Posts Tagged ‘Strike’

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IATSE GETTING THE ‘SAG’ TREATMENT FROM AMPTP

February 26th, 2009

For some time now I’ve wondered why SAG wasn’t getting more support from our fellow workers in the film industry as we try to come to a contract agreement with the AMPTP. If you read the various forums, most of the talk has been of the ‘just settle the contract so we can all get back to work’ variety. AFTRA signed the deal. WGA signed the deal. Just get on with it. Stop being a bunch of overpaid, pompous asses and sign the deal. Revisit the issues you don’t like on the next negotiation.

Here’s what I know:

The AMPTP says they can’t make any money on so called NEW MEDIA (internet delivery of new product) if they pay actors what they pay for Network TV or Cable TV, especially the residuals that actors earn for reruns.

Really? Want to see some recent residuals I got for Cable TV usage?:

CPT Holdings, Inc. 12.19.2008 $29.60 Net Amount: 19.93
Payor: CPT Holdings, Inc.

Columbia Tristar Television, Inc. 12.18.2008 $14.65 Net Amount: 9.87
Payor: Columbia Tristar Television, Inc.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. 12.04.2008 $72.59 Net Amount: 48.89
Payor: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.

These residual payments may make me blush, but it’s not from embarrassment of being over paid. These are the kind of residuals that come from taking the AMPTP at their word.

Apparently that cable TV ‘experiment’ has worked out pretty well for 20+ years but the actors have never able to significantly improve on the deal we cut with the AMPTP when the pleading from the producers was ‘don’t kill this infant technology’.

Regardless of the opinion of how SAG negotiations were handled by the now defunct team of Rosenberg and Allen, hardly anyone I’ve spoken with or read has offered the opinion that the AMPTP offer to SAG is a good deal for actors. Good? It’s not even a reasonable deal.

Universally it seems it is understood that the deal that AFTRA and WGA signed are not ones that the guilds can be happy with or proud of. Yet SAG, because of an inexplicable lack of communication skills among other reasons, has let itself and ‘the actors’ become the punching bag for the rest of the industry. Gotta hand it to AMPTP for looking like the guys in the white hats. Unlike the guilds, the producers have played their hand beautifully.

If actors give up the contracted guarantee of residual income from television and films because they are now distributed (streamed or downloaded) via the internet, then frankly I’m left to ponder: WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF MEMBERSHIP IN SAG?

Actors by and large simply do not work enough, even at current rates, to make a living in the profession without residual income. Even WITH residual income most actors don’t make a real living from SAG wages. Why do I continue to turn down non union work when the new contract gives producers the okay to produce non union?

Once again we’re told to accept this deal now and we’ll ‘revisit’ the issues when the technology is more mature. Uh. Sure.

Well now it seems that the IATSE folks (from whom SAG has received little public support as our own contract woes have dragged on and on) are having their own issues with their leadership and with the AMPTP.

Nikke Finke’s site has a very good piece today about the IATSE contract situation.

Here is a section of the post on today’s DHD website:

… the IATSE/AMPTP Memo Of Agreement which opponents are calling “the worst concessionary contract” that the Hollywood locals have ever seen. As one activist in the International Cinematographers Guild emailed his IATSE Local 600 members: “So far as I’m concerned, the MOA gives away employment opportunities in New Media, guts our health plan, and gives no security to those who work on a day to day, or part-time, basis. This contract gives away every reason I can think of for belonging to a union. On top of that, it sews up ‘jurisdiction’ over the Internet which means that no group can create an alternative union that might fight for realistic wages and reasonable terms and conditions of employment.”

Substitute “SAG” for “IATSE” and it just sounds like more of the same from the AMPTP. So now, IATSE members who face loss of insurance benefits and loss of a livable wage from NEW MEDIA, how does it feel to be in the position SAG members have been in for the past 8 months? It’s not that easy to ‘just accept the deal’ is it?

A couple of pull quotes from the comments on Finke’s site:

…The New Media contract issues should be a bigger focus for all IATSE members. You might have your 300 or 400 hours to get your teeth cleaned every six months but you won’t be making enough on a “Web Episode” with no real guide lines on rates or staff requirements to make your house or rent payments.

New Media is the future. It should be made under the Basic Hollywood Agreement…

…And I hope that all members can read here, the Facebook site, or 400hours.com to see that anyone who votes in favor of this contract is voting himself, or herself, out of union protection in new media, voting themselves out of a share of future earnings, and possibly voting themselves out of their health care.

This contract, in conjunction with the contracts of the last twenty years, takes a gigantic step forward in dismantling our union and union protections. VOTE NO. VOTE “AGAINST RATIFICATION”.

Furthermore, now I hope all my brothers and sisters in IA can see how foolish it is to not support our sister guilds of WGA, DGA, and SAG…

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Posted in AFTRA, AMPTP, Actors, Alan Rosenberg, DOUG ALLEN, IATSE, NOW MEDIA, New Media, Nikki Finke, SAG, SAG Membership, Streaming Video, Strike, Tommy G. Kendrick, WGA

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Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily Take on SAG AMPTP Negotiations

February 19th, 2009

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 negotiations. Sure, feature players will be thrown a few bones regarding French hours and force majeure and other stuff the AMPTP was going to back off anyway. Heck, the plan by the AMPTP all along was to make a big show of only giving in to the so-called “moderates” once they came into power in order to make them look all that much better compared to the “militants”? Nice to know that the SAG National Majority is following the AMPTP’s script to perfection. So color me unimpressed when this deal is reached lickety split. And the heavy-lifting residuals issues really necessary to the continued financial security of SAG and its members will be left off the table.

Read all the DHD Coverage here

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Posted in AFTRA, AMPTP, Actors, Alan Rosenberg, Big Media, Deadline Hollywood Daily, IATSE, NOW MEDIA, New Media, Nikki Finke, Residuals, SAG, SAG Membership, Streaming Video, Strike, WGA, Writers

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A Working Class Actor Looks At The Deal That AFTRA Signed

February 11th, 2009

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?

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Posted in AFTRA, AMPTP, Actor, Alan Rosenberg, Auditions, Big Media, Casting Notices, Commercials, Film Distribution, Filmmakers, Filmmaking, Hollywood, Indie Film, NOW MEDIA, New Media, Producers, Residuals, Roberta Reardon, SAG, SAG Eligible, SAG Membership, Self Promotion, Streaming Video, Strike, Tommy G. Kendrick, WEBISODES

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The WGA responds to the AMPTP “check is in the mail” press release

December 2nd, 2008

“The facts of this matter are simple and straight forward. The WGA attempted for eight months, since March, to address via dialogue the AMPTP’s erroneous interpretation of our February agreement. These efforts included a number of conversations between the Guild’s executive director and at least one of the CEOs who made the deal with the WGA, as well as multiple conversations over months with the top executives of the AMPTP, all to no avail. We will now go to arbitration to force compliance, and we expect to prevail.

“While the date the arbitration was filed was not related to negotiations between SAG and the AMPTP, it is important to point out that the AMPTP apparently had no qualms about announcing its “deal” with the IATSE on the day prior to the mediation with SAG, obviously timed to impact on those discussions. The WGA, like everybody else in this industry, is extremely anxious about those negotiations and hopeful that the AMPTP will reach a fair and reasonable agreement with SAG quickly.”

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Posted in AFTRA, AMPTP, Actors, SAG, Strike, Tommy G. Kendrick, WGA, Writers

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SAG and the AMPTP trade press releases

December 2nd, 2008

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 letter, full-page ad from the eight entertainment industry moguls is confirmation of their continued refusal to bargain with Screen Actors Guild. In an effort to push negotiations forward in the face of AMPTP stonewalling, we asked two of the CEO’s who signed this letter to get involved in the talks in September. They refused. We wish they had taken us up on our offer. It better serves the industry to negotiate than to buy and respond to $100,000 newspaper ads.

We are still waiting for the CEO’s or their AMPTP negotiators to make a good faith effort at bargaining with us. Agreements with other guilds and unions can’t dictate actors’ terms just because they are part of a pattern set by the DGA. Actors issues are different and must be heard and addressed.

We are still waiting for our turn. We want exactly what the DGA got – the chance to negotiate an agreement that addresses the needs of our members. No other guild or union can negotiate a pattern deal that fits the industry and SAG members, any more than ABC can negotiate license fees for NBC. No one has our proxy.

Our issues are different – not better, but different and we deserve to have our unique issues and very valid concerns resolved in negotiation. Agreeing to fairly negotiate the unique needs of actors would mean that the CEO’s are honorably engaging in the negotiations process rather than continuing to stonewall.

Our message to the CEOs is this, “Gentlemen, please understand, the pattern does not fit. Now that you have at least acknowledged our effort to achieve a fair contract for actors, perhaps you would be willing to sit down with our negotiating committee and resolve our issues?”


The AMPTP responded with this:

“SAG’s press release proves that SAG is now officially out of touch with reality. The Producers negotiated with SAG for 46 days – and over that entire time SAG failed to justify why it deserves a better deal than the six other agreements negotiated so far this year. On a day when the United States was officially declared to be in a recession, when Governor Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency for California, and when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 680 points, SAG continues to demand more and better than everyone else. Unfortunately, the chasm between reality and SAG seems to widen by the day.”

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Posted in AFTRA, AMPTP, Actors, NOW MEDIA, New Media, SAG, Strike

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SAG and AMPTP Still Talking per Allen

August 4th, 2008

Screen Actors Guild LogoSAG members received the following missive from National Exec. Director and Chief Negotiatior, Doug Allen. The impression one would get from reading Daily Variety or listening to other press sources is that there is no ongoing communication and SAG is just stalling with no plan of action in place.

Some of the conventional wisdom has been that the AMPTP is cooling its heels until a new, hopefully more AMPTP-friendly SAG board is elected and takes over in October. While that might seem like a solid line of thinking there is a flaw. The current negotiating team will NOT be replaced even if a more AMPTP friendly bunch are elected to the board. This negotiation will continue with the current negotiating team until a deal is finally struck.

Here is Allen’s letter to the membership:

August 3, 2008

Dear Screen Actors Guild Member,

Your negotiators are working every day to successfully conclude negotiations for a successor agreement to our TV/Theatrical contract. We have not yet closed the gap with the employers’ negotiators, but National President Alan Rosenberg, the National Negotiating Committee co-chairs from the Regional Branch Division, New York and Hollywood and I remain focused on this effort.

Right now, that involves small group meetings and exchanges with the employers, their AMPTP representatives and a core group of leaders in both organizations. Substantive progress is more likely in a less formal atmosphere. Negotiators can talk more productively, exchange ideas and define a short path leading to a conclusion. Informal communication is routine in labor talks and, in fact, occurred in other Guilds’ negotiations this year.

The full committees and relevant staff of the AMPTP and SAG together number more than 100 people. This large group is extremely effective in framing the issues in negotiations, but unwieldy as we transition to focused, directed discussion. In fact, the full 100-member negotiating group probably will not need to meet across the table again until we shake hands over a deal.

You will not doubt read spin suggesting that there is dead silence between our sides. Progress doesn’t have to occur directly across a table. Discussions through alternative channels are ongoing as we work toward a fair deal for actors as soon as possible.

Your interest in and support of the key issues like jurisdiction and residuals for all new media have been invaluable to our negotiations, as was the 68-0 vote of our National Board in the resolution of July 26, 2008. This unanimous vote from the board members who represent you in the Regional Branch Division, New York Division and Hollywood Division was a meaningful reaffirmation of SAG’s unity. Solidarity by the SAG Board and SAG members sends an important, powerful signal to management that efforts to divide us aren’t working and that actors are united on the issues.

We also know that you remain concerned about other key bargaining priorities such as, for example, product integration, force majeure, stunt performers and background actors’ issues. Be assured that these and our other priorities continue to be in the forefront of our efforts on your behalf.

We will stay in touch with you to report on our efforts and hope that you will also stay in touch with us. Continue to email your questions and comments to  Contract2008 at sag.org (this is an email address not a web link).

Thank you for your continued support and solidarity.

In unity,

Doug Allen
National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

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Posted in AFTRA, AMPTP, Actors, Alan Rosenberg, NOW MEDIA, New Media, Producers, Residuals, Right to Work, SAG, Strike, Tommy G. Kendrick

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AMPTP STANCE on NEW MEDIA UNITES SAG BOARD

July 30th, 2008

It looks like warring factions inside SAG have found some common ground vs the AMPTP. Finally, all the SAG board agrees that allowing SAG sanctioned, non-Union production and no residuals for certain so called new media production is a bad idea for actors.

Daily Variety reporter and AMPTP fanboy, Dave McNary lays it all out in his article in Daily Variety dated July 29, 2008:

“SAG’s national board — which often finds itself amid pitched internal battles — has received backing from the fledgling Unite for Strength faction over its stance that the majors’ final offer to the guild is unacceptable.

SAG’s board voted unanimously over the weekend that it could not endorse the new-media provisions in the AMPTP’s offer — singling out provisions allowing non-union work in low-budget productions along with a lack of a guarantee of residuals for new-media programs replayed on digital platforms.

Unite for Strength announced last week a slate of 31 Hollywood division candidates with the aim of wresting control of SAG’s board from the ruling Membership First faction. Despite its assertions that SAG’s leaders have mishandled the negotiations, Unite for Strength said it’s in step on the policy stance.

“United for Strength fully supports the recent SAG board motion reasserting SAG’s commitment to the core principle that it does not authorize our employers to make nonunion product under our contracts, regardless of the medium or budget level,” the group said Tuesday. “We believe SAG needs new leadership, but we also agree with SAG’s negotiators that actors need real gains from a new contract.”

Unite for Strength also said in the statement that it agrees that the original goals of SAG’s negotiating committee — including pay and mileage increases, increased pension and health contributions, residuals on new media, protection from product integration abuses, increased DVD residuals and preservation of force majeure protections.

“Unite for Strength believes actors should have all those protections and more,” the group said. “We support our families with SAG earnings, so getting the strongest deal for actors is our top priority. And we know our current negotiating team feels the same way.”

Read McNary’s whole article in Daily Variety.

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Posted in AFTRA, AMPTP, Acting, Actors, Alan Rosenberg, Big Media, Daily Variety, Hollywood, NOW MEDIA, Producers, Residuals, SAG, Tommy G. Kendrick

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SAG and AMPTP In Negotiation Constipation

July 21st, 2008

No movement. That’s all there is to report on the ongoing standoff between SAG and the AMPTP. Trade publications put attendance at Saturday’s SAG membership meeting in Hollywood at 450 – 750, depending on which industry rag you want to believe. The producer-friendly Daily Variety article actually has the attendance at the upper end of that scale, for whatever that is worth.

Both trades reported that SAG membership expressed strong support for the leadership and for their handling of this contract negotiation. SAG leaders are still taking the stance that negotiations are ongoing and that the AMPTP needs to respond to the latest SAG proposals. Meanwhile the AMPTP continues to stick to its position that negotiations have ended and that it is up to SAG to accept or reject the contract terms as announced, that is : accept the AFTRA deal.

At this point SAG has still not requested a strike authorization vote nor has the AMPTP declared an official ‘IMPASSE’ that would allow producers to move forward with either a lockout of actors or begin productions under the terms they have offered and force SAG actors to report or no-show.

Thus we continue with the de facto strike, de facto lockout situation that has AMPTP member film production in a holding pattern.

Stay tuned…

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Posted in AFTRA, AMPTP, Actors, Alan Rosenberg, Daily Variety, Hollywood, Hollywood Reporter, NOW MEDIA, Producers, Residuals, SAG, Strike

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MEDIA TRENDS ANALYSIS BY SCREEN ACTORS GUILD

July 17th, 2008

Today, SAG distributed a white paper July 15, 2008 that is “is an analysis of trends that have emerged or intensified in the media landscape since the Directors Guild of America negotiated its deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on January 17th, 2008.

In sum, what was once termed “new media” has become a standard as media companies invest heavily in the massive convergence of media and technology, making anything available, anytime, and anywhere.”

Below is SAG’s list of recent ‘New Media’ deals chronicled in the white paper which is located HERE.

Developments

• February 4, 2008—Cablevision offers Universal and Warner Bros. movies on
demand the same day they debut on DVD, as long as viewers purchase the
movies on disc.
• February 20-21, 2008—CBS and NBC begin streaming classic shows from their
libraries online in their entirety.
• February 25, 2008—ABC and Cox Communications begin work on a video on
demand (VOD) system that disables fast-forwarding of commercials.
• March 11, 2008—Apple and Lionsgate agree to allow iTunes users to make
digital copies of selected movies to watch on computer, iPod, iPhone or Apple
TV.
• March 12, 2008—Fox and NBC launch Hulu.com, a website that allows users to
watch movies and TV shows for free with “limited commercial interruptions.”
• April 2, 2008—NBC announces it will produce short, original episodes of The
Office, Chuck and Heroes specifically for the Web, beginning in Summer 2008,
along with an original online-only show called Fears, Secrets & Desires.
• April 13, 2008—Yahoo expands its online video presence and ties to big media
and entertainment by acquiring for $160 million the online video platform Maven
Networks, which has deals with CBS Sports, Sony BMG, News Corp.’s Fox
News and other content providers to help manage, distribute and monetize their
video platforms.
• April 16, 2008—Over ten billion online video views in the U.S. in February
2008, a 66 percent gain versus February 2007.
• April 17, 2008—Networks are acquiring the rights to new content to make the
leap from Internet to television as NBC has signed up the series Gemini Division,
and Channel Five has picked web drama Sofia’s Diary.
• April 28, 2008— Warner Bros. TV Group says it is resurrecting its WB Network
TV brand as an ad-supported video network that will offer a mix of new
programming and old series aimed at women viewers.
• April 30, 2008—Sezmi opens up a new set-top box with one terabyte of storage,
a broadband Internet connection, and an antenna.
Confidential Page 3 of 4
• April 30, 2008—Time Warner says it will release all of its DVD titles on VOD
on a day-and-date basis this year.
• May 1, 2008—Hulu launches a YouTube channel of its own, bringing NBC back
to YouTube.
• May 1, 2008—iTunes goes “day and date” with DVDs with new releases and
catalog titles available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner
Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures
Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studio.
• May 2, 2008—Disney-ABC Television Group begins research in collaboration
with Nielsen Co. regarding inserting multiple commercials into ad breaks for
primetime series on its broadband player.
• May 7, 2008—NBC streams free, full episodes of The Office & 30 Rock to
iPhones in unprotected Quicktime format.
• March 13, 2008 – Bob Iger states at a New York media conference that he
expects the Disney to pull in $1 billion in digital revenue this year.
• May 15, 2008—CBS purchases CNET Networks making it one of the 10 most
popular Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million
unique users per month, and approximately 200 million users worldwide.
• May 19, 2008—NetFlix Web-to-TV set-top box debuts with a price tag of $99.
• May 28, 2008—Blockbuster Inc. announces its intended launch of in-store kiosks
that will allow consumers to download movies onto portable devices in two
minutes.
• June 1, 2008—CBS says it will unveil a new video player that has new ad
targeting (using a content and advertising engine CBS picked up in its acquisition
of Last.fm), content sharing and HD.
• June 2, 2008—A study suggests marketers should adopt VOD sales as VOD ads
are more effective than broadcast ads. The reason is viewers are more likely to
recall a spot seen in an on-demand context than they would an ad on linear TV.
• June 3, 2008—Sony PlayStation launches an original, unscripted monthly series.
• June 4, 2008—CBS will stream its shows online at Yahoo TV, running pre-roll
advertisements.
• June 5, 2008—All BBC TV channels are being prepared to be made available
online.
• June 10, 2008—Disney to stream movies online, offering them for free based on
an ad-supported revenue model.
• June 10, 2008—HBO buys stake in Funny or Die, signing an additional
development deal as well.
• June 10, 2008—NetFlix set-top boxes sell out in less than three weeks.
Confidential Page 4 of 4
• June 11, 2008— GoTV Networks, which produces and syndicates original and
partner programming via mobile and broadband technologies, enters into a
strategic partnership with talent agency CESD to combine GoTV’s production
studio with CESD’s talent roster.
• June 12, 2008—Warner Bros. Television Group announces that its content will
be distributed through branded channels on Dailymotion, Joost, Sling Media,
TiVo and Veoh Networks.
• June 16, 2008—Weeds delivers 2.5 million Apple downloads.
• June 18, 2008—YouTube experiments with full-length video, enabling YouTube
to offer more ads per view and other ad opportunities.
• June 19, 2008—Fox airs Rescue Me five-minute minisodes on FX and the Web
in order to rekindle audience interest in the show due to the hiatus during the
WGA strike. The minisodes don’t connect to the new season.
• June 23, 2008—British commercial broadcast giant ITV reports a surge in its
Internet activities with a four-fold rise since its launch in video catch-up, which
allows viewers to watch shows they’ve missed that week since its launch.
• June 24, 2008—ABC syndicates content to Veoh and moves its prime time to the
Web.
• June 27, 2008—Sony to create new movie download service directly to TV that
utilizes the Bravia Internet Link.
• June 30, 2008—Google tests new ad-based content monetization model with Seth
MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy and uses its AdSense advertising
system to syndicate the program to thousands of Web sites that are predetermined
to be visited by the target audience.
• July 15, 2008—Netflix and Microsoft announce a deal that will allow Netflix
subscribers to stream 10,000 movies and TV shows to Microsoft’s Xbox consoles
for viewing on television sets, beginning in Fall 2008. The deal doubles the
number of movies and shows available on Xbox for download.

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Posted in AMPTP, Actors, Alan Rosenberg, New Media, Producers, Residuals, SAG, Strike, Tommy G. Kendrick

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SIDEBAR: SAG and AMPTP MEET TODAY…BUT TO WHAT END

July 16th, 2008

In what is being termed a ’sidebar’ meeting, an off the record meeting with an unspecified agenda, the AMPTP has agreed to meet with SAG negotiators today to discuss the current contract stalemate. AMPTP insists that the offer on the table is in fact their ‘last best final’ offer and that there will be no movement off that offer on their part.

SAG has continued to insist that the two sides are indeed still negotiating. Apparently SAG leaders are the only party to this drama that thinks negotiating can continue if only one side is willing to participate.

Daily Variety’s Dave McNary continues his coverage in what has become a predictable anti-SAG slant with the following:

In a sign that SAG may be edging toward closing a feature-primetime deal, negotiators for the guild and the majors have agreed to a meeting today.

SAG, which sought the get-together, is playing it close to the vest as to the purpose of the meeting — officially a “sidebar” that’s off the record and will involve a small group from each side.

But the session could help negotiators hammer out a few face-saving tweaks — mostly in non-economic areas — that would enable SAG leaders to support the final offer or at least send it to members without trashing it. The session could also lead to bringing in Disney chief Robert Iger and News Corp. president Peter Chernin to close the deal or enlisting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who recently said he’d be willing to intervene as a mediator if asked.

Still, no one from the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers will be surprised if SAG continues to stall. SAG’s public posture for the past two weeks has been to blast the final offer — while insisting it hasn’t actually rejected the deal — and propose counteroffers in hopes that the congloms will budge from their oft-repeated position that the June 30 final offer won’t be revised.

The SAG reaction to McNary’s AMPTP-friendly reporting is discussed at Deadline Hollywood Daily:

SAG Denies Variety’s Latest Fabrication

EXCLUSIVE: The Screen Actors Guild is furious over Variety’s erroneous report tonight that the guild “may agree to the majors’ request to send out their final offer to the 120,000 guild members at the end of July.” I’m told by one insider, “It’s bullshit, especially the headline.” That started out “SAG to send offer to members” until it was changed after complaints to the equally misleading “SAG may send offer to it’s members”. Said another source, “Absolutely not true at this time. Irresponsible reporting.” The article also makes false assertions that SAG has stalled the negotiations — ridiculous since it’s now the AMPTP’s turn to respond to SAG’s counter-offer. This is yet another example of the trade writer Dave McNary making up a story about the guild negotiations that has no basis in reality, just like he did repeatedly during the WGA strike.

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Posted in AFTRA, AMPTP, Actors, Alan Rosenberg, Daily Variety, Producers, SAG, Strike

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