September 30, 2008 by admin.

The Allens apparently recognize that they’re running out of bullets. Tonight they released a statement saying they’re “disappointed” that the AMPTP rejected their “reasonable request” to return to the bargaining table, and saying the Negotiating Committee will meet later this week to discuss the rejection - which really can’t be much of a surpise.The Negotiating Committee, which is still overwhelmingly Membership First, will likely request that the National Board authorize a strike authorization vote. The new National Board meets in two weeks - and, of course, Membership First no longer has a majority there.The strike authorization requires a 75% margin of those voting to pass - but only a majority of the National Board to send it out. Getting the 50% may be tough, but do-able. But 75% looks like a long shot right now.The Allens seem to be banking on some negative reaction to the studios refusing to go back to the table, even after the Allens hinted they’d back off a few more demands. The studios seem to be banking on everyone getting that “last, best and final” means what it says.Fasten your seatbelts. Here we go again…By the way, Andrew Salomon at BlogStage seems to see it the same way…and adds some interesting, if anonymous, quotes about the plan.

“Several more steps would have to happen before a work stoppage would take effect, but one national board member said the fact that guild leaders would consider a strike while the national economy is foundering shows the desperate shape they are in after four and a half months of negotiations, which have yet to produce a deal.“The only people that seem to be oblivious to the condition of the United States of America right now and the financial situation that we’re in are Doug Allen, Alan Rosenberg, and Membership First,” said the source. “The idea that we would be going on strike now is absurd in Fellini proportions.” 

Posted in Exhibit A - TV Theatrical | Print | 21 Comments »

September 29, 2008 by Editor.

It took a couple of hours, but, as we predicted, the AMPTP’s response to the let’s talk letter from the Allens has been leaked first, then sent. At least they didn’t reduce the offer on the table.

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September 29, 2008

Dear Alan and Doug:

This is in response to your letter dated September 29, 2008 to Peter Chernin, Robert Iger and me. Your letter indicates that the Screen Actors Guild is not prepared to change its position on any of the threshold issues in our negotiations. The Guild’s position remains unchanged since we last met on July 16, 2008. Further, in addition to new media, there are a number of significant issues which, in and of themselves, prevent the parties from reaching agreement.

Our Final Offer to the Screen Actors Guild is comparable to our agreements with the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and AFTRA. Our Final Offer memorializes a set of compromises, including in the area of new media, worked out with other Guilds and Unions and particularly addresses actor specific issues raised during the Screen Actors Guild negotiations.

We do not believe that it would be productive to resume negotiations at this time given SAG’s continued insistence on terms which the Companies have repeatedly rejected.

In light of the unprecedented economic difficulties facing our industry and the nation, the Companies continue to hope that the Guild’s leadership will recognize the five major labor agreements that have already been concluded this year and will accept our Final Offer while it remains on the table.

We want to reemphasize that we value greatly our industry’s talent - the directors, writers, actors, and below-the-line people who create entertainment products for audiences around the world - and hope that our Final Offer can serve as the basis of an agreement.

Sincerely,
J. Nicholas Counter III

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Reaction:  Variety notes a “softening” of SAG’s position. The Hollywood Reporter points out that the letter comes after the Allens claimed to be having back channel negotiations. Jonathan Handel finds interesting the sentence in the Allens’ letter, “”If your intransigence continues, however, our choices become harder and fewer,” but says, “Whether SAG actually has any leverage to back up those words is unclear.”

Posted in Exhibit A - TV Theatrical | Print | 18 Comments »

September 29, 2008 by WW.

The following letter went out today to the AMPTP and two CEOs, as the Allens try to get the producers to go back to the table on TV-Theatrical, even though they’ve clearly said the offer on the table is last best and final.

Our analysis: the letter, posted as it was being sent, is an admission that a strike authorization vote isn’t going to happen, presumably because the Allens know it will fail. This is not news to the AMPTP, and unless they’re feeling uncharactaristically generous, the letter will be greated with hilarity and nothing else.

Expect a quick “sign the deal or rot” from the AMPTP. We’re checking their site now to see if it’s posted already….nope, not yet.

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September 29, 2008

J. Nicholas Counter III
President
Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers
15301 Ventura Blvd.
Bldg. E
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5885

Peter Chernin
President
Fox Group
10201 W. Pico Blvd
Building 100 - Room 5080
Los Angeles, CA 90035

Robert Iger
President and CEO
The Walt Disney Company
500 S Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-6369

Dear Gentlemen:

We believe it is clear that our members would fail to ratify your proposal of June 30, 2008. It would serve no productive purpose, therefore, to send our membership a proposal that SAG’s National Negotiating Committee and National Board have rejected and that our membership would not ratify.

It is our fervent hope that this news will encourage you and your colleagues to reengage in formal bargaining, with the exchange of proposals and compromise by both sides necessary to reach an agreement.

Our discussions with you and many of your colleagues since formal talks ended have educated both of our teams about our respective priorities and flexibilities. As we have said to SAG members, if we can reach agreement on three threshold issues, we believe we can finish these negotiations. One issue you brought to the table: force majeure protection for actors held by contract to a suspended production. Two issues we have identified as core principles: coverage for all new media productions (including those below $15,000/minute) and residuals for made-for new media productions re-used on new media. Other issues divide us, certainly, but we believe those other issues can be successfully addressed once we have resolved these three threshold issues. We have approached these contract negotiations reasonably and with a realistic and informed view of the state of the industry.

We are prepared to meet formally and continuously until we reach agreement. We owe it to our constituencies and the thousands of others in this industry that depend on a productive, stable and uninterrupted relationship between Screen Actors Guild and the networks and studios.

The alternative to reaching an agreement as soon as possible is unnecessary and destructive uncertainty. If your intransigence continues, however, our choices become harder and fewer. We would prefer the more complicated and productive choices that compromise will make necessary. But we can’t make those choices that lead to agreement working alone.

What do you say; when can our committees meet face-to-face?

Sincerely,

Alan Rosenberg
National President

Doug Allen
National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

Posted in Exhibit A - TV Theatrical | Print | 12 Comments »

September 29, 2008 by Editor.

Wall Street’s meltdown is very public, with a half dozen bailouts on the way. Our morning reading has us worried about a similar meltdown in the financial side of the entertainment industry.Stories, in very different media, all say the trend towards content distribution via the net is unstoppable and increasing in velocity. This has major implications for the way we get paid - or even if we get paid.BluRay, touted as the hot wave of the future, is given a five year lifespan and described as the last-ever physical media. The reason? Sites like Surfthechannel.com, which link to overseas pirate sites from which thousands of theatricals and television shows stream on demand (though you may have to put up with some Chinese watermarks).The music industry is described as caving in to streaming, hoping (insanely, we think) that technology won’t rapidly allow theft of all the content it will release for free via MySpace. What, like they haven’t heard of streamrippers?So - here’s our disconcerting question. If everything is either stolen or given away free, where does the money come from to pay for content creation?We found these stories via our favorite technology blog, Digital Meteor. 

Posted in Media Business | Print | 11 Comments »

September 28, 2008 by Editor.

In Canada, negotiations on a new commercials contract aren’t going well. After a year and a half of negotiations, ACTRA has rejected industry’s latest proposal, which the union says would mean sharply reduced compensation to actors, and they’re holding a strike authorization vote.

A big stumbling block, no surprise, is new media.

Here’s ACTRA’s statement. 

If you’re at all involved in commercials, we’d urge you to attend one of the jointly hosted meetings coming up in October.

Posted in Commercials Contract | Print | 13 Comments »

September 27, 2008 by WW.

We’re saddened to tell you that Paul Newman has passed away at age 83.  The New York Times described Newman as “a likable renegade, a strikingly handsome figure of animal high spirits and blue-eyed candor whose magnetism was almost impossible to resist, whether the character was Hud, Cool Hand Luke or Butch Cassidy.” 

He got his break from a tragedy, the death of James Dean. In 1956, Dean had been cast as boxer Rocky Graziano in “Somebody Up There Likes Me.”  Newman became the second choice, and his portrayal rocketed him to stardom. His last film on camera was “Road to Perdition” in 2002; two years ago he was the voice of the old champion race car “Doc” in the animated feature “Cars,” capping a six-decade long run on the big screen.

Almost by accident Newman became a philanthropist. In 1982 he decided to bottle and sell some of the salad dressing he’d made for friends. The result was Newman’s Own, a brand that expanded to everything from popcorn to spaghetti sauce, and which has donated all of its profits, estimated at $200 million, to charity.

Despite his great and obvious talent, Newman retained a bit of the actor’s insecurity, famously telling an interviewer that his epitaph could one day be, “Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown.”

Newman had battled with cancer, and, sadly, today his family announced that the battle is over.

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

September 26, 2008 by Editor.

We told you yesterday about the jointly hosted meetings for members of SAG and AFTRA to hear about the Booz Allen study on the Commercials Contract.

Variety promptly read into that a “strong signal” that SAG and AFTRA would return to Phase 1.  Andrew Salomon on Blogstage is more cautious. 

Here’s our take. Variety’s way ahead of reality.

Remember, Phase 1’s full name is Phase 1 to Merger.  Unite for Strength, which supports merger, may have won a convincing victory in ending Membership First’s majority on the SAG National Board, but it’s a long way from there to convincing a very skeptical AFTRA leadership that SAG has been stabilized - especially with the Allens still running the mother ship.

What we expect is joint negotiations on the Commericals Contract, using the Phase 1 rules. We’d put odds on that at better than 50-50 - we’ll know more after the October meetings of both unions’ national boards.

Such a joint negotiation could be a test for both unions as to whether the new order in SAG is enough to bring real progress towards normalization of relations between SAG and AFTRA.

But actual Phase 1? That still seems very far off. This one election wasn’t nearly enough to fix the problems.

Posted in Commercials Contract, SAG Politics, SAG-AFTRA | Print | 20 Comments »

September 26, 2008 by Editor.

What, like there’s peace in the valley all of a sudden? Oh, wait…it’s New York, where there IS peace in the valley.

Posted in SAG-AFTRA | Print | No Comments »

September 25, 2008 by admin.

This came in from someone who tracks MediaPost… it was written by their Editor in Chief, Joe Mandese… it’s not good news heading into the negotiations…

Posted in Commercials Contract, Media Business | Print | 5 Comments »

September 25, 2008 by Editor.

It’s not an announcement of a full joint negotiation, but it looks like a start in the right direction.  Notices from both SAG and AFTRA hit our mailboxes within minutes.

Here’s Variety’s interpretation.  

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IMPORTANT NOTICE

JOINT SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AND AFTRA MEMBERSHIP EDUCATIONAL MEETINGS

REGARDING THE BOOZ ALLEN STUDY ON THE COMMERCIALS CONTRACT TO BE HELD IN ADVANCE OF THE START OF COMMERCIALS NEGOTIATIONS PREPARATION

All paid-up SCREEN ACTORS GUILD and AFTRA members in good standing with their Unions are urged to attend these important Membership Educational Meetings..These meetings will provide the members of both Unions the opportunity to hear the results of the Booz Allen Study that was undertaken by SAG/AFTRA and the JPC. A group discussion will follow the presentation affording the staffs of both unions to hear directly the membership’s response to the studies findings.Please note that these meetings are in advance of our Wages and Working Conditions process and will in no way replace the process by which we develop proposals. The W&W meetings will occur in November/December after members have had a chance to learn about the study results.

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JOINT AFTRA AND SAG MEMBERSHIP EDUCATIONAL MEETINGS REGARDING THE BOOZ ALLEN STUDY ON THE COMMERCIALS CONTRACT TO BE HELD IN ADVANCE OF THE START OF COMMERCIALS NEGOTIATIONS PREPARATION

All paid-up AFTRA and SAG members in good standing with their Unions are urged to attend these important Membership Educational Meetings.These meetings will provide the members of both Unions the opportunity to hear the results of the Booz Allen Study that was undertaken by AFTRA/SAG and the JPC. A group discussion will follow the presentation affording the staffs of both unions to hear directly the membership’s response to the studies findings. Please note that these meetings are in advance of our Wages and Working Conditions process and will in no way replace the process by which we develop proposals. The W&W meetings will occur in Nov/Dec after members have had a chance to learn about the study results.

This is your chance to participate in the future of this contract. Come early and bring your paid up membership card.Performers who do not live in, but who find themselves in these cities at the time of these meetings are welcome to attend. 

Posted in Commercials Contract, SAG-AFTRA | Print | 2 Comments »