The moderates on the SAG National Board today delivered a document to SAG headquarters that ousts Doug Allen as National Executive Director and dissolves the negotiating committee.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 02.27.2009 | Entertainment
The SAG Awards sparkled. Women in beautiful dresses, perfectly accessorized; men crisply attired in suits or tuxes; and flash cameras and video everywhere --it was quite a scene.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 02.15.2009 | Entertainment
Last week's flap over politicization of the SAG Awards seems so, well, last week, that it was almost a blast from the past to finally receive a reply from SAG board member Frances Fisher.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 02.13.2009 | Entertainment
As I left the site of the meeting at SAG's LA headquarters at about 2:00 a.m., food arrived, suggesting more long hours for the sleep-deprived board.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 02.12.2009 | Entertainment
The SAG National Board meeting began this morning at 9:00 a.m. accompanied by light informational leafleting from pro and con sources. The meeting is expected to be contentious.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 02.06.2009 | Entertainment
Where do SAG contracts go when they expire? Who knows, but wherever it is, it's getting more crowded by the day. The Guild's got a lot of unfinishe...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 02.06.2009 | Entertainment
Support for the strike authorization vote is eroding. Rather than risk defeat, the hardliners who control the Guild may instead push for the deal to be sent out to the members for ratification.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 02.02.2009 | Entertainment
The strike authorization vote may get canceled altogether--or it might not. In light of this uncertainty, it's still critical to ask whether a strike authorization and possible strike make sense.
Alec Baldwin | Posted 01.31.2009 | Entertainment
One is that Danny Boyle wins for Best Director and that Slumdog Millionaire is Best Picture at the Oscars. I hope its star, Dev Patel, is, at the very least, nominated for this incredible film.
Jayne Lyn Stahl | Posted 01.27.2009 | Media
LA, as a municipality, is responsible for operating public access channels, and no cable company has the right to shut them down until the City has the opportunity to replace the channels.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.22.2009 | Entertainment
The Screen Actors Guild has delayed sending out the strike authorization ballots until January 14 at the earliest, representing an approximately two-week delay from the originally scheduled mailing date of January 2.
Mike Farrell | Posted 01.22.2009 | Entertainment
SAG wants a strike that will put the few casts and crews now working on SAG projects out on the street with millions of other Americans.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.18.2009 | Entertainment
If there's a strike, we may be looking at next fall before there's a deal. In a nightmare scenario, all bets are off.
AP | DAVID GERMAIN | Posted 01.18.2009 | Entertainment
LOS ANGELES — The Catholic school drama "Doubt" led contenders Thursday for the Screen Actors Guild Awards with five nominations, including hono...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.17.2009 | Entertainment
There've been a lot of developments at SAG in the last few days. What do they all mean? I'll examine that question in a free conference call, open to the public, this Thursday
Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.15.2009 | Entertainment
The reception in New York couldn't have been more different than in Los Angeles last week -- it's clear that this is now a union in open civil war.
E! | Posted 01.15.2009 | Entertainment
While support for an actors' strike was already running thin thanks to the industry-wide burnout still being felt from the 100-day writers' strike in ...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.15.2009 | Entertainment
Citing the economy, over 130 A-listers "strongly" urged SAG members not to authorize a strike, and instead "take the high road ... three years down the line ... make a great deal."
Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.11.2009 | Entertainment
Although no one else has publicly raised this issue to my knowledge, buried in the SAG deal on the table are the seeds of a scathing fight for control of the future of new media.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.10.2009 | Entertainment
Broadcast audiences are aging and advertisers are falling away due to the recession and, to some extent, the Internet. Leno's stripping, but the networks themselves may be losing their shirts.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.10.2009 | Entertainment
The Screen Actors Guild just announced that strike authorization ballots will be mailed Friday, January 2 and will be due back and tabulated three wee...
Ron Galloway | Posted 01.09.2009 | Media
The same Six Sigma business theories GE uses to build jet engines and nuclear power plants are now being applied to television programming.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.07.2009 | Entertainment
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 vio...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.07.2009 | Entertainment
I think you'll find this useful if you want to understand the issues, rather than just listen to slogans and each side's self-interested positioning.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 01.04.2009 | Entertainment
To my pleasant surprise, the AMPTP has now released an offer, along with a summary of key points. Here are some of the key points.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 02.27.2009 | Entertainment