Results tagged “writersguild”

State Senator Sheila Kuehl is at it again, but this time it's not about speed cameras in Beverly Hills, it's about writers and other artists getting their fair share of residuals. In a press release from the Writers Guild of America, they explain the problem of underselling television series and movies and what SB1765, the "Fair Market Value Bill," aims to do:

Since the major media networks in the United States have come to own many cable channels, the practice of selling TV series or movies for less than the fair market value of the content has become more and more prevalent. In many cases, the product is sold or licensed from one entity to another entity within the same parent company. This creates a problem for actors, writers, and performers who rely on the amount of a sale of material for their residuals – payments made to the creators or performers of a work for showings or screenings after an initial use.

Kuehl, who represents parts of Los Angeles and Ventura County is a SAG member herself. "Many of my constituents work within the entertainment industry, and I have recently heard more and more about the growing practice of selling entertainment content, such as television series or films, for less than their fair market value. This practice has a deeply detrimental effect on the amount of compensation for creative talent like writers and actors. But the damage goes further because so-called below-the-line staff, like the Teamsters, rely on the proceeds from such a sale of content to fund their health and pension plans. This bill simply ensures that workers in the entertainment industry have the protection they need."

Photo by victoriabernal via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

At nearly 3am last night, WGA members received an email announcing that "we have a tentative deal." I'm told that the language of the deal could have been done earlier, but that the AMPTP attempted some last minute shenanigans - most reprehensible in the fact that it made me use the word "shenanigans."

People are always there for you in the midst of crisis. But eventually they have to get back to their own lives, and on to the next crisis. Unfortunately, that is when you really need someone.

The deed is done. The first large production company, United Artists (UA), has made a deal with the WGA and is going to get back to work, according to the AP (via LA Times). UA's parent company, MGM, is not included on the deal.

"United Artists has lived up to its name. UA and the Writers Guild came together and negotiated seriously. The end result is that we have a deal that will put people back to work," said Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West.

Continue reading "WGA Loves Tom Cruise; Golden Globes, Not So Much"

• Tribune Company CEO Dennis FitzSimons will be stepping down at the end of the year, letting Chicago businessman Sam Zell take over the company. The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times.
• President Bush signed a huge Energy Bill yesterday, in hopes of "reducing our dependence on oil, confronting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations of our country a nation that is stronger, cleaner and more secure."
• Looks like Sean Preston and, uh, the other little Chee-to whose name escapes us will have a little fucked up cousin very soon! Jamie Lynn Spears, following in her sister's dirty, unshod footsteps, got herself knocked up.
• California's population has grown by 11.5% since 2000 -- but the annual growth rate has slowed overall, possibly due to slower job growth: "Those who left... were fleeing an economy in which just 5,800 jobs per month were created -- down from more than 20,000 per month the previous year."
• Sean Penn's road-trip flick "Into the Wild" garnered four SAG Award nominations, including one Best Lead Actor nod for star Emile Hirsch. SAG has reached an agreement with the writers guild that will allow the ceremony to proceed as planned.
• This week's rainfall brings California's yearly total up to the seasonal norm. More relief may still be on the way.
• Approximately 25,000 residents in Northridge and other parts of the Valley were affected by power outages yesterday. Cal State Northridge shut down classes, but power has been restored to most customers.
• There may be hope yet for television in the New Year! Stephen Colbert & Jon Stewart will return to cable on January 7th without their writing staff. Stewart and Colbert commented: ""We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

Photo by Ross Reyes exclusive to LAist

This strike photo outside of Warner Bros. was taken last week on November 27. If they waited a few days, it would have been witty to play off the 28 Days Later reference... oh well, maybe they have that new Will Smith movie in mind... or maybe they just like to eat people. That or they have dermophagia (gross!). Photo by movie lover via the LAist Flickr Pool (join and add your own photos!)...

Due to the recent writer’s strike, the popular mockumentary TV series, "The Office," is now being produced as an actual documentary of a real office. "An Office" is just like the real show, only far more boring. This parody was created by my good friend, and Upright Citizens Brigade alum, Charlie Todd. You can check out more of his pranks and videos at Improv Everywhere, and here's the link to the original post. One...

Earlier today, GOD took the form of a crazy vagrant and helped us picket outside the Disney/ABC studios in Burbank. Shortly after signing in, he headed straight for the snack table, and with his giant Godly hand, slammed a fistful of Red Vines into his mouth. It looked as if he was eating a candy octopus -- its red tentacles dangling from his most holy hole -- and just when we thought his reign...

For some reason we thought that this video got eaten by our technology, but look, there's Alicia Keys belting out "No One", her second and final song from the Writers Guild march and rally and mini-concert in Hollywood today. We also have video of her other song too. Do we love her? Yes. Do we have a few more bonus pics of her for your collective asses? Find out after the jump :)...

At 1:15pm today on Hollywood Blvd. it was hot. At 1:20pm when Alicia Keys got on the small stage on the back of a truck and performed "Go Ahead", one of the best new tracks from her latest cd As I Am, it got much hotter. We had to take off our jacket. Lucky for you we had a pretty decent spot in the photo pit and we shot this video for you because...

LA Scumbag just busted with a nice photo essay of Alicia Keys, later LAist photo editor Joey Maloney will give you some more pics, and if we're lucky perhaps LAist's own Heath Biter - a WGA member - will write about what the vibe was like at this huge rally that didn't quite reach 10,000 marchers, but got damn close. But in the meantime, how about some photos of the celebs and the cool...

The picket lines are going to get a little more crowded as the Writers Guild of America today announced that the news writers and graphic artists, who have been working for more than two years without a contract, last week authorized a strike against CBS. Sadly the nation has been striking CBS News for a while, but we digress.

Of the 300 employees who cast ballots in last week's special election, 81% backed a labor stoppage to protest working for more than 2 1/2 years without a contract.

Continue reading "CBS News Writers & Artists Authorize Strike"

a writer's perspective As the strike heads into week three, writers are excited about Friday's late announcement that negotiations are going to resume on November 26. (Thank you Variety for the completely unslanted breaking news headline "Writers Agree To Talk".) Yesterday, LAist covered John Edwards appearance at a writers rally on Friday. The post spoke about all of the photos turning up on the web. I thought I would close the lid on Week...

John Edwards is everywhere in LA this weekend. Today, at the Presidential Forum on Global Warming and yesterday, images are pouring in all over these internets of Edwards in Burbank at the WGA Strikes. Best photo caption goes to Variety's Strike Blog, Scribe Vibe, for this picture of Edwards screaming into a bullhorn: "John Edwards was campaign shoutin' like a Southern Democrat out there on Alameda Avenue." A statement released by John Edwards on November...

"Show runner" might sound like go-fer or a PA, but just the opposite. In television the Show Runner is the person who calls the shots on the day-to-day operations of the series, usually deemed the Executive Producer. Today the creators, executive producers, and showrunners were out in support for the Writers Guild during day three of the strike. The WGA created a YouTube account last week and have been making little videos each day...

Morning rush hour is from 5 a.m. to noon. Evening rush hour is from noon to 7 p.m. Friday's rush hour starts Thursday morning. That and more unwritten LA rules of the road as told by Sue Doyle at the Daily News. Locally based and world-renown Architect Frank Gehry receives some moldy and cracked press today on NPR. Who doesn't like cartoons? "Most animated shows are covered by a different union from the Writers...

In a show of good will that we don't even think the firefighters got, the world famous Roxy on the Sunset Strip will be opening its doors to the WGA writers throughout the strike, LAist has just learned. In support of the writer’s strike, The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood is opening its legendary doors to all members of the Writers Guild of America. Simply presenting a membership card will allow all guild members...

Utilizing his iPhone the way Steve Jobs hoped he would, LAist contributer Brad Herman took these pictures of the WGA writers strike from what appears to be out front of the Fox studios in West LA. Here we are now almost all the way through Day One of the strike and there doesn't seem to be any acts of violence or retribution, nor have any souls of teenagers found their way into their middle...

The big news this morning is that the Writers Guild is striking beginning today. Although LAist isn't part of the Guild, we are writers and we support our brethren. Not enough to strike with them, of course, but in spirit. Therefore above you will see Jon Stewart's take, and below David Letterman's. And after the jump you can see where the writers will be today from 9am-5pm so you can drive by and honk...

With the threat of a writers strike less than 24 hours away, the WGA and the AMPTP reconvened negotiations this morning. Federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzales joined the discussions yesterday, and again, the WGA is claiming that no progress has been made. Among other things, Variety is reporting that the WGA will most likely delay the beginning of a strike until late next week. The article says this would be an advantageous move for...

The Writers Guild of America announced last night that its members voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike authorization. According to the WGA, 90.3% of votes registered supported a strike. The vote also attracted the WGA’s highest turnout ever. The 5,507 votes eclipsed the previous record of 4,128 ballots cast during the 2001 contract negations. The strong show of solidarity should empower the WGA in their ongoing negotiations with the AMPTP. The Guild’s main concerns...

North County just can't catch a break lately: another fatal freeway pileup near Antelope Valley today, this one involving eight vehicles and at least one fatality. The freeway has been closed in both directions. Things Not Worth Beating Someone With a Hammer For: six dollars? A group of males accosted and hammered a man in Canoga Park last night; then they blew the cash on penny candy and stamps. Not really, but six bucks??...

Photo by pd88 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

Halloween could bring a mixed bag of tricks and treats. The Writers Guild appears to be getting ready to go on strike at the end of the month which means that many shows might be affected in serious ways, while some might not even see the light of day.

By Nov. 1, nets will have enough episodes of current shows in the can to get them through mid-January. But the February sweeps would be decimated [by a strike], and new shows would halt production well before they'd filled their initial 13 episode orders.

Continue reading "Writers Strike Could Kill The Bionic Woman"

Monday P.J. O’Rourke signs On the Wealth of Nations 7pm @ Book Soup Adam Gopnick reads Through the Children's Gate 7:30pm @ Skirball Cultural Center Tuesday David Mamet signs Bambi vs. Godzilla 7pm @ Book Soup Edward Humes signs Monkey Girl 7pm @ Vroman’s Norman Mailer discusses Castle in the Forest with David Ulin 7:30pm @ Writers Guild Theater Daveed Gartenstein-Ross presents My Year in Radical Islam 7:30pm @ Barnes & Noble Santa Monica...

by Kevin McCollister It's unlikely you'll hear about it on the evening (network-controlled) news, but an estimated 800 people attended a rally this morning at the Pan Pacific Park to protest low wages and lack of health benefits for the writers of television's lucrative reality shows. Organized by the Writers Guild of America in support of the striking writers of "America's Next Top Model", the rally also fired up the WGA writers, whose contract...

"Chinatown" screenwriter Robert Towne shares stories about screenwriting at the Writers Guild Foundation Spring Storytellers Series tonight at 7:30 PM. The Writers Guild Theater is located at 135 S. Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills. For reservations, call (323) 782-4692. Tickets are $25 for WGA members and academic faculty. Students get in for $15 with ID.