Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers
Could SAG's Election Affect Negotiations With Studios?
Nope! The Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers will continue to slug it out over a new contract, whether or not top board members change in an upcoming S.A.G. election.
On Tuesday, S.A.G. will be releasing an official list of candidates for new national board members and alternatives. About one-third of the total 69 national board seats are open for election this year. The New York division alone is electing five national board members and six alternatives, according to Nikki Finke, writing on her Deadline Hollywood Daily blog. Hollywood and New York division ballots will be mailed out on Aug. read more »
SAG Infighting Stalls Negotiations
Insurrectionists in the Screen Actors Guild! It seems a group of Hollywood actors are uniting against the guild leadership in an attempt to pry the reins from the current leadership.
Calling themselves Unite for Strength, they've launched a campaign and nominated 31 candidates to head up the governing board that is making contract negotiations with major Hollywood studios, according to Reuters.
The emergence of a serious challenge to SAG's ruling coalition, a Hollywood-based group of moderates known as Membership First, likely means that the 3 1/2-week-old standoff between the union and studios will drag on for at least two more months.
Candidates running on the Unite for Strength slate include two stars from TV's "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff "Private Practice" -- Kate Walsh and Amy Brenneman -- as well as Doug Savant from "Desperate Housewives" and "Chicago Hope" veteran Adam Arkin. read more »
S.A.G. and Producers Spar With Statements
The Screen Actors Guild and the big studios continue their cat fight over contract deals through letters and statements.
The Screen Actors Guild sent out a memo yesterday outlining exactly why they rejected the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers' final contract offer, citing stinginess in pay and union jurisdiction for online productions.
Doug Allen, the guild's executive director, wrote in a letter to S.A.G. members that the offer would allow nonunion actors into "almost all new media productions for the foreseeable future," according to the Associated Press. He also claimed the offer left out residual fees paid to actors for content that is made specifically for the internet. read more »
Studios, Directors Begin Informal Contract Talks
The Directors Guild of America has begun informal contract talks with producers, raising stakes in the WGA strike. Sources said it appears the informal talks could last well into next week. But once the informal phase is over, formal negotiations will start almost immediately and an official announcement will be made. New-media residuals -- or how writers should be compensated when their work is reused over the Internet or mobile platforms -- represent the central issue in the WGA's showdown with studios. read more »
