Tuesday, June 9, 2009

SAG Contract Dispute is Over!

From the USA Today

LOS ANGELES — Members of the Screen Actors Guild voted overwhelmingly to ratify a two-year contract covering movies and prime-time TV shows made by the major Hollywood studios, the union announced Tuesday.

Some 78% of those who voted were in favor of the deal, a show of unity following a bitter dispute that saw Guild members fighting among themselves and left them further behind than where they started. About 110,000 SAG members were sent ballots and more than 35% cast votes.

The new contract immediately raises actors' minimum pay by 3% and grants another 3.5% raise in the second year of the deal, which along with better pension benefits and some Internet compensation gives them $105 million in overall gains, the union said.

But it does not improve upon the Internet terms that other unions have already accepted. Negotiators replaced in January had sought more lucrative Web compensation.

SAG fought alone for better terms than were secured by writers, directors and another actors union called AFTRA, but the battle ended up hurting it as TV studios like ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS sent most of their new work AFTRA's way. SAG maintains exclusive jurisdiction over feature films.

The deal comes nearly a year after the last contract expired, meaning SAG actors lost out on proposed raises over the past year that the studios estimated totaled nearly $80 million.

"We were behind the eight ball to some extent with the amount of time we had been working without a contract at all," said Adam Arkin, an actor who was elected to the Guild's board last fall. "Whatever gains are to be made in the future are going to have to start with us not going down the road of this level of fracture within the community of SAG."

The new contract takes effect after midnight and expires on June 30, 2011, about the same time as those of other unions, allowing SAG to maintain the future threat of a joint strike. That expiration date had been one of the final points of contention.

The past year's infighting came to a head in January when recently elected moderates staged a boardroom coup, ousting the Guild's national executive director, Doug Allen, and muzzling President Alan Rosenberg.

That set a new tone as Interim Executive Director David White worked to salvage a deal in back-door talks with executives such as Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger and Warner Bros. Chief Executive Barry Meyer. Warner Bros. is a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

A tentative deal was reached in April, about a year after talks first began.

White said in a statement that work on the next round of negotiations "begins now," adding that he would also begin to repair damaged relations with other unions.

SAG and AFTRA split acrimoniously last year and decided to negotiate deals with the studios separately for the first time in three decades.

Rosenberg acknowledged Tuesday that actors did not agree with his executive team's hard stance. But he said he would run for a third term as president in the fall and hope to be part of the contract talks in two years.

"Our point of view was rejected for now. I don't think it was because they said necessarily we're wrong," he said. "You need solidarity. We weren't able to build that this time."

Every major segment of SAG voted for the deal, with 71% of voting Hollywood actors, 86% in New York and 89% in other U.S. regions voting in favor.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Artists, the coalition of major studios, on Tuesday called the ratification "good news for the entertainment industry." The directors' guild and AFTRA also issued congratulatory statements.

crewnewmexico.com Member Luis Alvidrez of Upward Motion Personal Training Offering "Bootcamp!"

We'd like to tell you about new fitness Bootcamp Classes being provided by crewnewmexico.com member Luis Alvidrez of Upward Motion Personal Training.

This month we are going to start something new at Upward Motion Personal Training. In July we are going to be starting Outdoor Bootcamp Classes that are going to be fun and exciting. As part of getting warmed up for these classes, we are offering a chance for you to join an outdoor bootcamp class for FREE.

Join us either
Friday June 12, at 6pm,
Saturday June 13, at 8am,
Friday June 19, at 6pm,
Saturday June 20, at 8am,
Friday June 26, at 6pm,
Saturday June 27, at 8am.

There is plenty of opportunity for you to join outdoors this summer for FREE and get a great workout, and have some FUN as WELL.

YOUR BOOTCAMP Class is FREE so call (268.1231), or visit Upward Motion here.

TV Series Pickups Favor AFTRA 5 to 1

From the Digital Media Law Blog by J Handel.

Several months ago, we learned that pilot season this year was 94% AFTRA (or 87% by some calculations), a complete 180 from its usual 90% SAG. That didn’t look good for SAG, but a few Membership First hardliners urged us to wait and see how the all-important series pickups turned out.

Not so well, we now know—at least, not so well from a SAG perspective. The AP is reporting that 25 out of 30 shows picked up by broadcast networks this spring were AFTRA and just five were SAG. That’s about 83% AFTRA to 17% SAG—not much better for SAG than the pilot numbers. In contrast, last year’s figures, according to the AP, were 3 AFTRA and 19 SAG, i.e., 14% AFTRA and 86% SAG. In other words, a complete 180.

Summer 2009 Courses at Santa Fe Community College!

Keeping New Mexican's engaged and educated and trained for film is one of our goals - so we want you to know what's coming up at Santa Fe Community College!

Santa Fe Community College Summer 2009 Courses:

FILM 247B, CRN 10367 – TP: Horror Film Workshop – Dates, 6/26 through 6/28; Times: Friday, 6/26 – 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm; Saturday/Sunday, 6/27-6/28 – 9:00 am – 6:00 pm, 3 credits. Instructor: Matt Page. In-state/in-district tuition cost $306.30.

You must be a registered credit student (not continuing education) at SFCC which can be done with no application fee at www.sfccnm.edu (just follow the new student links)

Information: http://www.sfccnm.edu, e-mail filminfo@sfccnm.edu or call Sandra at 428-1421

Call for Submissions!

3rd Annual Short Movie Festival
August 1st, 2009 - Festival and Awards Ceremony
At The Santa Fe Complex, 624 Agua Fria Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Submission Deadlines:
Physical – Postmarked no later than July 15th, 2009
Digital – Uploaded no later than July 18th, 2009
Any movie 5 minutes and under, any genre*, any topic*
*no commercials, industrials, or explicit adult content.
Visit http://www.santafemug.org or
http://www.withoutabox.com/login/6864
for Guidelines and entry form.
AWARDS:
"Best of the Festival" Award • Gold Award •
Silver Award • Audience Choice Award