The Screen Actors Guild's Board elections are in process. Last week on Look at LA, I interviewed the two large slates of candidates, Membership First...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 10.06.2008 | Entertainment
I don't mind bar codes, at least when they're on books, boxes, and bags of sugar. When I find them on ballots, though, I get more nervous. That tu...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 10.04.2008 | Entertainment
Last week, I did live Internet online video interviews on my Look at LA talk show with representatives of Membership First and Unite for Strength, the...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 10.04.2008 | Entertainment
When will there be a new SAG TV/theatrical contract - i.e., when will the studios and SAG close a deal? My guess: not until January or even February of next year.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 10.03.2008 | Entertainment
What happens if the challengers, Unite for Strength, win control of the SAG National Board? That would effectively happen if UFS (aka U4S) won a ce...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 10.01.2008 | Entertainment
As I've said, if SAG were willing to accept the studios' new media framework, it would more than likely be able to negotiate some of the other issues that matter.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 09.27.2008 | Entertainment
Yesterday, I did live streaming video interviews with SAG candidates and board members from the incumbent, dominant faction, Membership First (represe...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 09.24.2008 | Entertainment
There's a fight for control of the Screen Actors Guild. Elections are going on now, and may determine whether and when the Guild finally reaches a dea...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 09.15.2008 | Entertainment
Note that Nov. 5 will be the one-year anniversary of the start of the writers strike. A great day for a deal, I suppose, or, more darkly, what better time to cripple the industry with another work stoppage?
Jonathan Handel | Posted 08.11.2008 | Entertainment
Three years from now, when the SAG agreement and WGA agreement expire a month apart, the unions may decide to try once again to increase DVD residuals.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 08.01.2008 | Entertainment
A slate called Unite for Strength has arisen to challenge the Membership First faction of the SAG Board. But the slate doesn't have any A-list stars on it, which reduces its chances of successfully wresting control of the Board.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 07.28.2008 | Entertainment
No deal yet between SAG and the studios. This video commentary explores why.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 07.24.2008 | Entertainment
This short press release from the AMPTP (studio alliance) re today's SAG-AMPTP meeting says it all. Not particularly encouraging. And, below, my ana...
Michael Russnow | Posted 07.21.2008 | Entertainment
Thanks to the WGA strike, management now takes the artistic community seriously, but it couldn't have been accomplished without the support provided by the Screen Actors Guild.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 07.19.2008 | Entertainment
Day by day, the Screen Actors Guild's Hollywood leadership stumbles deeper into a morass, dragging behind it a bewildered and divided membership.
AP | RYAN NAKASHIMA | Posted 07.18.2008 | Entertainment
LOS ANGELES — The Screen Actors Guild rejected the latest contract offer from Hollywood studios on Thursday but claimed it was willing to negoti...
Huffington Post | Posted 07.18.2008 | Entertainment
A day after the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) approved a deal with the major Hollywood studio for a three-contract, the ...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 07.16.2008 | Entertainment
Expanding on my previous post, I do want to acknowledge the obvious: this vote was a strong victory for AFTRA, especially in light of SAG's aggressive...
Jonathan Handel | Posted 07.16.2008 | Entertainment
SAG will be emboldened by the low yes vote achieved by AFTRA, and is likely to resist compromise with the AMPTP for some time to come.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 07.13.2008 | Entertainment
Ironically, while spurning qualified voting for their own union, SAG's leadership urges it on AFTRA.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 07.10.2008 | Entertainment
SAG and the AMPTP met for four hours today. According to the AMPTP, the meeting was at SAG's request, and the AMPTP answered questions on the proposal it put on the table two days ago.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 07.09.2008 | Entertainment
Hollywood's quiet today. Still, with the studios' "final offer" on the table, the natural question is, what happens next -- and will there be a strike?
Alec Baldwin | Posted 07.09.2008 | Entertainment
Before I get into Obama, the SAG strike and renewable energy, I wanted to talk about Patti LuPone. Yeah. That's right. Patti LuPone.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 07.08.2008 | Entertainment
I'm advised by a AMPTP spokesman that this offer tracks the AFTRA and DGA/WGA deals in terms of minimums, new media, and other provisions.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 07.06.2008 | Entertainment
Marx posited that history repeats itself: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. This year seems proof of that with the SAG commercials contract expiring this fall.
Jonathan Handel | Posted 10.06.2008 | Entertainment