'Where The Wild Things Are' Runs $32.4M 
Oscar Can't Always Get What He Wants 
NBC Bright Spot Of Lousy GE 3Q Earnings; 4Q … 
Oops! Vivendi May Delay 20% NBCU Sale? 
65 Nations Vie For Foreign Language Oscar 
Elle's Women In Hollywood Power List 
HOW BIG IS BIG? AEG Predicts Michael Jackson … 
Sane Debt-Reduction Move By Redstone; But … 
EXCLUSIVE: Comcast Wants NBCU Deal Done … 
Today the AMPTP issued a statement responding to SAG's contract negotiations update emailed to its members on Friday and which I reprinted here. Not surprisingly, the two sides don't agree on what's taking place right now. SAG executive national director and chief negotiator Doug Allen responds below to this latest AMPTP statement. Just get on with it, guys!
---
SAG Issues Contract Negotiations Update
---
AMPTP responding today to SAG update:
"Every effort by SAG's negotiators to reopen these talks to fundamentally alter the new media terms and make unreasonable economic demands has been flatly and consistently rejected by the producers at every level of these talks. The AMPTP's position on its final offer could not be any clearer, and no amount of dead-of-the-night emails by SAG leaders is going to change the fundamental facts.
"Negotiations concluded when the producers presented their final offer on June 30, 2008, and no meetings, formal or informal, are scheduled. The undisputed fact is that, until SAG's negotiators make a deal, their members will work indefinitely under an expired contract, enjoying none of the pay increases, protections or new media residuals that all of the other Guilds are receiving."
---
SAG national executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen counter-responding today:
"As the AMPTP knows, and as we have reported to our members on several occasions, substantive discussions about contract issues have occurred with CEO's, AMPTP committee members and staff on a continuing basis since the last formal meeting of the full committees. The details of those discussions are confidential. Any suggestion that this is not the case is intentional misdirection and completely false."
Loading ...
As others have noted, this labor uncertainty should have been over months ago — and it would have been if my own guild, the DGA, hadn’t sold out all the other guilds by leap-frogging the WGA and selfishly “templating” an unconscionably crappy deal that was then in turn adopted by every other band of cowards in this town — yes, including the WGA, which struck but did not hold out for its goals. For the sake of every creative in this industry, someone still has to better these niggardly contract “advancements,” and the Screen Actors Guild is the only body left standing to do it.
Go, SAG!
And shame on AFTRA. Shame on the DGA.
So who’s telling the truth?
the proof is in the pudding. hey there you ALLENS, start naming the names of whom you are talking to, otherwise it is just more BS coming out of your mouth.
A member of the negotiating committee runs into a studio exec at Vons and says, “Hey, we oughtta figure a way out of this mess.” The exec says, “Sign the deal, and we’re out of the mess.”
The Allens put out a press release saying, “We’re negotiating via back channels!”
I think both could be telling the truth. There are no scheduled meetings, formal or informal, but discussions are happening.
SAG’s previous email merely stated “SAG negotiators and industry representatives continue to have informal discussions regarding a successor TV/Theatrical agreement. It is not at all unusual for both parties in large negotiations like ours to meet in smaller more manageable groups to talk about remaining outstanding issues in an effort to reach accord.”
AMPTP states “every effort” has been made by SAG negotiators to reopen talks and but “no meetings, formal or informal, are scheduled.”
In short, there has been talking at various levels, but “no meetings are scheduled”.
It is so ridiculous that negotiators are not forced to talk every day. What we need is a law that requires them to be sequestered until agreements are made. My work has been adversely affected by this nonsense for at least two months. Quit screwing around before we all go broke.
OK SAG – WHO are you meeting with and talking to? Whomever they may be, do they actually claim to speak for the AMPTP? Without names you cannot actually prove that the alleged talks are taking place and are giving more credibility to the producers. If my union sent me an email like this I would demand to know who “they” are!
Time to put up or shut up
Transpo 399
This nonsense is incredibly political with SAG right now. Which means this won’t be over until SAG elections are over. So unfortunate.
If you vote Unite For Strength, this will force the AMPTP to talk again — the AMPTP would have run out of excuses if it doesn’t; from there, it’s anyone’s guess if the negotiations would be wrapped because the Unite for Strength group wouldn’t change SAG’s stance … just give the initial impression that there’s room to talk.
If you vote Membership First, there will be a SAG strike vote. This may force the AMPTP to try and wrap things too, or we could be in for a long strike of 2-3 months because by then most of TV would have already been shot ahead of schedule to last through February 2009.
In the end, really it is all in the AMPTP’s hands — NOT SAG’s — as to when these negotiations will be over.
to bye bye residuals:
the DGA does their homework, comes up with a fair contract for their members, and then closes the deal. And yet somehow…it’s their fault that SAG has conducted an incredibly incompetent, poorly researched, politically adolescent negotiation?
Puh-leeeeeze….
Put this statement from Sam Freed down under Lack of Integrity and forthright fullness. A little story; the evening before SAG negotiators were to give their answer to the AMPTP on whether to accept or reject their offer. The negotiators were meeting in what they called the fishbowl at AMPTP headquarters. Hollywood negotiators all agreed to NOT accept the offer. Sam Freed was, shall we say, vacillating. It was finally put to him to either, well these weren’t the actual words that were used, butt, butt, it went something like this, “Sh*t or get off the pot” After a quick caucus with his other NY/Branch negotiators,(No I can’t say for sure the caucus was held in the bathroom) butt, butt, when he returned, Sam and the NY/Branch negotiators decided to join the others and REJECT THE AMPTP FINAL OFFER. It was a UNANIMOUS vote to reject the AMPTP Final Offer! Like I said a lack of integrity on Sam Freed’s part. He voted with the Hollywood negotiators to REJECT the producers offer. And NOW he is admonishing the Hollywood negotiators for NOT reaching a deal; a deal that HE personally voted against.
@Red – Some party contracts and government agencies require forced negotiations or forced arbitration after certain conditions are meet (e.g., stalled negotiations). For example, under the Railway Labor Act, the National Mediation Board can appoint a mediator, who will soon sit down with both parties and evaluate the issues and positions of each party. I’m not sure what act, if any, the current negotiations would fall under. However, this site reported earlier that the SAG NY Division threatened to request that a federal mediator be brought in.
@Transpo – SAG’s Aug 15 email indicates that the combined number of people in SAG’s and AMPTP’s full committees is over 100 people. Within each side, you likely have different camps. It is often helpful in moving negotiations forward that individuals in the different camps speak off-the-record to the other side in an attempt to move the discussions forward. It’s not helpful to have all such discussions itemized or publicly disclosed since you want open and candid discussions. Whether they are happening and their substance and impact on the negotiations doesn’t matter. As you state, “Time to put up or shut up”. Or, as laughing at the idiots states, “the proof is in the pudding”.
68 to zip means 68 to zip.
I am hoping:
a: a sizable majority of the membership is behind mf and realizes we CAN’T sign this contract, and if we have to strike, so be it.
b: the thing starts to turn around publicly, and aftra, u4s, sag ny and sag branches start to be exposed for the duplicitious, weak-kneed shitbags they are.
the whole thing is : “give in! live to fight another day! (we’ve lived to fight another day for a quarter of a century on dvd) make the deal! the dga is the smartest and THEY made a deal!
it’s like – the fear is so deep and so wide, of the suits, that very few seem to understand you’ll never get a fair deal out of them unless you confront them. they’re like schoolyard bullies. no difference.
Splinter’s correct. Both sides issued well-written very specific statements. The AMPTP says specifically there are no “negotiations” going on right now, while SAG says there are “discussions”. Negotiations happen at the table with the official negotiators. Discussions happen everywhere else between the AMPTP moguls who really make the decisions and SAG officials or others speaking informally on their behalf.
SAG must continue to hang tough on New Media. An agreement in which SAG folds on New Media is far, far worse than no agreement at all.
This stuff is giving me a headache. Doesn’t either side actually care about what happens to the business, and not just themselves?
To (d)uh….what?
All I’ve got to say to the notion that the DGA is (at least partially) responsible for the morass we still find ourselves in is true dat. The DGA knew that by being first to settle with the AMPTP, the pattern for the pattern bargaining to follow would be set by the DGA. Which it has been.
One thing the DGA demonstrated most clearly was that it could work out a deal for itself in under two weeks. What reason, then, to begin its negotiations five months in advance of its contact expiration, if not to “get the town back to work” with a contract mediocre enough for the AMPTP, knowing it would then be imposed on the rest of the guilds, to leap at?
SAG is the last guild in town with a chance to prevent our losing the internet. 17-day “promotional” window, my ass!
hollywood dream … mf wants you to get a GOOD DEAL, and they have reason to believe it’s possible. to insinuate that mf doesn’t care about the business or about you is an insult to yourself and your entire union.
sometimes people have to learn to tolerate being uncomfortable for a little while while they make a stand for what they believe in. what you’re seeing here is panic on behalf of people who don’t deal well with being uncomfortable. but everyone will experience a whole new definition of long-term discomfort if this terrible deal is accepted.
Splinter wrote:
“It’s not helpful to have all such discussions itemized or publicly disclosed since you want open and candid discussions. Whether they are happening and their substance and impact on the negotiations doesn’t matter.”
If youy believe this to be true then you should be angry at SAG’s leaders for emailing, publicizing, and claiming progess in the alleged “secret” meetings.
Transpo 399
Transpo – I’m not angry at SAG’s leaders referencing emailing, publicizing and claiming progress in the alleged secret meetings. I understand why they mentioned this (shows they are still working to get a deal done and might indirectly put pressure on a camp within ATMTP who haven’t been involved in such discussions). Like many, I’m frustrated in a deal not being closed yet and blame both sides at the negotiating table (ok, they haven’t been at the table in a while but you get the point). It’s in everyone’s interest to get a fair deal done before we further damage this industry.
Let Me Make This Simple:
The DGA accepted a crappy contract… Because — Duh — they are not compensated as writers or actors who need to receive residuals.
The Writers left the Internet issues on the table because they’d been out for over a 100 days… But then the WGA was forced by press, etc., to take the same junky offer the DGA accepted…
Now the actors are in the same position — Acceptance or Declination of the CRAPPY DGA contract.
Along comes AFTRA — A vanity union when it comes to actors… Got the bucks, you got the card. Everyone knows this; this “union” is a union of weakness, united by the money of the radio & tv news talent… Who don’t even care a whit about actors.
AFTRA, in an attempt to compromise SAG’s position, immediately accepted the DGA template… of course that was AFTER they participated in strategy sessions with SAG leadership… and WALKED out and abandoned legitimate negotiations.
Why did they do this?
Was it because they cared about the future of residuals or actors….
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!
Nooooooooooooo!
BECAUSE… some of its elected idiots want MERGER with SAG and this is a cool way to do it!
Then you have the STARS, like Sally Field (who obviously has overdosed on Boniva and it’s making inroads above her neck) who know ABSOLUTELY nothing about the issues… BECAUSE she, like many other STARS, don’t give a damn about the working actor. Why SHOULD they? They’re not making minimum. They have high-powered agents who cut great deals.
Tom Hanks, God Bless you, Tom… You Skyline High alum, who PRODUCES, or you have George Clooney who produces, or you have Melissa Gilbert who produces or you have the lovely Richard ‘Massa’ who produces!
What do PRODUCERS want? More money for themselves… and their Reps want more money, too.
So the Producer/Actor does not want a Strike — Duh!
Meanwhile AFTRA, and its elected ninnies, are absolutely and positively LYING about everything connected with their stupid, self-aggrandizing actions.
How dare Mike Farrellllll call William Daniels a “figurehead actor”… Oh, I forgot, Mike Farrellll still thinks it’s the sixties, a generation and its issues, btw, that he conveniently skipped in his relentless pursuit of MONEY. It’s so funny and pathetic to see this washed-up excuse for an actor, this husk, posturing about this or that environmental issue when he travels around guzzling enormous amounts of gas; wasteful vehicle, huh?
God Bless all the SAG negotiators who have to live through the negative press generated by a small band of lying SAG union discontents and AFTRA actor/radio union wannabe’s… ‘Oh… please cast me in a SAG show so I can get some real Health Benefits….’
Man… what s bunch of phony people…. Go out and find yourself a picket sign, Mikey… better yet: Try THINKING about those of us who do not have your representation and MASSIVE residuals from Uncle Larry’s show… “MASH.”