Actor's Strike ???

[Geekyfanboy]

This is not a good start.. I hope the Actors don't strike this summer..

TV, film actors' unions sever ties

By ANDREW DALTON, Associated Press Writer Sun Mar 30, 7:33 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Unions representing film and television actors will negotiate separately with producers in upcoming contract talks after board members of the TV actors union voted Saturday to sever a long-standing agreement between the two guilds.

The vote by the board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists came hours before a meeting with the Screen Actors Guild and just three months before the expiration of the contract covering movies and prime-time shows.

Despite a sometimes rocky 27-year relationship the unions had shown recent signs of peace as they prepared for the upcoming talks.

The two groups had hoped at Saturday's meeting to set a start date for negotiations. Instead of discussing strategies the sides swapped accusations.

"For the past year SAG leadership in Hollywood has engaged in a relentless campaign of disinformation and disparagement," AFTRA president Roberta Reardon said in a written statement.

SAG President Alan Rosenberg's written response: "AFTRA's refusal now to bargain together with us and their last-second abandonment of the joint process is calculated, cynical and may serve the interests of their institution, but not its members."

The AFTRA board said the vote to terminate the agreement, known as "Phase One," was "overwhelming."

Wary of repeating the damage wrought by the recently ended 100-day Hollywood writers strike, producers and several A-list actors including Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro had been pressing for negotiations to start as early as this week.

The 120,000-member Screen Actors Guild represents actors in movies, TV and other media. The 70,000-member TV and radio federation represents, among others, actors, singers, announcers and journalists.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, said in a statement that it looks forward to bargaining with AFTRA. It did not mention SAG.

[Rico]

Well, still about three months to go on the contract.  Hopefully something can get resolved by then.  Don't these people learn anything from recent events?

[iceman]

Apparently Not

[MouseSlayer]

who's next? the Gophers-Who-Go-Get-Coffee guild (GWGGC)

[Geekyfanboy]

Actors Ready to Talk — Well, At Least Some of Them

After a protracted writers strike the last thing the motion picture and television entertainment industry needs is another strike to set back future production of film and TV projects. With that in mind the actors union, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced this morning that it is ready to sit down across the table with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and talk turkey about contract renewal.

All of this comes after weeks of internal bickering between the different actor's union representatives within SAG and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (AFTRA) over if and when to talk, and exactly what the major sticking points of the new contract should be. One thing is clear — all members of of both actor's unions agree on the need to revamp the issues contained in all realms of new media and how the actors are to be compensated for that, much the same as what occured in the Writers Guild of America (WGA) 4 month-long fiasco that left a deep gorge between the producers and writers. SAG hopes to be able to jump that hurtle just as the Directors Guild of America (DGA) succsessfully accomplished so that it won't take a prolonged strike to get what the actors want, however, it should be noted that SAG was the WGA's strongest supporter during their strike effort and if it comes down to that, the actor's union will call their own strike. AFTRA has yet to set up a timeframe for its talks with the AMPTP. AFTRA split with SAG earlier this year over differences on how to approach the producers and will negotiate a separate contract for its members.

SAG and AMPTP talks will begin in two weeks. AFTRA and AMPTP have yet to announce when their talks will begin.

The current SAG/AFTRA contract runs out on June 30 of this year.

This could turn out to be a long-hot-summer.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Good grief.  At least I'm into the gaming entertainment industry more than the TV/Movie one.  All of these problems (to me) are rediculous.  But I GUESS I can see why they would do this. 

King