The AMPTP alerted me to this “Open Letter to the Entertainment Industry”  in the form of an ad addressing the current situation with SAG and set to run in the Los Angeles Times tomorrow. I have a better idea: Why don’t the Hollywood CEOs get off their damn high horses and start negotiating directly with SAG (like they…

EXCLUSIVE: As I suspected, there seems to be unfinished biz between IATSE and the AMPTP over exactly what’s in their so-called “deal” announced November 19th for new 3-year contract. According to my sources, this is the general overview of the tentative agreement. But there’s still no Memorandum of Agreement…

SUNDAY AM: Waistlines expanded on Thanksgiving Day, and this 3-day weekend and 5-day holiday shaped up as big for moviegoing, too. Maybe it’s because of the grim economy that audiences wanted laughs, but the mediocre PG-13 comedy Four Christmases, helped by a short 80-minute running time, knocked off Twilight for No…

United Talent’s Jeremy Zimmer just signed away Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, writer/director of the 2007 Best Foreign Language Oscar winning The Lives Of Others (aka Germany’s Das Leben der Anderen released in 2006), from CAA’s Beth Swofford. (He’d been initially signed by CAA’s Tory Metzger who left in May for…

This was released by SAG on Wednesday, November 26th: Why should we vote to authorize a strike? We need to show management that we are willing to fight to preserve our ability to earn a living as union performers; otherwise, management will take that away from us.  Nearly half of our earnings as union performers come…

Back on October 6th, I reported that the WGA and Tyler Perry were reaching a settlement in principal. Today it’s official: Tyler Perry Studios will become a signatory to the WGA contract. Sadly, the news release (below) does indicate that “some of the writers” writers fired from Perry’s two television series, House Of…

Dueling statements today… SAG President Alan Rosenfeld sent this message to members (also available on video here): Dear Screen Actors Guild Member, As your president, I want to take this opportunity to communicate directly with you about recent developments regarding our television and motion picture contract…

WEDNESDAY PM UPDATE: Now the blogger says she can’t “confirm with certainty when this meeting took place”. Nor, judging from the corrections she’s already made, the rest of the story. But she still has it online. Amazing. WEDNESDAY 10 AM UPDATE: Wow, this is sad. Now the blogger has put the story back up. “It was not…

TUESDAY 4 PM UPDATE: MovieTickets.com says Twilight has sold more tickets on its site than Bolt, Quantum of Solace, Australia, and Milk combined, and still boasts over 345 upcoming sold out performances. TUESDAY AM: This is shaping up as one of the big holiday weekends. No doubt the entire country may be in the mood…

Few in Hollywood thought Vanity Fair would dare restart its annual Oscar party in this lousy economy after cancelling it last time around because of the writers strike. (We could hope, right?) But Graydon Carter just announced: “Vanity Fair will hold its annual Oscar Night party at the Sunset Tower Hotel on February…

It can’t come as a surprise to anyone that all the full-frills parties surrounding the Super Bowl may not be held come February in Tampa because of the economic collapse. But Sports Business Journal is reporting that one of the smaller and more private parties cancelled is by CAA’s sports division, CAA Sports, which…

Few issues divided the WGA more than the leadership’s post-strike publication on April 18th of the names of its 28 members who went fi-core during the strike. After the WGA’s solidarity during the strike itself, I was flabbergasted by the huge schism which WGA West president Patric Verrone and WGA East president…