Today the AMPTP and SAG negotiators met for several hours as the two sides squared off in yet another round in a seemingly interminable contract negotiation. While most major news sources are reporting that SAG simply told the AMPTP ‘no’ to their final offer today, Hollywood Reporter: The studios Thursday said that SAG officially rejected [...]

If only SAG President Alan Rosenberg and AFTRA President Roberta Reardon were married… they could get a divorce. As it stands, it looks like a long, chilly separation is in the works for the two actor’s unions they represent. If anyone is still confused about why SAG and AFTRA conducted the TV/Theatrical contract negotiations separately [...]

The failure of SAGs strategy of derailing the agreement betweent AFTRA and the AMPTP was verified tonight. According to Integrity Voting Systems in Everett, Wash, AFTRA members ratified the agreement with a 62% ‘yes’ vote. That of course means that 38% of the voting membership was opposed to the deal. The total number of votes [...]

All votes have been cast and per Daily Variety: “Ballots are due at 5 p.m.Tuesday in Everett, Wash., home to the independent ballot-counting firm Integrity Voting Systems.” An announcement is expected this evening on the results. SAG and the AMPTP are scheduled to meet again on Thursday, 7/10.

While pundits in Hollywood debate whether the AMPTP has actually presented their ‘last, best and final offer’ or just their ‘final offer’, and what the difference is between a ‘final’ offer and a ‘last, best’ final offer, the two sides have broken off talks until next week. SAG says it needs time to study the [...]

We don’t know much about what’s going on in the SAG and AMPTP talks but according to Daily Variety, the studio’s ‘final offer’ is now on the table. With SAG’s feature-primetime contract expiring, the majors have turned up the pressure by making the guild a final offer with increases valued at over $250 million over [...]

So, I did what any deep thinking actor would do…I hovered my pencil over the ballot and, in a ouija board like moment, I let the pencil decide on my vote. So don’t blame me, actors who support the AFTRA deal, my pencil said NO. Actually I spent time reading through the contract summary, spent [...]

I haven’t posted anything here recently about the ongoing ‘talks’ between SAG and the AMPTP because there really hasn’t been anything new to report. SAG is more or less vamping with the AMPTP while they work furiously to convince dual guild members like myself to vote down the AFTRA agreement. Yes, I received one of [...]

The kind of nastiness born of contract negotiations gone sour, a nastiness that tends to turn off the general public and give credence to those predisposed to anti-union sentiment, was brought to the streets of Hollywood yesterday with the SAG rally, ostensibly in support of the SAG negotiating team, but really in opposition to ratification [...]

June 8, 2008 Dear AFTRA Member: On Friday, your AFTRA National Board overwhelmingly approved the tentative agreement reached on May 28 with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on a new three-year primetime television contract (Exhibit A of the AFTRA Network Television Code). In the next week or so, you will be receiving [...]