major Hollywood studios said on Friday they had agreed to extend their contract talks again, this time on a day-by-day basis, with the aim of closing a deal by next Tuesday.
The announcement, coming as the parties neared a previous self-imposed deadline, revived hopes they could avoid renewed labor unrest in an entertainment industry still recovering from a 100-day screenwriters strike that ended in February.
The current three-year SAG contract covering 120,000 film and TV actors expires on June 30. But the union is under strong pressure to reach an early settlement in order to dispel strike jitters that continue to disrupt the film industry.
Via Reuters
Let the talks begin, Hollywood actors VS studios
April 3, 2008
Hollywood’s main actors’ union said on Tuesday it would begin talks on a new labor contract with the studios on April 15, setting the scene for a cliffhanger that could once again paralyze the movie and television industries. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG), which represents about 120,000 members, will negotiate a new three-year pact with the bargaining arm of the studios, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Seven weeks after screenwriters ended a 100-day walkout that crippled film and television production, the industry remains in the throes of a “de facto strike” because nervous filmmakers have postponed or ditched projects that could be affected if actors do not reach a deal by the contract’s June 30 expiration date.
Via Reuters