Media & Entertainment Law

SAG, AFTRA start talks with studios

Posted on September 28, 2010
For details, see my Hollywood Reporter piece.

Hollywood Labor: The Tyranny of Time

Posted on September 22, 2010
One key to understanding Hollywood labor is a tool that was invented thousands of years ago: the calendar. That much became clear in the last round of major negotiations, which lasted from 2007 to 2009, and featured a writers strike and a SAG stalemate...

Basic Cable Clarification & Details

Posted on September 22, 2010
In yesterday?s post regarding the schedule for this cycle?s negotiations, I said that SAG and AFTRA would be jointly negotiating basic cable starting on November 7. Sources close to AFTRA and SAG have corrected me on this?and provided more details. My take on this was based on a misreading of a SAG press release from 11 days ago...

The Anti-SAG Lawsuit That Won't Quite Die

Posted on September 07, 2010
Remember the lawsuit filed by then-SAG president Alan Rosenberg, 1st VP Anne-Marie-Johnson and board members Diane Ladd and Kent McCord against their own Guild? That's the suit that got dismissed for the umpteenth time last month. Turns out that there's some unfinished business...

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SAG Feels its Own Labor Pains

Posted on August 20, 2010
Labor unrest is hitting SAG close to home. Negotiations between the actors guild and Teamsters Local 986, which represents more than 40 of SAG's Los Angeles-based business representatives, have gotten bumpy. The contract between the parties expired June 1, and one issue still to be resolved is what wage increases the new deal will grant...

Ratification of Teamsters / Basic Crafts Contract Complete

Posted on August 18, 2010
The Teamsters ratified their contract several weeks ago. However, four other basic crafts (plumbers, plasterers, electricians and laborers) negotiate alongside the Teamsters. Ratification by those unions was expected and, indeed, the AMPTP said today that the last of those just ratified their contract...

Rosenberg v. SAG Lawsuit Dismissed

Posted on August 10, 2010
The lawsuit filed 1-1/2 years ago by SAG's then-president Alan Rosenberg against his own union has finally been dismissed, according to court records and a source with knowledge of the matter. The dismissal actually came several weeks ago, but appears not to have previously been reported...

SAG National Board Candidates Announced

Posted on August 05, 2010
SAG yesterday released the official list of candidates for its upcoming national board elections.  Notably, all of the open seats in LA (the Hollywood Division) are held by MembershipFirst members, which means that, as was the case last year, MF can at best maintain its level of representation on the national board...

IATSE and Teamsters Reach Mutual Assistance Pact

Posted on August 05, 2010
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees have entered into an agreement to work together toward common goals. The move represents a major change from the previously frosty relationship between the two unions...

Prop 8 Overturned - Retrievable Copy of Decision

Posted on August 04, 2010
Federal Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco has struck down as unconstitutional California's Proposition 8, which prohibited same-sex marriage. Want to take a deep dive and read the 136 page decision? It's almost impossible to find a copy, since servers (including the most linked-to Scribd copy) are overloaded...

Teamsters Ratify Contract; Strike Averted

Posted on July 25, 2010
For details, see my Hollywood Reporter story. ???????Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Forbes...

Breakthrough in Teamsters talks; deal ratified

Posted on July 25, 2010
In a surprising development, Hollywood Teamsters leaders at a standing room only membership meeting this morning asked the membership to ratify a 2 year contract proposed by the studios. The membership then voted 97.3% to 2.7% to ratify, ending the possibility of a strike that could have shuttered much film and television production...

Teamsters, studios fail to break stalemate

Posted on July 24, 2010
Talks between the studios and Hollywood Teamsters Local 399 ended late Friday night with no movement and no new negotiating sessions scheduled. The union meets in Burbank early Sunday morning, where the leadership is expected to seek ? and obtain ? a strike authorization vote from members...

Transportation strike could paralyze Hollywood

Posted on July 19, 2010
Believe it or not, Hollywood may be headed for another work stoppage in just two weeks. In 2007-2008, the Writers Guild struck, shuttering television and film production. In 2008-2009, a Screen Actors Guild stalemate lingered for almost a year, shutting down primarily film production...

Musicians Play a New (Media) Tune

Posted on June 30, 2010
In the ?While you were out? department, the American Federation of Musicians and the studios signed a new deal . . . four months ago. But don?t feel like we?re late to the party ? the deal doesn?t seem to have been reported in the Hollywood press. Talk about sotto voce...

Silly Lawsuit Against SAG Dismissed; and More

Posted on June 22, 2010
Remember the lawsuit that former SAG president Alan Rosenberg and three other Membership First members (1st VP Anne-Marie Johnson and board members Diane Ladd and Kent McCord) filed against their own union? No? You may have blissfully forgotten this misbegotten legal action, filed a year and a half ago (!), but the courts haven?t...

JLH on Forbes.com

Posted on April 29, 2010
Just a note (or point of personal privilege, as I guess some SAG board members are wont to say): my blogging now appears on Forbes.com's The Biz Blog. Check it out - or keep reading me here, since everything I write for Forbes.com will also be posted here...

DGA to Negotiate on SAG & AFTRA's Heels

Posted on April 28, 2010
The Directors Guild announced on its website today that it will begin negotiations with the AMPTP (studio alliance) in mid-November, which is immediately after the scheduled end of 45 days of negotiation between the AMPTP and SAG (Screen Actors Guild) & AFTRA (a smaller performers union)...

Century City Bar Entertainment Symposium

Posted on April 20, 2010
All dressed up and nowhere to go after work? If you happen to be an entertainment lawyer in and around Century City, the Century City Bar Association has the answer: why not check out their first Entertainment Symposium. The four session event (registration is $70/session, $240 for all four) offers 1...

Survey in Progress re WGA Strike

Posted on April 10, 2010
Nina O'Brien, a doctoral student at USC's Annenberg School who focuses on entertainment labor issues, is doing an anonymous study of the WGA strike and would like your participation if you're in or affiliated with the TV or film industry. Please help her out by taking her survey at http://survey...

A ?New? Entertainment Union - And a Possible Name

Posted on April 07, 2010
AFTRA is interested in merger with the Screen Actors Guild, but not if the effort is going to fail again. So we learn from an article appearing in the just-mailed Spring 2010 issue of AFTRA Magazine. The union makes clear that any such effort will encompass all of its members, and emphasizes that the goal is ?creating one media and entertainment union for all actors, performers and broadcast journalists...

Residuals Chart Available

Posted on March 25, 2010
Residuals are complex. Flummoxed by formulas? Most people are. Whether it?s 1.2% of gross, 100% of TAM, or the complexities of new media, it?s easy to find your knickers in a twist if you spend more than a few minutes puzzling over this stuff. Puzzle no longer ? or, at least, not as much as before...

SAG Approves Joint Bargaining with AFTRA

Posted on March 13, 2010
The Screen Actors Guild national board this morning approved an agreement to hold joint negotiations with AFTRA with the studio alliance (AMPTP) later this year, for 45 days starting on October 1. That was the date for SAG and the AMPTP to begin early negotiations...

AFTRA Board Approves Joint Bargaining With SAG

Posted on February 27, 2010
At a videoconference meeting today in New York and LA, AFTRA?s national board unanimously voted to approve joint bargaining with SAG for the Primetime Television Contract and the SAG TV/theatrical contract. The move comes a month after SAG?s national board voted, by a tally of 82% to 18%, to ?seek engagement with AFTRA in a joint bargaining agreement for negotiation of the Television/Theatrical Contract...

Pilots Overwhelmingly AFTRA Again

Posted on February 09, 2010
About 60 pilots for scripted network primetime programs will be shot under AFTRA contracts this year, while few ? or perhaps none ? will be produced under SAG jurisdiction, according to sources close to the two unions, who spoke on condition of anonymity...

SAG Moves towards Joint Bargaining with AFTRA

Posted on February 01, 2010
The SAG National Board yesterday passed a resolution, by a surprising 82% to 18% vote, directing the guild?s president and National Executive Director to ?seek engagement with AFTRA in a joint bargaining agreement for negotiation of the Television/Theatrical Contract,? as quoted in a SAG press release...

SAG-AFTRA Joint Bargaining: AFTRA Hesitates, Slightly; and More

Posted on January 26, 2010
An AFTRA committee, expected to recommend joint bargaining with SAG, instead referred the matter to a subcommittee, the Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap reported. Curious about details, I contacted a source close to AFTRA. (SAG and AFTRA declined to comment...

Mitigation ?Round About Midnight?

Posted on January 17, 2010
That sweet walkaway payday for Conan O?Brien might not be as rich as it sounds. Media such as Variety are reporting that NBC is likely to pay Conan $30 to $40 million to settle out his contract, with a deal to be reached shortly. But what few of the media appear to be mentioning is the two magic words of employment contract settlements: mitigation and offset...

Baby You Can Drive My Car: Hollywood Health Plans May Have to Pay ?Cadillac Plan? Tax

Posted on January 13, 2010
Hollywood unions have long bargained for great health benefits, often foregoing a portion of wage increases in order to fund those benefits (as well as valuable pension benefits). Those health benefits, which are available to middle-class members as well as wealthy stars, would be the envy of most of the country if people elsewhere knew of them: the DGA?s top-tier plan reportedly features 10% in-network co-pays and a deductible of $325 per person in a world where 30% copays and $1,000 deductibles are more common...

Hollywood Labor: SAG Source Says a Strike Unlikely, Joint SAG-AFTRA Bargaining Likely; and the Year Ahead

Posted on January 09, 2010
A SAG strike in the upcoming negotiating cycle is ?difficult to envision,? a source from SAG?s moderate faction, Unite for Strength, told me, though he/she cautioned that avoiding one will require that management negotiate reasonably and he/she wouldn?t take the strike option off the table (as, indeed, no union could)...

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