S.A.G. to Dump AFTRA, says "It's not Me, It's You"...

Well, I can't say I'm that surprised.
Daily Variety (amongst EVERY other trade publication and news channel) is covering the probable end to Phase 1.

I'm really not trying to pick sides here, but when one guild has twice the members (more than twice when you factor out dual card members), and out earns the other guild by a factor of NINE to ONE, it only makes sense that at some point it'll start to flex some muscle.

As I've written before, I think having the two guilds fighting over the same space only serves to neuter the contracts that come out. The video game contract is a perfect example. Both guilds completely underestimated the potential earnings for video games, and now we're stuck with voice over contracts that actors will never be able to make a living off of. The producers will NEVER renegotiate this contract, as why would they pay more for the same service.
This is also a HUGE disservice to the 40,000 dual card holders that have to work twice as hard to keep up pension and benefits.

The radical in me says it's time for one union, but the realist in me says it's time for a hard-line stance. It's time the members stood up and fought for clear and decided boundaries on what the two guilds are allowed to negotiate.
Having both guilds negotiating 50-50 on everything has only benefited production so far, to the detriment of the 150,000 actors involved.

This is a huge deal for people working in VO. I would highly recommend reading up on Phase 1.
@ Daily Variety

VIDEO: Seth MacFarlane Gives Impassioned Speech About WGA Strike

Well the pic is actually from a speech he gave at Harvard, but close enough right?

This is an interesting video to watch in light of the recent announcement that FOX will be signing off on episodes of Family Guy without MacFarlane's approval as show runner. He's been withholding his show runner duties along with his writing duties, which I can't say I'm in favor of. In the video he mentions studios firing assistants and staff, but that was in direct response to writer/producer/show runners striking on all fronts, not just on their writing duties. Variety has a great write up of THAT situation over HERE.

Anywho, I caught this vid on Digg, so here's the original posting (spelling corrected):

Earlier this month the creator of "Family Guy" and active WGA member Seth MacFarlane gave an impassioned speech at Fox Plaza in Century City in front of 4,000 fellow striking writers guild members in witch he lambasted Fox and other Hollywood studios for not paying the creators of profitable content what they are due.

read more | digg story

Google's Video Service Teams up with Seth MacFarlane

Right out of Variety,



I missed this last week as it came out on my B-Day, but apparently MacFarlane will be teaming up with Google to release video content featuring Raven Symone.

"Projects will involve a set of videos for MacFarlane, who will
create about fifty digital shorts centered on non-"Family Guy"
characters, some of whom will recur.
Symone will create how-to content in areas such as cooking and crafts; execs described it "Martha Stewart for teens and tweens.
Videos will be syndicated to sites that fit the creators' demos.
Deal
offers an example of how new media cos and content providers can take
advantage of online-video opportunities while staying within their
areas of expertise.
While portals like Yahoo have begun creating
original content, and traditional entertainment congloms like News
Corp. and NBC are trying to jump into the online syndication biz,
Google-MRC pact allows each party to handle only one side of the
equation."

Pretty cool stuff! I'll have to keep my eye out for it. Sounds like Raven's contribution will be similar to the beta site Videojug.

Story @ Variety

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SAG and AFTRA News for August 1st: Good, Bad, and Ugly

A bunch of stories to link out here.

SAG REAFFIRMS 'PHASE ONE' WITH AFTRA (Hollywood Reporter)

Why they would do this I dont know. Basically 'Phase One' means that at negotiations SAG and AFTRA have an equal number of seats at the table. I think this is ... well ... dumb. SAG has a lot more members. If SAG has twice as many members, they should have twice as many seats (though I think the actual difference is 10 to 7 in SAG's favor).
I did find this interesting though:

"Now here's the catch, The final, amended wording of the resolution stated a desire to tinker with how Phase One is implemented during negotiations. Specifically, SAG may try to implement so-called bloc voting on the negotiating committee, sources said. Representation still would be apportioned 50-50, but SAG votes would automatically be counted as a unanimous bloc in favor of whatever position is carried by a majority of SAG reps on the committee. "So if, say, eight SAG committee members want to vote for a position and two are against, through bloc-voting all 10 votes would count as being for the position," a labor community insider explained."

Variety also has a quick write up of the same situation HERE.

AFTRA FORGES ALLIANCE WITH IATSE (Hollywood Reporter)

Interesting development here. With SAG circling the wagons, hoping into bed with the WGA and DGA, and working really hard against Fi-Cores, it looks like AFTRA is trying to reach out to other unions also:

"It grows out of our desire to strike strategic alliances with a large number of entertainment unions," AFTRA spokesman John Hinrichs said of the IATSE announcement. "We have worked with IATSE in the past on a number of ventures, (and) what this says is that we're gong to sit down to figure out ways of working together to benefit our members on a continuing basis."Hinrichs added, "There are no plans at this point to merge."

AFTRA and IATSE?


And lastly:

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD MAY PUSH FOR STRIKE (ASSOCIATED CONTENT)

'Nuff said yeah?

"Other unions, like the Screen Actors Guild have become increasingly concerned at the prospects of a work stoppage sometime within the next year driven by unhappy members that feel they've been treated unfairly by the studios. While SAG's contract doesn't officially expire until July of 2008, and while the Writers Guild expires later this fall, they appear to have many common goals and fears: a general labor strike.
Between the big three, the WGA is considered to be the most militant of the guilds, that is to say they are the most willing to strike if several issues that have been simmering on the back burner since as far back as the 1980s are not addressed this time around, while the Directors Guild of America has been the most pacifist, having never struck in their entire existence.
All three unions are particularly frustrated over the studio's refusal change the residual formula for DVDs, and at least for the WGA, their refusal to even negotiate a new formula for the emerging download and streaming market.
The Screen Actors Guild jointly negotiates its television contract with American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), the former of the two having significantly more members and operates more closely to that of a blue collar union. Factions have developed within SAG that are angry over AFTRA's practice of signing contracts with productions for lower wages than are required by the SAG contracts, which they feel severely undercut their bargaining power."


Whew...