Media & Entertainment Law

SAG-AFTRA Non-Disparagement?

By Jonathan Handel, Esq.

A month and a half ago, SAG and AFTRA signed an agreement not to disparage each other, with significant fines apparently being the consequence for violation. Although the terms of the agreement are confidential, Variety quoted an AFTRA officer at the time explaining that AFTRA was advised to ?scrub? all critical material on the Internet about SAG.

Looks like SAG didn?t get the same advice. Go to http://www.sag.org/tvtheatrical-negotiations and click on ?Vote No? in the left-hand navigation bar?or, just go to http://www.sag.org/vote-no?and you can read all about how AFTRA?s deal with the studios ?achieves few if any real gains for actors.? Two fact sheets and an ad are available for your perusal, all artifacts from SAG?s ill-fated campaign against the AFTRA deal.

What a blast from the past. This stuff takes you back to a simpler time?just six months ago?when a strike seemed unlikely and the collapse of major banks and automakers even less so. I have emails in to SAG and AFTRA asking whether the continued presence of this material violates the non-disparagement agreement. I?ll update this post accordingly. UPDATE: SAG informed me that they decline to comment.

Full post as published by Digital Media Law on December 08, 2008 (boomark / email).