Posts tagged Hollywood
Hollywood actors’ union SAG-AFTRA votes to strike. ‘We are the victims here.’
July 14, 2023 // The studios said the union walked away from an offer that included “historic” increases in pay and residuals, as well as a “groundbreaking” proposal for AI protections. The group said its offer included a requirement for a performer’s consent for the creation and use of digital replicas or for digital alterations of a performance.
Hollywood studios racing to avoid actors’ strike at midnight
July 12, 2023 //
SAG-AFTRA and Producers Agree to Two-Week Contract Extension for Continued Negotiations
July 5, 2023 // “While it seems like a lot of SAG members want to join the WGA, at the end of the day, most want to continue to work,” Theresa Stevenson, an arbitrator in Michigan who has helped settled union disputes and strikes in the past, told the Globe. “While this does affect A-list stars, it also affects so many more smaller actors and bit parts and commercial work and so many others. The majority with the SAG card simply can’t afford a strike and just want to work to live or, in some cases, have supplementary income.” “SAG knows this, and that’s why negotiations are continuing. Most members really do just want a deal and don’t want to dig in for a strike lasting months like the WGA. They go on strike, then LA and other big acting towns are going to see a flood of new applicants going on the job market for temp or part-time work, and that means economic disruption, especially when, after the theoretical strike is over, they all pull out. We see this happen in many entertainment and non-entertainment related strikes, and LA and California really doesn’t need more economic uncertainty right now.”
Hollywood’s actors may join its writers on strike. Here’s why
July 3, 2023 // The contract between the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists and the studios, streaming services and production companies that employ them had been set to expire Friday night at midnight Pacific time. But hours before that the two sides said they had agreed to extend the current contract, and talks on the next one, through July 12. Unionized actors have voted overwhelmingly to authorize their leaders to call a strike if no deal is reached. Talks also went past the deadline in 2014 and 2017, and agreements resulted both times. Reports have said the talks have been productive. But some actors have expressed worry that their leaders may not be pushing hard enough. More than 1,000 of them, including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and Bob Odenkirk, have added their names to a letter to negotiators saying they are willing to strike, and are concerned they are “ready to make sacrifices that leadership is not.” The letter says "this is not a moment to meet in the middle.” The guild, led by president and former “Nanny” star Fran Drescher, represents over 160,000 screen actors, stunt performers, broadcast journalists, announcers, and hosts, but a strike would involve only actors working on television shows and films.
Teamsters Union Allocates $2M to Aid Members During Writers Strike
June 29, 2023 // https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/teamsters-financial-aid-writers-strike-2m-1235524076/#:~:text=Many%20members%20of,activities%20at%20studios.
“They’re Scared”: 5,000-Plus Demonstrators Rally in L.A. to Support Writers Strike, Pressure Studios
June 23, 2023 // The event ended with some sharp words from Dougherty, the Teamsters Local 399 leader whose profile has skyrocketed during the strike due to her unwavering support of the writers and the fact that many of her members have refused to cross their picket lines. “The studios and the tech companies wanted to push you guys down and try and break you. But guess what? We’re not gonna let that happen. None of us. No fucking way.” Pointing to the La Brea Tar Pits museum, she called the setting for the rally “fitting,” as it showcases some extinct species and, “I think what we need to do with the AMPTP is make them fucking extinct.”
Hollywood’s hot strike summer
June 13, 2023 // SAG-AFTRA members overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike of its own should it not reach a deal by the end of the month. "We are collaborating together more than we ever had in the past," Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, executive director for SAG-AFTRA, tells Axios. "There are a lot of issues we have in common — and even on issues where we don't — we want to support each other." G/O Media, Ziff Davis, Wirecutter, the Miami Herald, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Palm Springs Desert Sun, the Washington Post, NBC News and others have engaged in strikes or walkouts. Unions at the New Yorker, Vox Media and Wired threatened strikes but ultimately resolved their disputes with management.
Local labor unions show their solidarity during writers strike
June 12, 2023 // Local labor unions, in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America, gathered in front of the production studio that's under construction at the corner of Niagara and West Ferry. Organizers say there are no stories to tell without writers. "The potential has always been here, and now with the realization of places like this, and the idea that local crews are available and things of that nature, millions upon millions of dollars can come into the area," Writers Guild screenwriter Jeff Wilbur told 2 On Your Side.
Hollywood directors reach labor pact, writers remain on strike
June 5, 2023 //
Predawn Picket Lines Help Writers Disrupt Studio Productions
May 30, 2023 // But production shutdowns are affecting not only the studios. Crews and other workers — like drivers, set designers, caterers — lose paychecks. And if the shutdowns accumulate and more people are unable to work, some wonder whether the writers will begin to erode the current good will from other workers. Lindsay Dougherty is the lead organizer of Local 399, the Teamsters’ Los Angeles division, which represents more than 6,000 movie workers, from the truck drivers the writers are trying to turn away to casting directors, location managers and animal trainers. A second-generation Teamster, Ms. Dougherty is one of the union’s few female leaders. Her copious tattoos, including one of the former Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa, and her frequently profane speech have made her a bit of a celebrity to the writers during the strike. And she said the solidarity with the writers remained strong. “I think collectively, we’re all on the same page in that streaming has dramatically changed the industry,” Ms. Dougherty said in an interview. “And these tech companies that we’re bargaining with, during the last writers’ strike — Amazon, Apple, Netflix — they weren’t even part of the conversation.”