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UPDATE: Casting Directors vs Studios: Studios Digging In, CDs ‘Holding Strong’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Saturday January 15, 2011 @ 6:15pm PSTTags: Casting Director Standoff, Casting Directors, Casting Directors AMPTP, Casting Directors Assistants, Network Pilot Casting, TV Casting Directors, TV Casting Directors Contract, TV Network Pilot Season, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

The ongoing dispute between casting directors on pilots and TV studios continues with no end in sight. As we first reported on Thursday, studios have not been able to sign deals with casting directors for the past couple of weeks over the issue of pay for casting assistants. While studios pay for casting directors and associates, casting directors in many cases have to foot the bill for an assistant, a non-union position not covered by the casting directors’ contract with AMPTP. Casting directors now insist that studios cover the cost for that, with the fate of 80+ broadcast pilots  that have to be cast in the next 2 months at stake.

I hear the studios are still not budging. ABC Studios, which has received a number of early pilot orders over the past 2 weeks, has begun to cast them internally. Other studios are preparing to do the same. Over the past 48 hours, we also had the first deal with a casting director that closed without the assistant provision. Casting agency La Padura & Hart Casting, whose credits include the High School Musical franchise and such NBC series as Heroes and The Event, has signed on to work on the 20th Century Fox TV-produced NBC drama pilot Playboy. There are reportedly a number of deals with other casting directors on pilots that are closed but not signed by the casting directors since they don’t include assistant pay coverage.

Originally, I had heard that, because the film and TV casting directors are unionized under the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the teamsters are getting involved in the conflict. A casting director well plugged into the situation now tells me that “this is not an union issue, it’s an individual issue, it’s an individual negotiation between casting directors and studios in order for the casting directors to get the staff they need to meet the demands of studios and networks. Every other department gets adequate staffing to do the job they were hired to do with the exception of the casting department.”

In the past, studios have paid for assistants “when deemed necessary,” the source continued. With growing casts and increasing competition,  “It has now become necessary on every pilot.”Since it’s not an union issue but an individual choice for each casting director, there is no mandate for the casting directors to stick together. “But I think the casting directors are going to hold strong,” the source said.

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Standoff Between Casting Directors And TV Studios Threatens Primetime Pilot Season

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday January 13, 2011 @ 6:09pm PSTTags: Broadcast Networks, Casting Director Standoff, Casting Directors, Casting Directors Assistants, TV, TV Casting Directors, TV Casting Directors Contract, TV Network Pilot Season, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: The broadcast networks are starting to pick up drama and comedy pilots for next fall. But who will cast them? I hear no deal with casting directors for the pilots ordered since the beginning of the year have closed … Read More »

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Mike Sitrick, Shame On You…

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday July 12, 2007 @ 5:31pm PDTTags: ABC Dreama Walker, ABC Studios Sander/Moses, Adam Sztykiel, Akiva Goldsman Director, Allison Ellwood, Andrew Lazar, Anne Damato, Annette Bening Q&A, Another Earth, Barbara Billingsley June Cleaver, Barry Sloane, Bethenny, Big Ang, Bill Murray Ghostbusters, Bill Todman Jr., Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular Host, Cable TV Premiere, Cable TV Sports, Casey Anthony attorney Jose Baez, Casting Director Standoff, CBS Spec Scripts, Christina Aguilera Super Bowl, Christopher Borrelli, Colorworks, David Guarascio, Der Spiegel, DGA Collective Bargaining Agreement, Ed Romano Warner Bros CFO, Elija Wood Frodo, Embryo Mix-Up, Eric Roberts Grace, Good Times, Grimm, Harry Potter BAFTA Award, Henry Colman, Hey, iPad Mini, Jane Levy, Jane Seymour, Jay Asher, Jeff Fager CBS News, Jeff Gregor TCM Marketing, Jessica St. Clair, Jo Baker, Joe Kavanagh, John Larroquette, Jordana Brewster, Jusrin Timberlake, King Abdullah II, Lenore Moritz, Mafia Comedy, Marc Turtletaub, Marcus Wiley Fox, Maria Schneider Death, Mark O'Rowe, Martin Pakledinaz, Martin Weiss, Marty Callner, Mary Sweeney, Matt Weiner Lionsgate, Matthew Singer, Matthew Vaughn - The Golden Age, Max Botkin, Misconception, Movies, Nicholl Committee, Noel Gallagher, Online News, P.R., Patriots, Peter Dinklage, Philip Eisner, Pulp Fiction, Reba, Red Zone Channel, Ron Moore 17th Precinct, Roseanne Barr Farming, Russo The Council of Dads, S.I.L.A., Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Shannon and Paul Morrell, Shawn Levy Family Album, Sprawl, Summit Entertainment Finance, The Butterworth Brothers, The Cape Ratings Slide, Tomorrowland, Tyne Daly, Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning, Vicangelo Bulluck, Walden Media Simon Bloom, WME Logo Design

sitrick.jpgI’ve known Mike Sitrick for a long time. He’s a PR maven who prides himself on being a family man. Which is why he should be filled with self-loathing for allowing his firm to promote a torture porn pic like Captivity, … Read More »

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