SAG and AMPTP settle…bad contract but at least we get to vote on it now…it will pass… Is this the contract we want and need? No. However, after a year of on and off negotiations, this is the contract we’re stuck with and, given the overall economic climate, this contract will pass. At least we [...]

Why The Smoke & Mirrors, SAG & AMPTP? I don’t see why the SAG National Majority and their pals, the Big Media labor lawyers, are needing to waste more than an hour in talks since all they’re doing is Xeroxing AFTRA’s TV/Theatrical Contract. These past two days have consisted of nothing more than playing at [...]

After the ouster of the Rosenberg-Allen negotiating team the process of HOPEFULLY settling the contract stalemate has begun. Below are links to some of the coverage of the current negotiations: SAGWatch BLOG From Digital Media Law: SAG and the AMPTP ended their second day of talks at about 10:00 p.m. this evening (Weds.), but will [...]

Self-described ‘working class actor’ John Cygan offers his take on the deal that AFTRA signed and why SAG should not agree to that same deal. What do you think?

As 2008 draws to a close with no contract between SAG and the AMPTP, the animosity between factions within SAG has only become more vitriolic. What is the best course of action? Accept a truly lousy contract now and hope to undo the damage in three years? Or reject the contract and take a strike [...]

SAG Announces Plan for Strike Authorization Vote: LOS ANGELES, DECEMBER 10, 2008 — Screen Actors Guild today announced that strike authorization ballots will be mailed to paid-up SAG members on Friday January 2, 2009, and will be tabulated on Friday, January 23. A yes vote by 75% of members voting is required to pass the [...]

A week or two back the WGA went public with its frustration over not receiving residuals from streaming and EST content. The WGA vented their frustration at the same time that the AMPTP was refusing to go back to the bargaining table with SAG. Here is the AMPTP response to WGA assertion that the AMPTP [...]

The bad blood between SAG and the AMPTP seems to be getting thicker as both sides take to hammering each other with press releases and letters to their memberships. First is SAGs official release following a full page ad the AMPTP published in the L.A. Times: Los Angeles, CA (December 01, 2008) – Today’s open [...]

Dear Screen Actors Guild Member, In an “open letter” full-page ad published today in the Los Angeles Times, eight entertainment industry CEO’s whose annual salaries and bonuses exceed the amount needed to achieve labor peace for our industry asked why SAG wants a better deal than the other Hollywood guilds. What they conveniently left out [...]