SGA and possible SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Strike

[prion]

SGA and possible (as in 'who knows, it could happen?' SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Strike

Just keeping track in case a strike occurs, which is all speculation at the moment….

SAG members on SGA cast definitely include Joe Flanigan and Jason Momoa. Since David Hewlett has worked in the States, he’s probably dual SAG/ACTRA. Mitch Pileggi is SAG.

Excerpts: click on links for full stories


http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=14&cs=1

Mar 3

AFTRA is telling the Screen Actors Guild to stop dragging its feet -- and warning that it's willing to start negotiations as early as this month without SAG.

The move by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is the latest indication of the town's increasing frustration over SAG's refusal to schedule formal negotiations with the AMPTP as soon as possible, given the recently completed 100-day Writers Guild strike and the looming June 30 expiration of the SAG-AFTRA film-primetime contract.


http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...ery=doug+allen

SAG aims for April start date
Feb 28

Facing pressure to start contract talks as soon as possible, SAG has announced it won't start formal negotiations with the AMPTP until April at the earliest.
In a message sent to members Thursday, SAG president Alan Rosenberg and national exec director Doug Allen said SAG plans to stress the issues of new media, compensation for middle-class actors and forced endorsement on product integration.
In the message, Rosenberg and Allen repeated their previous insistence that the guild needs to complete its process of holding "wages and working conditions" meetings to hammer out the details of its proposal and said that process would conclude March 31. They also retiterated that they need to complete discussions with AFTRA over the SAG-AFTRA joint bargaining arrangement before setting a date for talks.
…..
The SAG-AFTRA contract on feature film and primetime TV expires June 30; studio worries about an actors strike have resulted in execs refusing to schedule production start dates on films that can't be completed by that date.
The SAG duo -- who met informally last week with Disney topper Robert Iger -- also said they plan to continue informal get-togethers with the moguls to lay the groundwork for the formal bargaining, noting that the DGA and WGA had taken a similar path earlier this year.
…..
SAG was so closely aligned with the Writers Guild during the recent strike that many assumed the WGA deal would preclude an actors strike. Rosenberg and Allen have said repeatedly that SAG must maintain a strike threat in order to get the best possible deal, asserting that without that leverage, collective bargaining becomes "collective begging."

[Scary Kitty]

SGA and possible (as in 'who knows, it could happen?' SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Strike

Just keeping track in case a strike occurs, which is all speculation at the moment….

SAG members on SGA cast definitely include Joe Flanigan and Jason Momoa. Since David Hewlett has worked in the States, he’s probably dual SAG/ACTRA. Mitch Pileggi is SAG.

If I recall correctly, Robert Picardo (Woolsey), Michael Beach (Ellis) and Connor Trinneer (Michael) are also SAG.

[prion]

If I recall correctly, Robert Picardo (Woolsey), Michael Beach (Ellis) and Connor Trinneer (Michael) are also SAG.

I knew I was forgetting someone...

[prion]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...b4a6952bb7dfb7

Actors strike could be worse than WGA action
March 14, 2008

NEW YORK -- An actors strike could affect TV networks more broadly than the recent writers strike because they don't have much programming in stock and because cable shows and key reality TV figures would be affected, Standard & Poor's credit analyst Heather Goodchild said here Thursday.

In a breakfast discussion at McGraw-Hill's 2008 Media Summit New York, she estimated that there is a 40%-50% chance of a strike by actors.

REST AT LINK ABOVE

[Pharaoh Atem]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...b4a6952bb7dfb7

Actors strike could be worse than WGA action
March 14, 2008

NEW YORK -- An actors strike could affect TV networks more broadly than the recent writers strike because they don't have much programming in stock and because cable shows and key reality TV figures would be affected, Standard & Poor's credit analyst Heather Goodchild said here Thursday.

In a breakfast discussion at McGraw-Hill's 2008 Media Summit New York, she estimated that there is a 40%-50% chance of a strike by actors.

REST AT LINK ABOVE

let them strike ......just after all my favorite tv shows get everything on film

[morjana]

Toronto Star: Canadian celebs can't get no cash satisfaction:

From the Toronto Star (Toronto, Ontario, Canada):

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/348074

(Please follow the link for the complete article.)

HOMEGROWN ACTORS

TheStar.com | entertainment |

Canadian celebs can't get no cash satisfaction

Mar 20, 2008 04:30 AM

Lee-Anne Goodman
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Actor Nicholas Campbell says it astounds him when people assume he should be enjoying a jet-setting retirement after his years as a staple of Canadian television.

"It happens all the time, and it just makes me crazy – as if that's ever going to happen," the 55-year-old Campbell said yesterday.

"If I'd had the kind of financial advice I'm getting now, I probably would have been okay, but let's face it, I was never making huge money as an actor in Canada anyway. You can make okay money here, but you're never going to be wealthy."

Many Canadian actors who are household names in Canada are far from living the same lives of wealth as their American counterparts.

**snippage**

Maureen O'Donnell, a film and television publicist in Toronto, points the finger at a number of culprits: TV and film productions in Canada are underfunded, there's no star machine to promote English-Canadian productions or their actors, and the Canadian media don't cover them the way they cover American actors.

**snippage**

[prion]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=14&cs=1

March 16th

SAG, AFTRA bicker over basic cable
Acting unions currently bargain separate deals
By DAVE MCNARY

With formal negotiations looming on the feature-primetime contract for actors, SAG and AFTRA are bickering over whether basic cable should be included in the negotiations.

The latest disagreement emerged over the weekend following recent moves by both performers unions to negotiate jointly rather than separately. And it comes in the wake of the AMPTP's request last week to start negotiations on April 1 -- three months before expiration of the current pact.

SAG national exec director Doug Allen sparked the imbroglio in a letter sent Friday to AFTRA topper Kim Roberts Hedgpeth. In the missive, Allen asserted that the unions could decide over the next two weeks that basic cable would be part of the negotiations "as we have proposed in past negotiations."

SAG and AFTRA currently bargain separate deals with basic cable companies -- a situation that has led to near-constant sniping between the two labor orgs. Allen noted in the missive that at a meeting earlier this month with AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, AFTRA president Roberta Reardon acknowledged that basic cable is part of the 27-year-old Phase One joint bargaining agreement between the two unions.

REST AT LINK ABOVE

[prion]

Toronto Star: Canadian celebs can't get no cash satisfaction:

From the Toronto Star (Toronto, Ontario, Canada):

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/348074

(Please follow the link for the complete article.)

HOMEGROWN ACTORS
Canadian celebs can't get no cash satisfaction

Actor Nicholas Campbell says it astounds him when people assume he should be enjoying a jet-setting retirement after his years as a staple of Canadian television.

"It happens all the time, and it just makes me crazy – as if that's ever going to happen," the 55-year-old Campbell said yesterday.

"If I'd had the kind of financial advice I'm getting now, I probably would have been okay, but let's face it, I was never making huge money as an actor in Canada anyway. You can make okay money here, but you're never going to be wealthy."

REgrettably, and I do like Nicholas Campbell, he blew most of his money on horses (as in the race track) - http://www.macleans.ca/canada/featur...29_094308_4172 - and at $30K an episode, that's a LOT to lose.

[prion]

MARCH 24

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=18&cs=1

excerpt:

SAG, AFTRA working on proposal

In the wake of the WGA strike and SAG's strong support for the writers, many in Hollywood have concluded that SAG may not automatically settle for the terms of the recent deals for the Directors Guild of America and Writers Guild of America. And SAG leaders have indicated they'll push for better terms than what the DGA and WGA received in their recent deals -- particularly in new media, DVD residuals and language guaranteeing that actors will be consulted on use of their image for any endorsements.

REST AT LINK ABOVE

[Scary Kitty]

MARCH 24

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=18&cs=1

excerpt:

SAG, AFTRA working on proposal

In the wake of the WGA strike and SAG's strong support for the writers, many in Hollywood have concluded that SAG may not automatically settle for the terms of the recent deals for the Directors Guild of America and Writers Guild of America. And SAG leaders have indicated they'll push for better terms than what the DGA and WGA received in their recent deals -- particularly in new media, DVD residuals and language guaranteeing that actors will be consulted on use of their image for any endorsements.

REST AT LINK ABOVE

I can only hope and pray that means that we'll start getting decent cover art for DVDs... let's not forget the atrocious art for the Region 1 SGA Season 3 set.

[PG15]

And so we have confirmation of how many of our heroes are in the SAG:

Planettv writes: “Do have any back up plans in case something bad happens with SAG when their contract up’s since 2 cast members are members?”

Answer: 2? You mean 5 don’t you? As for the back-up plan - all those of you lobbying or a couple of Chuck-centered episodes will finally get your wish.

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/...iend-drops-by/

[prion]

And so we have confirmation of how many of our heroes are in the SAG:

Wow, it would be the Chuck Hour.....

[watcher652]

David Hewlett is definitely a SAG member. He once wrote in his blog that the good thing about being a SAG member is that he got screening copies of the SAG nominated movies.

Hmm, I wonder who Joe M. considers "cast members". Just the main cast? That would be Joe F, David, Jason, Rachel and Jewel. There's the 5 right there.

And as noted above, a lot of the recurring characters are SAG members, too. While the writer's strike didn't affect the mostly Canadian writing staff too badly (only Carl Binder was on strike), the SAG strike would make filming the show impossible.

[PG15]

I think Robert Picardo would also count, now.

[morjana]

From Yahoo! News:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080330/...ijSGtRziBpMhkF

(Please follow the link for the complete article.)

Large and small screen actors cut ties

1 hour, 1 minute ago

LOS ANGELES - Unions representing film and television actors will negotiate separately with producers in upcoming contract talks after board members of the TV actors union voted to sever a long-standing agreement between the two guilds.

The vote Saturday by the board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists came hours before a meeting with the Screen Actors Guild and just three months before the expiration of the contract covering movies and prime-time shows.

**snippage**