Observer » Screen Actors Guild

Guild Prizes Sag Under Harvey's Weight

Daniel D'Addario — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:46:01 -0400

At the weekend's guild prizes, the only surprise was surprise's absence. Those who hoped for a pitched Oscar battle surely groaned when The King's Speech won the Directors Guild of America prize for its director, Tom Hooper (the prize is perhaps the most effective predictor of Oscar's Best Picture category). And the Screen Actors Guild Awards last night went to Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, and Melissa Leo - four for four with the Golden Globes, and with everyone's predictions. (Happily, there was room for surprise in the ceremony itself, as Dicky Ward, whom Bale portrayed in The Fighter, stormed the stage during Bale's speech.)

By the end of the night Sunday, when The King's Speech claimed Best Ensemble (represented only by its three leads, while The Fighter crew brought most of Melissa Leo's crazy daughters), viewers could be forgiven for wanting to tune out until next year's Oscar season. The narrative has become one of redemption - not for England's king but for Harvey Weinstein, The King's Speech producer who was dominant at the Oscars through the 1990s. He just dropped $14 million at Sundance, as David Carr points out in an article on the producer's resurgence -- he's found his voice! -- in this morning's New York Times.

When Harvey was last a player, Oscar ceremonies were full of surprises -- Juliette Binoche, Shakespeare in Love -- often thanks to Weinstein's zealous campaigning for projects that appealed to a certain middlebrow, Eurocentric sensibility. By now, the Weinstein strategy is no longer exciting - it merely makes us eager for next November or so, when, for a few months, at least, the Oscars will actually seem like a contest.

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_

Actors At War: It’s West Coast vs. East Coast in S.A.G. Labor Negotiations

Gillian Reagan — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:58:46 -0400

No, the Screen Actors Guild and the studios still haven't come to an agreement on a new contract, which expired June 30. Now the New York chapter of S.A.G. is getting mighty feisty with their Los Angeles leaders about finding a solution, or else. Yesterday, they sent out a biting statement, stating that S.A.G. leaders are "failing to bargain realistically" with the studios. They're demanding that they seek help from a federal mediator if contract talks don't progress by Aug. 25.

The L.A. Times has more:

"Nothing is happening, and we're no closer to a deal today than we were six weeks ago," the New York members said in a statement, contradicting assertions by SAG Executive Director Doug Allen and President Alan Rosenberg that contract discussions with the studios were ongoing.

"They intend to simply sit still until the upcoming [board] elections are concluded rather than make the 'unpopular' moves necessary to make a deal," the statement said. "The willful inaction of our negotiators is costing our members money, every day."

For his part, president Rosenberg dismissed the statement as a political ploy that would "embolden management with a false belief that SAG actors are split on the issues."

Could SAG’s Election Affect Negotiations With Studios?

Gillian Reagan — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:24:02 -0400

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. 19 and results are expected back soon after the deadline, which is Sept. 18.

But even if the top dogs at S.A.G. get switched around, the members sparring with producers will remain the same, she reports.

Because SAG rules dictate that, regardless of whichever slate is voted in, the guild's negotiating team stays the same and in charge of the talks until the new contract is bargained. So the board may change but not the negotiating team. Besides, the first meeting of the new board elected September 18th isn't until October.

She has more here.

SAG Infighting Stalls Negotiations

Gillian Reagan — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:52:33 -0400

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.

They accuse the current leadership of mishandling labor talks and straining relations with SAG's smaller sister union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, through SAG's failed campaign to scuttle a contract negotiated separately between AFTRA and the studios.

Veteran character actor Ned Vaughn, a Unite for Strength candidate and spokesman for the group, said on Thursday his slate could win a majority on the board with a net gain of five or six seats among the 33 at stake in the Hollywood branch.

"We hope very much to do a lot better than that," he said.

S.A.G. and Producers Spar With Statements

Gillian Reagan — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:30:15 -0400

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.

"A program originally made for ABC.com could be available for re-viewing on ABC.com ... as often as possible and forever with no residuals," Mr. Allen wrote. "The stakes are too high to concede."

The Associated Press has more:

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers fought back with a statement saying they've been making major advancements for the guild, offering to mandate union coverage for online productions that cost less than $15,000 per minute, but only if producers use a union actor.

They also offered residual payments for Internet-only shows that are rebroadcast on pay platforms like iTunes, theatrically or on television. Paid downloads of movies would trigger double the residual rate actors now receive from DVDs.

"Not a single one of these rights exists under the contract that expired on June 30 — a contract that SAG members now must work under because of the failure of SAG negotiators to make a deal," acccording to the statement.

Another Actor's Union Accepts Deal, Puts Pressure on S.A.G.

Gillian Reagan — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:19:56 -0400

The Screen Actors Guild is none too happy with union brethren the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. AFTRA members accepted a three-year contract with Hollywood studios, while S.A.G. is still holding out for a better deal. Not only did the union snub S.A.G.'s demands, they also talked some trash.

The Associated Press tells us that Federation President Roberta Reardon is accusing S.A.G. of unleashing an "unprecedented disinformation campaign" that put the deal in jeopardy.

S.A.G. leaders "must be held accountable for this ridiculous waste of members' dues money, including my own, in attacking another union's contract," Ms. Reardon told reporters Tuesday. "In the face of that kind of attack, the percentage we ratified this by is really good." (63 percent of AFTRA's members approved the new contract).

S.A.G. said AFTRA's deal undermines their own negotiations with producers. Don't hold your breath, they haven't called for a strike authorization vote. But it could come any day now if one of the sides doesn't give in soon.

S.A.G. Seeks More Talks, Strike Talk Continues

Gillian Reagan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:54:22 -0400

Variety reports that Hollywood is still on hold until the Screen Actors Guild and the studios make their decisions.

Meanwhile the magazine reports on an ad aimed at guild members published by S.A.G. in today's Daily Variety: "Our industry does have a clear choice: a fair labor agreement for middle-class actors and their families ... or more management grandstanding. Support your Screen Actors Guild's national negotiating committee as it works every day for a fair deal as soon as possible for actors. Let's keep talking."

Spokesman Jesse Hiestand of The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, which used the "clear choice" headline in a recent ad of its own, responded to the ad thusly, speaking to the Variety reporter: "Now, even after 42 days of formal AMPTP-SAG negotiations, SAG's Hollywood leadership remains incapable of closing the deal. ... The stalling tactics of SAG's Hollywood leadership are exacting an ever-greater toll on the workers and businesses that rely on the entertainment industry."

Studios Prepare for Looming Strike

Gillian Reagan — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:22:08 -0400

Hollywood is preparing for impending doom! The Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers' contract expires on Monday. Studios are packing up their projects and tv shows are scrambling to finish shoots. Although there is no indication that a strike will definitely happen, everyone is bracing for the worst. “I don’t think the writers’ strike was good for anybody,” said Teri Weinberg, an executive vice president at NBC Entertainment who oversees current programming and development.

The New York Times reports:

It remains unclear whether there will be an actors’ strike at all. The first indication is expected around July 8, when members of the smaller of the two major actors’ unions, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, known as Aftra, completes a vote on whether to ratify a new contract with the producers alliance.

Roughly 44,000 of Aftra’s 70,000 members also belong to SAG, which has about 120,000 members. So the Aftra vote is being viewed as a strong indicator of whether SAG members will support a strike. SAG itself has not yet asked its members to authorize a strike in case its negotiations fail.

SAG’s leadership is lobbying Aftra members to reject the contract offer because the larger union says it does not offer enough in minimum wages for major television series roles and does not secure adequate payments for the digital use of actors’ work. SAG is also seeking new rules on product placement and an increase in allowance for gas and travel costs.

The actors’ unions have already provided exemptions to dozens of independent film projects that do not rely on the major studios for financing or distribution, allowing them to continue production in case of a strike.

Coincidentally, an aftereffect of the writers’ strike, which ended in February, is what allowed television producers to begin production earlier than usual this spring on many returning programs, thus putting them in a better position to withstand a possible short walkout by actors.

The Week in DVR: SAG Turns 75, Tila Tequila Fights for Gay Rights?, and Coldplay Does The Daily Show

Joe Pompeo — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:58:05 -0400

MONDAY

Things aren't looking good in Hollywood. A week from today, on June 30, the Screen Actors Guild's contract will expire. And as Variety reported on Friday, it seems increasingly unlikely that a deal with producers will be struck by then. Anyway, time for S.A.G. to celebrate! The labor union turns 75 this year, and Turner Classic Movies will salute its birth with a marathon of classic films from the 30's and 40's—starting at 8 p.m. with the 1932 comedy, Movie Crazy, in which "a stage struck young actor accidentally receives somebody else's invitation to test in Hollywood." From there it moves to 1933's The Kennel Murder Case, a suspense flick about a murder tied to a Long Island dog show (9:45 p.m.), and next, to the 1932 musical The Kid From Spain (11:15 p.m.). But wait, there's more! Boris Karloff in The Mask of Fu Manchu (1 a.m.), Joan Crawford in The Last of Mrs. Cheney (2:15 a.m.) and, if you're really committed, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in For Me and My Gal (4 a.m.). The two-part tribute picks up next Monday, just in time for S.A.G.'s big day.

TUESDAY

Legal historians will probably write books about some of the ground-breaking state supreme court decisions allowing gay marriage in recent years. Of course, when it comes to Californaia, Tila Tequila is the answer.The questionably bisexual former MySpace sensation told Us magazine that her hit MTV reality show, A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila, was a major factor in the California Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn the state's same-sex marriage ban. "It is because of me — I definitely think [my show] has helped the movement," she said. "Before it came out, everyone was still a little apprehensive about [same sex relationships] … Then they realized, 'Wow, everyone is really into this stuff, and it is fine.' The next thing you know, [gay marriage] is legal."

Not sure who Tila Tequila is? Tonight the cast of season two reunites, and attempts to answer that question, probably over a passed bottle of Smirnoff Watermelon Twist. (10 p.m.) P.S. You missed your chance to be there.

WEDNESDAY

Do you like to dive down the occasional educational rabbit-hole on obscure and sometimes almost ostentatiously boring-sounding topics? PBS has your back! Season two of Great Lodges of the National Parks begins tonight. In this episode: the Furnace Creek Inn in Death Valley, Lake Quinault Lodge in the heart of the Pacific Northwest's Olympic National Forest, and Wallowa Lake Lodge in Hawaii's Volcanoes National Park. (8 p.m.) This is as close as PBS comes to HGTV. At 10 p.m., ESPN previews the NBA draft, and at 11, Coldplay does The Daily Show.

THURSDAY

Rob Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses was an unlikely charmer. The washed-up metalhead somehow achieved the delicate balance between over-the-top gore, eerie motifs, comedy/kitsch and genuine fright that makes a horror flick worth watching. As Dave Kehr noted in The New York Times when he reviewed the film (unfavorably) in April of 2003: "Mr. Zombie (yes, it's his legally assumed name) is clearly a scholar of the roadside slash-and-slaughter movies that achieved their apotheosis with Tobe Hooper's 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Exactly! (9 p.m. on IFC) Or you could just subject yourself to the alternately horrifying/edifying comedy stylings of of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List; it's a new episode.(10 p.m. on Bravo)

FRIDAY

Who would have thought a show about a pack of mongooses roaming the South African desert would be such a hit? If you're a fan of those cute, albeit sometimes brutal little critters on Animal Planet's Meerkate Manor, then you'll know exactly what we're talking about when we tell you that on tonight's new episode, Rocket Dog is pregnant, and even though she still has some beef with Sophie, she now has a legitimate claim as the Whiskers' dominant female. (9 p.m.) And is it just us, or does Bravo air Brokeback Mountain every Friday night? (9 p.m.)

Hollywood Bracing for Another Strike?

Joe Pompeo — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:07:27 -0400

Los Angeles “will continue to be preoccupied with the threat of Hollywood shutting down,” according to The New York Times’ Michael Cieply, who brings us an update today on the labor negotiations currently under way between producers and actors’ unions.

Yesterday, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists struck a three-year deal with production companies over reusing performers’ images on the Web. But The Times reports that the more powerful Screen Actors Guild “would not simply accept the same terms as other unions.”

The guild’s talks over a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — which is set to expire at the end of June — stalled this month, but resumed on Wednesday.

The most difficult issue in the talks with the federation surprisingly did not hinge on compensation of artists for work in new media, as during the recent three-month writers’ strike. Instead, it centered on the granting of permission.

Actors have traditionally had the right to approve the use of clips from their work on television. But producers had asked for the ability to use clips on the Web without permission from each actor, arguing that flexibility was needed to counter the widespread piracy of shows on the Internet.

So is another strike imminent? We’ll know by June 30, the date the guild’s contract is set to expire.