
The 480 hosts its monthly General Membership Meeting this Sunday, down in ABQ at the Sheraton Uptown.
When: Sunday, January 25th 11am
Where:
Sheraton Uptown
2600 Louisiana Blvd. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110

Studios proceed cautiously for 2010 The majors might still meet that goal, but it hardly feels like a bull market so far.
Studios are proceeding cautiously as they wait for the SAG dispute to play itself out. And they are using economic hard times to slash talent salaries to the point where, even when the business is back, it won’t nearly be the same as it used to be. They are working through the volume of pre-strike films they put into production in early 2008 and are still in need of product for 2010 and especially 2011.
"Studios are telling us, we need movies, but they want us to proceed with projects without spending money, and without actually pulling the trigger and making commitments," said one studio-based producer with projects in limbo. "Producers have been wedged into this netherworld where it’s like hurry up and wait."
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SAG's Rosenberg still defiant "These people are like children," Rosenberg said of his opponents in a Tuesday interview with Daily Variety. "They refuse to take responsibility for anything they do."
The moderates have pledged they will fire Allen on grounds that he's bungled SAG's negotiations, defied the will of the board and left members without a new feature-primetime contract for nearly eight months. Despite having the votes to toss Allen out, the moderate wing was blocked by Rosenberg and his allies at the Jan. 12-13 board meeting via a 30-hour filibuster.
Rosenberg said it remains unclear when the strike authorization may be sent out as he and Allen attempt to persuade other board members to go along with a new plan to enter last-ditch negotiations with the congloms, then send the final offer out to the members without a recommendation. The moderates have already ridiculed the plan, saying they don't trust Allen.
Rosenberg questioned the latest promise by the moderates, asserting they may not have enough votes to dismiss the exec by the process of obtaining individual written signatures -- which could be submitted before the end of the month. "I suspect that they can't get enough votes for written assent, which would take us back to the dark ages," he added.
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By DAVID MACARAY
While American labor unions are having their usual rough time of it (not to mention the additional burden of having weathered eight brutal years of Elaine Chao as Secretary of Labor), the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is facing not only potential defeat in the form of getting jammed with an inferior contract, but stands to be dealt a bitter humiliation. And the entity applying that humiliation isn’t its long-time adversary, the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers). It’s SAG’s own membership.
Typically (and understandably), a union membership wants it all. That’s the standard dynamic. The members want a first-rate union contract, with all the goodies; but, because of the dangers involved, they want it to come all neatly wrapped up, without any risks. There’s a baseball analogy. The manager goes out to the mound and glibly instructs the pitcher on how to pitch to a dangerous batter: “Don’t walk him, but don’t give him anything to hit.”
What SAG’s rank-and-file wants from its leadership is much the same thing. Bring us back a good contract, a substantial contract, an improved contract, but don’t ask us to join you in a battle or otherwise sacrifice anything important to get it. Above all, don’t ask us to get tough.
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By Joe Leahy in Hyderabad
Published: January 16 2009 19:33 | Last updated: January 16 2009 19:33
Warner Brothers launched the most ambitious attempt yet by a Hollywood studio to crack the world’s most prolific movie market, Bollywood, with the commercial release of Chandni Chowk to China.
The film is the first full-scale campaign by a large US studio to create a Bollywood blockbuster, with Warner enlisting India’s star of the moment, action hero Akshay Kumar. He plays a poor cook who goes to China and learns kung fu.
by Megan Kamerick, NMBW StaffThe film industry and its supporters in New Mexico are most likely breathing a sigh of relief.
The long-awaited study by Ernst & Young on the economic return by the state’s film and media incentives found that for every $1 extended in state tax credits, state and local governments received $1.50.
Gov. Bill Richardson made the announcement Friday and said the state’s incentives to attract film and television productions have created high-quality jobs, health coverage and benefits for New Mexico workers.
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ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO [January 15, 2009] - ReelzChannel® - TV About Movies™, the only cable/satellite network and website dedicated to everything about movies, drew thousands of talented individuals to a popular and productive job fair held this week in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the site of the network's new corporate headquarters beginning in early 2009.
Nearly 3,000 people thronged to the all-day event, lining up to meet with ReelzChannel's senior network executives and apply for positions in areas ranging from entry-level administrative jobs to creative and managerial posts in a variety of areas.
In the new location, television programming, website development, creative services, and marketing and communications will all be housed in one facility for the first time since the network launched in September 2006.
ReelzChannel was impressed by the high-caliber group of people who participated in the event. As a result of the Job Fair's success, the network is now confident that it can fill up to 80 percent of the 100 new positions being created by the relocation to the new facility with a workforce experienced in making and marketing television. New Mexico is below the national unemployment rate and has a rich talent pool, so this far exceeds the network's prior projections of a 30 percent fill rate, according to Stan Hubbard, Chairman and CEO of ReelzChannel.
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The TV show Crash was filmed in and around Albuquerque, New Mexico last fall. Here's an interview with lead actor Nick Tarabay.Born and raised in
From the producers of the Academy Award-winning Best Motion Picture, the provocative 13-episode drama Crash looks at the way different lives intersect and collide in the melting pot of L.A. Tarabay recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about being involved with such a complicated and complex show.
To read the full article/interview, click here

Jan 7, 2009, 03:43 PM ET