SAG-AFTRA leaders told their members today that the guild’s ongoing contract negotiations have been “extremely productive” and that they “remain optimistic” that a fair deal can be reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. In a video posted on the guild’s YouTube channel, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher and National Executive Director Duncan
SAG-AFTRA
Six weeks into the writers strike, the early returns on summer studio films have been some of the best since Covid brought the exhibition business to a screeching halt. But if SAG-AFTRA members trade lines of dialogue for picket lines beginning July 1, the business might well look like pandemic redux. The domestic box office
SAG-AFTRA’s national board voted unanimously today to recommend that the union’s members authorize a strike in advance of its upcoming negotiations for a new film and TV contract. “In anticipation of the union’s forthcoming TV/Theatrical Contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which begin June 7, the SAG-AFTRA National Board agreed
Hollywood’s Covid-19 protocols, which added hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of making movies and TV shows over the course of the pandemic, officially end today, concurrent with the date the federal government has identified as the expiration of the Coronavirus public health emergency. The final dollar cost of the protocols may never
Hollywood’s unions and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers have agreed to extend their Covid protocols through April 1, with only minor changes, including the elimination of pre-employment and weekly Covid testing for some crew members. The protocols will keep in place a mandate that gives employers the limited option to require vaccinations
The on-air talent at Telemundo’s Spanish-language TV station KVEA 52 in Los Angeles have voted overwhelmingly to unionize with SAG-AFTRA, which called the vote “another major organizing victory in Spanish-language media.” In a vote overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, the station’s anchors and reporters voted 18-to-1 to unionize with the guild, which said
SAG-AFTRA believes in free speech, but not hate speech. On Friday, the union took the rare step of condemning one of its own members – Ye, formerly known as Kanye West – for making antisemitic statements. “I like Hitler,” the Grammy-winning rapper said recently on a right-wing talk show, adding, “I love Jewish people, but
On the party circuit during Emmy weekend, one topic inevitably found its way into every conversation, the possibility of a writers strike. Even back in September, the consensus was that there likely will be a strike. The sentiment has been only growing stronger in the months since, amid deteriorating economic environment marked by high inflation
Film and TV actors might be contractually entitled to collect half-a-day’s pay when they audition but aren’t hired, though very few ever collect. The payments have been codified in every Screen Actors Guild and SAG-AFTRA contract since 1937, but the payments are not automatic – actors have to file a claim to receive them, and
SAG-AFTRA is celebrating the upcoming Labor Day weekend with a podcast featuring Liz Shuler, president of the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO, which represents 57 affiliated unions, including SAG-AFTRA, and workers in every ZIP code in the country. According to Shuler, the future of organized labor is bright. “We are stronger together,” Shuler said on the podcast.
SAG-AFTRA‘s national board voted overwhelmingly today to approve a new agreement with the AMPTP that will sharply limit exclusivity terms in actors’ personal service agreements that hold series regulars off the market and unable to work for unreasonably long periods of time. The vote was 95.5% in favor, 4.5% opposed, and does not require membership
A confluence of hard bargaining and legislative lobbying helped secure significant gains in two new agreements SAG-AFTRA reached earlier this month covering exclusivity, which are standard provisions in TV contracts that can hold TV series regulars off the market and unable to work for unreasonably long periods of time, guild leaders said in a podcast
SAG-AFTRA’s national board has voted overwhelmingly to approve a new three-year contract with Netflix. The contract now goes to the guild’s membership for ratification. SAG-AFTRA signed its first-ever overall deal directly with Netflix three years ago. Before that, the streaming giant dealt with the guild on a production-by-production basis. Guild officials said at the time
SAG-AFTRA’s national board has approved a resolution to create a path to membership for intimacy coordinators, who serve as advocates and liaisons between performers and productions when nudity and intimate scenes are being filmed. “The role of intimacy coordinators greatly improves safety and well-being on sets and in productions requiring intimate scenes,” said Fran Drescher,
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher stood her ground during a contentious national board meeting on Saturday which saw a heated, two-hour debate over Covid-19 vaccination mandates. She took heat mostly, but not exclusively, from members of the Unite for Strength faction that supported her election last year. “The board blew up at her for two hours.
SAG-AFTRA members have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new Network Television Code, which generates more than $200 million a year in covered earnings for members working on nearly all non-primetime and all non-dramatic primetime television shows, as well as digital media. The vote was 94.67% in favor of ratification. The new agreement with the major
SAG-AFTRA’s national board has voted overwhelmingly (84.54% to 15.46%) to approve a tentative new agreement for its Network Television Code, which was recently negotiated with the major television broadcast networks and other producers. It will now be sent to SAG-AFTRA members for ratification. The contract generates more than $200 million a year in covered earnings
SAG-AFTRA has again extended its dues-relief program for members experiencing Covid-19-related financial hardship. The union first began offering Covid-19 dues relief in March 2020 during the earliest days of the pandemic. It still encourages members who can pay on time to do so “to allow the critical services of the union, such as residuals processing