labor pains
More apocalyptic Hollywood strike talk is surfacing this morning, with
Variety noting that little progress has been made in the ongoing contract negotiations between SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Shocking! But with one week remaining on their clock before the compliant gang at AFTRA gets their turn to bend over the conference room table for a little rough, residual-based intimacy, time is of the essence for an aggressive union leadership that wants to at least pretend it maintains the upper hand:
Although the guild hasn't set a strike authorization vote for the 120,000 SAG members yet, the industry continues to fret about a work stoppage. The majors have remained unwilling to commit to starting new feature productions until a SAG deal is in hand — a situation that some in the biz are calling a de facto strike.
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In another noisy shot across the studios' collective bow, SAG leadership hinted further at a strike Wednesday by
signing an interim work agreement with indie shingle
The Film Department. The deal would allow nine films in varying stages of development — including the Catherine Zeta-Jones comedy
The Rebound and the Gerard Butler thriller
Law-Abiding Citizen — to continue unaffected in the case of a work stoppage. The WGA applied a similar approach during its own strike, eventually pacting with seemingly every indie in town that didn't have financing and/or distribution deals with major studios. SAG is likely to do the same, having first floated the idea over a month ago and currently in talks with the likes of Lionsgate, The Weinstein Company and other producers. Television isn't covered, however, so look for plenty of reruns should Strike Hell come to pass (again) after June 30. [
Variety]
labor pains
As
noted here Monday, SAG president and all-around industry red-ass
Alan Rosenberg never encountered a paper cut he couldn't pick and peel into a festering scab. A lot of it is the institution's historic dysfunction; less than 90 days from the expiration of its contract with studios, SAG has more factions, infighting and revenue disparities than the Jackson family. Nevertheless, on the second day of negotiations between SAG and producers, Brooks Barnes offers
a revealing portrait of the Man Who Would Bring Hollywood to Its Knees If It Will Get Him in the
New York Times:
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labor pains
While most of the civilized world enjoyed an early-spring weekend about town, SAG president and press warlord Alan Rosenberg practiced his saber-rattling in anticipation of upcoming labor negotiations with the studios. Despite reaching out to AFTRA to rejoin them in talks starting tomorrow, such token detente couldn't mitigate Rosenberg's resistance pledged against everyone from mutinous actors like Kevin Bacon and Charlie Sheen to penny-pinching producers. And at least one high-powered, face-saving source is urging the union to stand down or face certain doom.
How does Rosenberg keep it all straight? The same way we do: One enemy at a time.
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