Media & Entertainment Law

SAG-AFTRA Engages Jonathan Handel as Outside Special Counsel

Posted on September 11, 2020
Leaves The Hollywood Reporter; will continue to practice entertainment/tech law; writes at jhandel.newsLOS ANGELES (September 8, 2020) ? SAG-AFTRA has engaged entertainment/technology attorney and journalist Jonathan Handel as an outside Special Counsel to the union, effective Sept...

Sirocco (Poetry & Politics)

Posted on December 12, 2016
Music/FX credits: piano Amir Mofrat; flute Jensmuse; wind Mark DiAngelo.Click here if the player above is not visible. An ill wind blowsStraight across the land:You can feel it now.It?s a desert galeThat dessicates compassion;A sandstormScouring empathy from the heart...

Trump - 'The Grand Experiment" (Video)

Posted on September 22, 2016
The Grand ExperimentHe said I alone can solve it all:  The Mexicans will take the fall,Rapists and murderers one and all. I'll keep them out with a beautiful wall.He claimed Muslims on the Jersey ShoreCheered 9/11 with a roar.So he proposed to even the scoreBy turning away refugees from our door...

It?s a Play! It?s Live Internet TV! It?s Both, and it Opens in Los Angeles on Friday

Posted on November 07, 2014
?The Noir Series? harkens back to the days of live TV but presents a thoroughly modern challenge to entertainment unionsBad Medicine,' a segment from 'The Noir Series,' features a chain-smoking doctor and two disconcerting nurses. Credit: Turner Munch...

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'Citizenfour' Review: Quiet Moments in a Hong Kong Hotel Room as Edward Snowden, Journalists Fight to Save Democracy

Posted on October 24, 2014
Hong Kong has been ground zero this year in the fight for freedom, with students and Occupy leaders battling police for control of the streets in a desperate campaign to maintain the Chinese territory?s relative autonomy from erosion by the central Beijing government...

An Actor's Cautionary Tale: Cancer Diagnosis and a Drawn-Out Battle Over Residuals

Posted on August 14, 2014
Actors often complain about late residuals checks, although SAG-AFTRA has cut processing delays lately. But few stories compare to the battle waged by Alex Doe (a pseudonym), a voice actor who was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 and endured a 3-1/2-year residuals runaround from Warner Bros...

Review: NudeAudio Super-M and aiia SSSSSpeaker on Kickstarter

Posted on August 07, 2014
Two new Bluetooth speakers offer a great reason to jet on over to Kickstarter.The NudeAudio Super-M ($99, campaign ending on August 15) offers great sound in a package thin enough to slip in a back jeans pocket. During my recent visit to the company?s South of Market offices, a head-to-head comparison showed that the unit delivered deeper bass and higher volumes without loss of fidelity than the Jambox Mini and was more rugged...

How Do We Know Driverless Cars Are Safe? Google Says ?Trust Us?

Posted on July 01, 2014
Driverless cars are on the road now ? Google?s fleet has logged about 700,000 miles of autonomous driving ? and the California DMV will be issuing regulations in a matter of weeks allowing self-driving cars to be sold to the public, possibly setting the regulatory pattern for the rest of the country (video)...

2030 May Be The Year They?ll Take Your Driver's License Away

Posted on June 18, 2014
I was stuck in traffic yesterday, which I didn?t really mind because I have a fun little yellow convertible, and I was thinking about Uber ($17 billion! ? that?s the company?s valuation, not the price of a ride) and Google?s driverless cars (development cost unknown), and I decided it was time to connect the dots: once a car learns to drive, there?s no need to own it and there?s no need for a driver...

New Website -- jhandel.com

Posted on April 20, 2014
My new website is up at jhandel.com. It tells everything you always wanted to know (and more!) about my background and entertainment/technology law practice. Give it a look!Check out ?The New Zealand Hobbit Crisis,? available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and audiobook...

Aereo to Face Uphill Battle in Supreme Court Next Week, Experts Say (analysis)

Posted on April 15, 2014
Next week?s Supreme Court argument will be difficult for cable-competitor Aereo, legal experts agree, as the company faces off against not just broadcasters but also the influential U.S. Solicitor General?s office and the Copyright Office. While it will be a tough fight for the company, the case is so complex and the copyright and communications statutes so intricate that one advocate said the decision could end up as lopsided as 7-1 ? in either direction...

Joan Rivers Faces Potential Fine, Expulsion in WGA East Trial (Analysis)

Posted on July 15, 2013
The penalties could be severe ? but Rivers may have some unexpected defenses.With the WGA East sending Joan Rivers off to a trial board for alleged violations related to Fashion Police, the star will be facing what?s likely to be a tough tribunal ? and a fine that could be as high as all the money she?s made on the hit show in the last year, plus expulsion from the union...

How Talent Loses if Aereo Wins

Posted on April 24, 2013
Follow the money and discover an unstated reason the Hollywood unions weighed in with briefs opposing the new service. Several weeks ago, Fox, PBS and several other companies were hit with a 2-1 federal court of appeals ruling rebuffing their attempt to shut down Aereo, a new service backed by Barry Diller...

New book - Entertainment Labor: An Interdisciplinary Bibliography

Posted on April 01, 2013
A must-have for academics, union staff and attorneys working in entertainment labor, ENTERTAINMENT LABOR: An Interdisciplinary Bibliography is a 345 page annotated bibliography of over 1,500 books, articles, dissertations, legal cases and other resources dealing with entertainment unions and guilds and various other aspects of entertainment labor...

VFX Town Hall Meeting Urges Trade Association and Union

Posted on March 16, 2013
However, panelists also acknowledged the difficulty of achieving either goal.Pi Day ? a multi-city international meeting of VFX artists ? took place Thursday evening amid rising concern about the state of the industry. VFX vet Scott Ross and others outlined a plan that involves the formation of a VFX union for VFX artists and of a trade association for visual effects facilities, all aimed at addressing the troubled VFX business model...

Canadian Talent Consultant Charged in Alleged Actor Visa Scam

Posted on January 10, 2013
Actor Andrew Boryski was charged with multiple criminal counts for cheating aspiring actors out of thousands of dollars in an immigration visa scam, the Los Angeles City Attorney?s office said Thursday in a press release. Boryski is charged with 32 counts; ?this suspect, who?s an aspiring actor himself, has landed a role in a real life crime drama? says a federal agent...

'Hobbit' Affair Still Rankles NZ Unions

Posted on November 28, 2012
As fans of The Hobbit scanned the red carpet at the film?s premiere in Wellington last night, some New Zealand activists are still bitter about the outcome of a failed unionization attempt in 2010, even as NZ Actors Equity is finally making progress in negotiations with the country?s producers association...

new book - The New Zealand Hobbit Crisis

Posted on November 25, 2012
My new book, The New Zealand Hobbit Crisis, is out on Amazon in paper (http://amzn.to/SiHUX2) and Kindle (http://amzn.to/UG7q7F). Check it out. Here's the description: Essential reading for Hobbit fans and labor/globalization academics alike, THE NEW ZEALAND HOBBIT CRISIS looks back at an attempt to unionize actors on The Hobbit that blew up into a national crisis, driving down the NZ dollar and leading the Prime Minister and Parliament to dance to a Hollywood tune...

Lucasfilm Faces New Accusation of Pregnancy Discrimination

Posted on November 07, 2012
  VFX artist Luis Pages says Lucasfilm Singapore promised inaccurately that he?d have broad medical insurance if he relocated to Singapore for a job with the company ? but then fired him without explanation after his wife?s pregnancy turned medically difficult, and withheld salary...

Hollywood Sign Owner Cries Foul Over Ad Agency 'Infringement'

Posted on October 27, 2012
Visit the website for The Brooklyn Brothers, a New York ad agency, and you?ll find a splash pageannouncing their new Hollywood venture, called BB Hollywood. It?s a snazzy looking page ? a photo of the Hollywood sign with ?BB? photoshopped in, to form ?BBHOLLYWOOD? in the iconic white staggered, blocky typeface...

Actors Union SAG-AFTRA and Industry Postpone Commercials Negotiations

Posted on July 22, 2012
SAG-AFTRA and the advertising industry have agreed to postpone their previously-scheduled early negotiations of the union?s commercials agreement, the union announced Saturday. The existing agreement remains in place through March 31, 2013. The parties need more time, said the union, to address ?data challenges? regarding a study that may result in a revamp of the commercials residuals system, referred to as Gross Ratings Points (GRP)...

Movie Academy Journeys to Mars and (Far) Beyond at Sold-Out Event

Posted on July 12, 2012
?What?s anything without a trip to Mars?,? asked NASA?s Eric De Jong Tuesday night on stage at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. No one in the audience seemed inclined to disagree, but many no doubt felt ?Why stop at Mars??The panelists were happy to oblige, taking the audience to the limits of the observable Universe...

Unions Investigating 'Liz & Dick' after Lindsay Lohan, Crew Allegedly Overworked

Posted on June 20, 2012
Two prominent Hollywood unions are investigating the Lifetime movie Liz & Dick, The HollywoodReporter (exclusive) has learned, with the moves coming in the wake of reports over the weekend that star Lindsay Lohan suffered from ?exhaustion and dehydration? from overwork and that two crew members went to the hospital for the same reason...

Musicians Union Pickets Marvel Over Runaway ?Avengers? Score

Posted on June 01, 2012
Blasting Marvel Studios as ?unfair? for scoring megahit The Avengers non-union in Europe, members and leaders of the American Federation of Musicians, including president Ray Hair, picketed the Disney subsidiary?s Manhattan Beach facility Friday morning, handing out leaflets that ask ?how many billions must your companies earn before Marvel will score its film music here at home??  Details: The Hollywood Reporter...

SAG/AFTRA Members: Will your dues go up or down? Now you can tell ...

Posted on March 04, 2012
There's been a lot of discussion about how dues will change if SAG and AFTRA  merge, but no one's made it easy for you to know exactly what will happen to your own. For a detailed breakdown -- and a graph that encompasses earnings from $0 to $250K, see The Hollywood Reporter...

WGA Sends Studio Deal to Members

Posted on March 25, 2011
The ratification vote will take place in April, before the existing contract's May 1 expiration. Details: The Hollywood Reporter. On a separate note, I will be speaking at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles on April 12 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the school's "A Conversation With" series...

WGA, AMPTP Reach New Three-Year Deal

Posted on March 21, 2011
The tentative pact, which is in line with deals reached by SAG, AFTRA and the DGA, provides for 2% annual wage increases but also keeps network primetime residuals at current rates. Details: The Hollywood Reporter. __________ Check out my new book ?Hollywood on Strike!,? available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition)...

Hollywood on Strike! Now on Kindle

Posted on February 26, 2011
My book Hollywood on Strike! is now available on Kindle (http://www.tinyurl.com/HOSAMZK) as well as paperback (http://www.tinyurl.com/HOSAMZ) (those are links to Amazon). __________ Check out my new book ?Hollywood on Strike!,? available at https://www...

"Hollywood on Strike" Update

Posted on February 25, 2011
In a strange twist, the book is now available on Kindle - but only on Amazon UK! The vagaries of Amazon. Americans can't buy from the UK store, so don't rush over across the virtual pond. But it should be available soon in Kindle in the U.S., and also on Google books (compatible with Nook, apparently)...

"Hollywood on Strike" Book Available on Amazon!

Posted on February 23, 2011
My book is finally available on Amazon: Coming soon - "Look Inside the Book" and a Kindle edition. __________ Check out my new book ?Hollywood on Strike!,? available at https://www.createspace.com/3344392 (use limited-time code JL886NCV for 20% off) and on Amazon...

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