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2ND UPDATE: AFTRA Chairman Claims Joint Resolution With SAG "Erroneous" But Admits OKing It; "I Regret I Did Not Object"
PPDATE: Huh? No SAG-AFTRA Lovefest After All?
This is potentially bad news for the AMPTP today. The Hollywood CEOs had been hoping to exploit the longtime bitter rivalry between SAG and AFTRA in order to pit 
both unions against one another in the run- up to contract negotiations (just as the moguls had done between the DGA and the WGA). But the following joint SAG and AFTRA resolution seems to indicate the start of a new solidarity. "Only when the Chief Negotiators, the Joint Wages and Working Conditions Committee and the Joint National Board of Directors of SAG and AFTRA decide it is strategically the best time to negotiate with our employers will an official statement announcing such decision be made by our unions," the new resolution says. Here it is in full:
SAG and AFTRA Hollywood Joint Wages and Working Conditions Committee Adopts Resolution
Los Angeles (February 29, 2008) – The Hollywood Joint Wages and Working Conditions Committee of Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists today unanimously adopted the following resolution:
The Hollywood Joint SAG/AFTRA Wages and Working Conditions Committee, which represents the majority of working actors in this country and has worked so well together to create proposals that truly reflect the needs of middle class actors in all categories, reaffirms that:
The Joint SAG/AFTRA Wages and Working Conditions Committee, negotiating team and National Boards will diligently and patiently adhere to the wages and working conditions process;
and
Only when the Chief Negotiators, the Joint Wages and Working Conditions Committee and the Joint National Board of Directors of SAG and AFTRA decide it is strategically the best time to negotiate with our employers will an official statement announcing such decision be made by our unions.
Unanimously adopted February 29, 2008.
After all this time -- the years, the witnesses before the grand jury, the rumors, and the media coverage -- I can tell you that the trial memo filed last night by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the case of United States v. Pellicano, et al is not going to shake up Hollywood one iota. Of course, these are very serious charges against Anthony Pellicano and his co-defendants Mark Arneson (a 29-year veteran of the LAPD), Abner Nicherie (a Las Vegas businessman), Rayford Turner (a former telephone field technician), and Kevin Kachikian (who allegedly developed the “Telesleuth” wiretapping software program for Pellicano). (The prosecution's case against an additional co-defendant, bigtime entertainment attorney Terry Christensen, will be made in a separate trial). Of course, the alleged activities negatively impacted all the victims' lives. But this trial memo is a long, long way from the bombshell that many thought would turn Hollywood inside out. Yes, Hollywood figures are mentioned in it prominently. But no specific charges among the 111 counts are leveled against any of them and, in some cases, they're victims. But perhaps more information will come out at trial since the government said it expects to call approximately 80 to 100 witnesses to testify before the jury. Here are the entertainment-related names in chronological order with the feds' statement of the case and my own explanation of the showbiz connections:
-- Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane, the CAA partners, are mentioned in a footnote (#11) because "recovered from Pellicano's computers were scanned computer printouts of DMV and criminal history information for Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane bearing Arneson's name and a date of August 10th, 2001, which comports with the date when Arneson conducted database inquiries on these individuals". No context is provided in the trial memo. But Lourd and Huvane were clearly victims. Their CAA issued an "it's Ovitz or us" ultimatum in 1999 after Michael Ovitz broke his promise not to raid the talent agency he co-founded and instead signed Robin Williams and seven other actors and directors away from CAA to his newly started management company AMG. Ovitz is mentioned in the feds' trial memo as having hired Pellicano.
If a federal judge severs a pair of counts from the wiretapping and conspiracy case against Anthony Pellicano, then the imprisoned Hollywood P.I. would have two trials -- the one starting Wednesday, and a second to be held later alongside bigwig showbiz attorney Terry Christensen. Pellicano surprised U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer by not objecting to the severance motion. Fischer asked whether Pellicano wanted two trials, and he answered, "Yes." That's the reporting from Robert Iafolla in today's respected legal newspaper, the Los Angeles Daily Journal (online requires subscription). Meanwhile, LADJ and Radaronline.com say those last-minute plea bargain talks have stalled with three of The Pelican's co-defendants. Meanwhile, jury selection continues. 
But with change comes pain, and New Line Cinema into Warner Bros will indeed cause pain to personnel and projects. Right now, there are more questions than answers about how this is going to work precisely. Even the Warner Bros people are saying that. The short-term good news for those fearful of losing their jobs is that, as part of the consolidation, New Line will be operated as a unit of Warner Bros and maintain separate development, production, marketing, distribution and business affairs operations. Of course, how long that lasts is anybody's guess, and Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne forecast that New Line will become a much smaller company. Bewkes refused to renew their contracts. The pair co-founded the company 40 years ago and did a brilliant job creating a powerhouse studio large in profit if not size and scope. They also sold that company and made a shitload of money. 
Hollywood has witnessed this again and again: moguls sell the company they built and then expect to have a free hand running it under the new ownership. But they can't have their cake and eat it too. Shaye especially became a victim of his own arrogance and avarice. Worse, he didn't keep his eye on the bottom line. And he unnecessarily pissed off creative partners who had done great work for the studio. Bob had a long and successful run: now it's over because of hubris and karma. Readers of DHD know that I first 
Now that the writers strike is truly behind Hollywood, I'm turning my attention as much as possible to the actors' upcoming contract negotiations with Hollywood CEOs. Already, Variety is using its Page One bully pulpit to pressure SAG leadership to begin talks with the moguls because the studios are "refusing" to schedule new start dates on films that can't complete shooting by June 30. (See my previous, 
to open the next Saturday Night Live show. (With Ellen Page hosting, the Juno star might play Chelsea Clinton.) Not bad for a veteran SNL writer who 10 years ago was fired by NBC for going after politicians in power on the show's "Weekend Update". Not only did Downey's savvy opener last Saturday suddenly make SNL hot again, but Hillary Clinton cited the skit during yesterday's Democratic President Debate. "In the last several debates I seem to get the first question all the time," she said. "I don't mind. I'll be happy to field it. I just find it curious if anybody saw 'Saturday Night Live' maybe we should ask Barack if he's comfortable and needs another pillow."
which has now officially replaced "to spend more time with his family" as the latest explanation for forced exits. Also senior vp of the Film & Performing Arts and Music & Literary groups within Nielsen Business Media, Kilkullen in his five years with the company has been president and publisher of Billboard since 2003. Kilkullen also oversaw Back Stage, The Bookseller and Kirkus Reviews. But my favorite Kilcullen accomplishment was his saying for months and months he was looking for a "star" to be the next editor of The Hollywood Reporter. He even told job candidates he wanted someone "along the lines of Ken Auletta". It seemed a joke when Elizabeth Guider was hired after being passed over and demoted at Variety.But that was just symptomatic of what is Nielsen's increasing Variety-zation. You may have forgotten that in January 2007 Nielsen Business Media' hired one-time Variety publishing bigwig Gerry Byrne as a consultant. 
(And THR hired Variety veterans Eric Mika as senior V-P and publishing director and Rose Einstein in the role of V-P and associate publisher.) Now Nielsen Business Media today announced the creation of an Entertainment Group "that brings together the company's leading entertainment brands into one unit" with -- you guessed it -- Byrne as the senior VP head of it. Previously, the company's entertainment properties existed under two market groups: Film & Performing Arts, and Music & Literary. This news comes just as Reed Elsevier announced that it's putting Reed Business Information (owner of Variety and Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News up for sale.)
"The creation of the Entertainment Group is another step in Nielsen Business Media's integration strategy, setting in place a more unified editorial approach across entertainment properties to provide audiences with the most inclusive, ... 
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