Tag: Unions

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Broadway Brooke Shields Unions

Brooke Shields won her race to be president of Actors’ Equity

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Last month Brooke Shields declared her candidacy to be president of Actors’ Equity, the theater actors and stage managers union equivalent of SAG. In my coverage of her announcement video, I confessed to being wholly distracted by the dessert-themed piece of art on display behind her. What were Brooke’s campaign platforms? As far as I could tell, pies. But guess what? A majority of 51,000 actors and stage managers (people who regularly self-tape auditions), saw that dimly-lit video with its confectionery background and said, “That’s our president!” Yes, Brooke won her race, even with going up against two current Actors’ Equity employees. The news came out on Friday, with Brooke’s term beginning effective immediately. May I present, Madame President:

Brooke Shields has been elected president of the Actors’ Equity Association, the union that represents about 51,000 actors and stage managers on Broadway and nationwide.

Shields prevailed over stage manager Erin Maureen Koster, a stage manager and third vice president at Actors’ Equity and Wydetta Carter, an actor who had been serving as Equity’s first vice president. Her four-year term begins effective immediately.

After the news was announced, Shields posted on Instagram saying she was “honored and grateful” to have been elected.

“I promise to lead with strength and compassion, and I will stand up for you and command the respect that we deserve as an acting community,” Shields wrote. “Also to those who ran, I did not run against you, I ran with you and for you. I look forward to listening to you.”

Kate Shindle had served as president since 2015, but decided to step down after her term ended May 23.

In a video announcing her candidacy, Shields said she wanted to be able to use her star power, as well as her experience on Broadway, to expand the profile of being an Equity member.

“I want Equity to be in the position to command the respect that we deserve, whether it’s at the bargaining table or in DC or in every state house and city hall across the country, where we want to lobby for arts funding. I want to use all of the goodwill, and the advantages tha tI have built up in my career over the years, to be able to grow the value of being an Equity member,” she said.

Shields has five Broadway credits as a replacement star, which include playing Morticia Addams during the run of The Addams Family in 2011, Sally Bowles in 2001 during the run of Cabaret, and Roxie Hart in Chicago in 2005. Her first role was as Betty Rizzo in Grease in 1994.

The former model has also continued to have an active film career, recently starring in and serving as executive producer of Mother of the Bride on Netflix.

She is one of the highest profile presidents for Actors’ Equity — though Shindle was a former Miss America. Ellen Burstyn held the role from 1982 to 1985 and Ron Silver was president from 1991 to 2000.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

Distracting cake artwork aside, I was surprised by this move from Brooke. It seemed really out of left field for her to throw her hat into this race where she’s a relative outsider to the Broadway community (she has a few theater credits under her belt, but doesn’t tread the boards as regularly as, say, David Hyde Pierce or Audra McDonald). Voting union members who I spoke with (who did not vote for Brooke) said she didn’t really put forth any agenda or platforms, so I stand by my earlier assertion that her platform is pies.

But what really perplexed me was why Brooke would want to take on this job when she’s been gearing up for the launch of her lifestyle brand for women over 40, the not-fantastically-named Beginning Is Now. My first thought was, did something fall through there? And for a brief period the Beginning Is Now website (really just a landing page to sign up for news on more to come) was down entirely. But no, that project didn’t fall through. It’s been renamed Commence (not perfect but a vast improvement) and promises to have “built something new that will land this Summer.” Some of that “something new” includes… a hair care line coming in June!

We’re all thinking it so I’m just gonna say it: she traded votes for hair products, right?

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Photos credit Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix, TheNews2/Cover Images, Getty and via Instagram

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Fran Drescher Strike Union Unions

SAG-AFTRA & AMPTP’s negotiations suspended, the strike will keep going

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This week, SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating team sat down with AMPTP’s negotiating team. SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July 14, and the negotiations have been going nowhere for months. Well, yesterday, negotiations were suspended. According to the AMPTP, they had to walk away after SAG made some proposals which producers simply hated. AMPTP got their statement out in a hurry, which you can read here. Then SAG-AFTRA responded:

On Wednesday night, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers declared that negotiations with SAG-AFTRA are suspended, given that the gap between the parties is “too great.”

“Negotiations between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA have been suspended after SAG-AFTRA presented its most recent proposal on October 11,” the trade association representing studios and streamers in negotiations said in a press release on Wednesday night. “After meaningful conversations, it is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction.”

Early Thursday morning, SAG-AFTRA shot back at the AMPTP, telling members that the studios walked away from talks with the union and accused them of using “bully tactics.” “[The studios] intentionally misrepresented to the press the cost of the above proposal – overstating it by 60 percent,” the message to union members said. “They have done the same with A.I., claiming to protect performer consent, but continuing to demand “consent” on the first day of employment for use of a performer’s digital replica for an entire cinematic universe (or any franchise project).”

The SAG-AFTRA message added, “The companies are using the same failed strategy they tried to inflict on the WGA – putting out misleading information in an attempt to fool our members into abandoning our solidarity and putting pressure on our negotiators. But, just like the writers, our members are smarter than that and will not be fooled.”

In its message, the AMPTP singled out the union’s proposal for casts to receive a cut of streaming platform revenue as “an untenable economic burden” that would cost more than $800 million per year. The trade association also referred to “numerous remaining open items” but did not explicitly state which ones those might be. When the two parties restarted negotiations on Oct. 2, they still had yet to come to terms on AI regulations and minimum wage rates, among other issues.

The development came after the fifth day of negotiations between the union and studios and streamers since SAG-AFTRA initially went on strike on July 14. During the renewed talks, which took place at SAG-AFTRA’s Los Angeles headquarters and which was attended by studio heads including Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Disney’s Bob Iger, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley and Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, the union’s streaming revenue proposal remained a major sticking point, per sources.

[From THR]

Whoever operates SAG-AFTRA’s social media did a big thread on exactly what happened and the proposals and what was really said. I believe SAG’s version of events and I believe that AMPTP is attempting a “divide and conquer” strategy, trying to sow discontent among actors by claiming that their union is making absolutely outrageous proposals. The thing is, actors are in lockstep – 99.9% of SAG-AFTRA union members know what’s at stake, they understand how badly they’re being screwed over, and they’re terrified that AI will fundamentally change the industry for the worse. AMPTP is delaying the inevitable, which is that they’re simply going to have to give in to SAG’s proposals. But it’s going to take a while before AMPTP figures that out, so the strike will probably keep going until December. That’s my prediction.

????To Our Fellow #SagAftraMembers:

It is with profound disappointment that we report the industry CEOs have walked away from the bargaining table after refusing to counter our latest offer. (1/11) pic.twitter.com/nd2PfpDH4F

— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) October 12, 2023

Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Cover Images.

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Drew Barrymore Strike Unions WGA

Drew Barrymore’s show may return in October, but the damage is already done

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Remember when Drew Barrymore shot herself in the foot (and mouth) by announcing she was bringing back her show amid the writers strike, then during a taping her crew kicked out two people wearing WGA pins, then she posted a word-salad video on a Friday doubling down on her decision to return, only to give in (to common sense and decency) by Sunday and put her show on pause? Good times. All that happened in the span of one week. If I have whiplash from it, surely she does as well. Now that the WGA has reached a tentative agreement with AMPTP, Drew might have nausea as well — she was only two weeks away from completely avoiding this epic PR disaster! Like other daytime talk shows, The Drew Barrymore Show could come back in mid to late October, pending finalization of the new deal. But Drew will forever have the stink of her (self-inflicted) saga attached to her reporting, as exemplified here by ET Online:

With the Writers Guild of America (WGA) having struck a tentative agreement to end its ongoing strike, The Drew Barrymore Show is eyeing a return to the airwaves.

ET has learned that The Drew Barrymore Show is looking to return in October.

Host Drew Barrymore faced intense backlash earlier this month after her announcement that her daytime talk show would return for season four amid the WGA strikes, but without WGA writers.

A week after that controversial announcement, Barrymore apologized publicly and announced that she was going to pause the return of the show amid the outcry.

“I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show’s premiere until the strike is over,” the host wrote as a caption next to a picture of the same message, which she shared on Sept. 17.

“I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today,” she continued. “We really tried to find our way forward. And I truly hope for a resolution for the entire industry very soon.”

In a statement to ET, a spokesperson from CBS Media Ventures, which produces The Drew Barrymore Show, read: “We support Drew’s decision to pause the show’s return and understand how complex and difficult this process has been for her.”

However, on Sunday, the WGA struck a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to end the strike.

While the deal still has to be drafted and faces several votes by WGA officials and members, it’s expected by many that the deal will be ratified and finalized in the next few weeks. Until then, the strike is not officially over, but the WGA has suspended picketing efforts and protests.

[From ET Online]

So Celebitchy and Kaiser got into Drew on Monday’s podcast #159, and now I’m gonna wade in. (Also, please consider that your *spoiler alert* in case you’ve been waiting to listen.) On the Drew Barrymore spectrum, I probably self-identify as not a full-on hater, but I definitely find her relentlessly twee, loosey-goosey persona grating. Maybe I’m not giving her enough credit, maybe I’m taking her at her flower-child-like image too much. But to me the real people to be angry with now are her PR team and managers. Where were they?!! I hold them responsible for letting those Instagram videos see the light of day. For every one celebrity there should be ten wranglers to intervene and save the star from themselves. That’s basic celebrity math.

There is still a way for Drew to come back with the show and address everything that’s gone down. But it would have to be done in exactly the right way, like having the two audience members that were kicked out come on as guests, and having her union writers speak as well. And judging by what we’ve seen coming out of her camp on this issue… let’s just say they have not been nailing the tone. But maybe someday in the future we will forget this dark era for Drew.

Photos via Instagram

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Cheryl Burke Dancing with the Stars Strike Unions WGA

Cheryl Burke calls out DWTS for continuing during strikes

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It’s been a busy week on the talk shows attempting to violate strike rules front. After failing to sell the arguments of “my show employs way more people than just the writers and that’s why we need to break WGA rules, but don’t worry we’re in complete compliance with unrelated SAG-AFTRA rules,” both Bill Maher and Drew Barrymore relented and halted production on their respective shows. The Talk and Jennifer Hudson followed Drew, all three being CBS properties. Notably not stopping production is ABC’s The View, despite having two WGA writers on strike and the union directing members to picket the studio. Another ABC program moving forward this fall? Dancing With the Stars. Because we simply can’t wait to see this show’s… 32nd Season. People on the interwebs are now dubbing it Dancing With the Scabs and Scabbing With the Stars. Now for my attempt, please enjoy some spokespeople performing the Scab Shuffle:

DWTS says the 500 crew outweigh the one WGA writer on staff: Amid calls from the Writers Guild of America to push back its premiere during the ongoing writers strike, ABC and Disney are staying on track with plans to premiere a new season of “Dancing With the Stars” next week, Variety has learned. “Dancing With the Stars” employs a crew of 500 people, and has one WGA writer on staff… “Everyone’s focus is to keep 500 people employed,” a production source tells Variety. This individual says that the WGA writer will be back at work as soon as the strike comes to an end. The WGA writer on “Dancing With the Stars” works with the hosts. The show is otherwise largely unscripted, given the live nature of the dance competition. During the last strike in 2007-2008, “Dancing With the Stars” remained in production, and similarly re-hired its writer once the strike was over.

Again with the SAG-AFTRA-compliant distraction: Sources close to production tell Variety that the show will be working in compliance with SAG-AFTRA rules, and a key focus is not to put talent in a tough spot, given that many Season 32 cast members are part of the actors’ guild. Another major key consideration was ensuring that the large staff would not be out of work, insiders added. ABC declined to comment… SAG-AFTRA rules mean that talent are still allowed to appear, as “Dancing With the Stars” participation falls under the Network Code agreement that isn’t a part of the current strike. The Season 32 cast includes multiple members of SAG-AFTRA, including Alyson Hannigan, Jamie Lynn Spears, Barry Williams, Matt Walsh, Mira Sorvino, Ariana Madix and Xochitl Gomez.

The last sentence of this paragraph alone proves why they need writers: “Dancing With the Stars” typically features video packages within episodes that showcase cast member’s past TV and film projects. Under current strike rules, former SAG-AFTRA projects cannot be promoted or discussed, which could make “DWTS’” packages tricky — but a source confirms that this season will not include any footage from past shows or movies, in order to comply with union rules. (For instance, don’t expect to see “Brady Bunch” flashbacks when introducing Williams for his rumba, and Hannigan won’t discuss her time slaying vampires on “Buffy,” while slaying on the dance floor.)

Former pro Cheryl Burke is not buying it: On Monday morning, former series pro Cheryl Burke told Variety that she felt “Dancing With the Stars” should pause until the strikes finished. “At the end of the day, we have to stick together because that’s the only way to ever make any significant change,” she said. “I don’t think it’s gonna be good for the show, to be quite honest, in the long run. I understand what they’re thinking and I get it. It’s a business, but there is no business without the rest of the business… I think they should hold tight. I think we need to stand as one. We need to unite for real and not just say we’re united.”

[From Variety]

10s across the board for Cheryl! She gets it. Solidarity is what makes the strikes work, and when the numbers are 500 to 1 it puts even more heat on the studios. Given that this is ABC/Disney , though, I’m not surprised they’re trying to get away with it. The Mouse must have his money. But I also did not think at all that Bill Maher would bend, and here we are. DWTS is scheduled to premiere on Sept. 26 — let’s see if they hold out.

Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com and via Instagram

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Drew Barrymore Strike Unions WGA

Drew Barrymore has put her talk show on hold before the season premiere

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On Friday Drew Barrymore posted a teary video to Instagram (below) where she continued to defend her decision to bring back her talk show amid the ongoing writer and actor strikes. She tread a lot of familiar ground, including that it was bigger than her, if she could make a show work during the pandemic then why not now, and that she owned her decision. The video was taken down not long after posting, but was saved for posterity’s sake by others on the interwebs. Well, by the time I was finishing jotting down my notes to cover her video, Drew had capitulated and announced that her show would not return until the strikes were over. Maybe it was being put in the same conversation as Bill Maher, maybe fellow Charlie’s Angels gave her an ass whooping, maybe ET phoned Earth to scold her. Whatever the final straw was for Drew, it’s having a ripple effect across daytime talk shows:

“I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show’s premiere until the strike is over,” she wrote on Instagram. “I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today. We really tried to find our way forward. And I truly hope for a resolution for the entire industry very soon.”

“We support Drew’s decision to pause the show’s return and understand how complex and difficult this process has been for her,” a spokesperson for CBS Media Ventures told Variety in a statement.

“The Drew Barrymore Show” will air repeats for the foreseeable future, a knowledgeable individual told Variety. Episodes that were taped last week when the show went back into production will not air.

The WGA has canceled planned pickets of “The Drew Barrymore Show.” Striking guild members will be picketing “The View,” which is a WGA-covered struck show, on Monday.

Barrymore faced swift blowback for her decision to resume taping her talk show despite Hollywood’s ongoing labor strikes. Variety reported on Saturday that part of Barrymore’s choice to bring back the show stemmed from contractual obligations with station partners across the daytime TV business. As part of the fallout, National Book awards rescinded Barrymore’s invitation to host its upcoming annual award ceremony.

As long as hosts or guests don’t discuss or promote struck work, Barrymore wouldn’t have been violating SAG-AFTRA rules. (The Network Code agreement allows daytime hosts to perform hosting duties.) But Barrymore’s show operates with union writers, so new episodes would have required moving forward without their writers on staff.

At the time, the WGA condemned Barrymore’s decision in a statement, saying, “Drew Barrymore should not be on the air while her writers are on strike fighting for a fair deal. In reality, shows like this cannot operate without writing, and that is struck work.” The Guild has not responded to request for comment about Barrymore’s reversal in programming.

Following Barrymore’s pause, CBS’ “The Talk” and “The Jennifer Hudson Show” also announced they would no longer return on Monday as planned. Other daytime talk shows that have returned this season include “The View,” which has been airing without its writers, as well as “Live With Kelly and Mark” and “Tamron Hall Show,” neither of which have writers and are not covered by the WGA.

Barrymore apologized in a now-deleted video, in which she says she owned the choice to bring back her show. “I certainly couldn’t have expected this kind of attention,” she said. “I wanted to do this because as I said, this is bigger than me, and there are other people’s jobs on the line.”

[From Variety]

“I certainly couldn’t have expected this kind of attention.” Really?!? Shouldn’t there be at least three people on her payroll whose job it is to expect something like this? In the four-minute video where Drew said this, she also claimed that she does not have a PR machine behind her. I find that very hard to swallow, but whoever is on PR for Drew and the show has really messed up. Like I’ve said before, it’s incredible to see how Drew and her people have, in the span of a week, squandered all the positive public image she had earned with her show.

On the plus side, at least now we have a trifecta of CBS talk shows on hiatus. Why is that a boon? Because CBS is part of Paramount. In addition to CBS, Paramount is also parent to BET, Comedy Central, CW, MTV, Nickelodeon, Showtime, and VH1. That’s nine studios right there that are in bed together, and one of them has an increased incentive for their AMPTP representation to find a resolution with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. And that is how striking works.

Sitting here lying like this with that ugly ass wallpaper, Drew Barrymore have you no shame???? pic.twitter.com/7SXrG3XSyU

— Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) September 15, 2023

Categories
Bill Maher Strike Unions WGA

Bill Maher is bringing back his show Real Time during the strike

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Real Time with Bill Maher has been on HBO since 2003. I admit that I watched with some regularity in those first years. I was young, then, and enjoyed the fact that for some reason his face visually reminded me of Sylvester the Cat. Mainly I tuned in for the New Rules segment at the end. My favorites were the absurdist, non-political throw away ones he’d mix in, like “new rule: cornbread isn’t bread, it’s cake!” and then he’d move onto the next with no further explanation. During his twenty-year tenure, Maher has offered a veritable cornucopia of reasons to be fired. Yet stubbornly, he remains. Let’s see how he fairs with his latest stunt, which is bringing back his show without his writers, during the ongoing strike. I guess he saw how well it was going for Drew Barrymore and wanted in on that glowing PR. Some words on the strike from Bill the Scab:

“Real Time is coming back, unfortunately, sans writers or writing. It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work,” Maher said Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The WGA strike started in May and was swiftly joined by striking actors in the union known as SAG-AFTRA, which began their strike in July. Writers have asked the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, which is made up of studios and executives, to provide them with better pay and residuals, bigger writers’ rooms and protections against artificial intelligence.

“The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and hope they are addressed to their satisfaction. But they are not the only people with issues, problems, and concerns,” Maher continued on X. “Despite some assistance from me, much of the staff is struggling mightily. We all were hopeful this would come to an end after Labor Day, but that day has come and gone, and there still seems to be nothing happening. I love my writers, I am one of them, but I’m not prepared to lose an entire year and see so many below-the-line people suffer so much.”

Maher says that he will “honor the spirit of the strike” by not showing any written pieces.

“And I’ll say it upfront to the audience: the show I will be doing without my writers will not be as good as our normal show, full stop. But the heart of the show is an off-the-cuff panel discussion that aims to cut through the bullsh-t and predictable partisanship, and that will continue. The show will not disappoint,” he added.

Earlier this month, Maher criticized the WGA strike on his “Club Random” podcast.

“They’re asking for a lot of things that are, like, kooky,” Maher told stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan on the podcast. “What I find objectionable about the philosophy of the strike [is] it seems to be, they have really morphed a long way from 2007’s strike, where they kind of believe that you’re owed a living as a writer, and you’re not. This is show business. This is the make-or-miss league.”

[From HuffPost]

Yeah, those goofy demands of writers to be able to, you know, get healthcare and pay rent! To borrow my grandmother’s Yiddish, what a schmuck. This line also really leapt out at me: “We were all hopeful this would come to an end after Labor Day, but that day has come and gone, and there still seems to be nothing happening.” File that away for future reference, union members — Summer holiday strikes are ok, but anything longer and you’re on your own. I don’t mean to minimize the struggle of below-the-line crew, because they are all out of work too right now, and not getting the same attention and recognition. But there are other ways to support them. And I doubt that fat cat Bill has even scratched the surface of his resources with the “assistance” he says he’s provided. I will agree with him on one point though: the show will not disappoint, but only because it hasn’t been good for years.

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Adam Scott Lena Dunham Natasha Lyonne Strike Unions

eBay auctions benefitting striking crew include dog walking from Adam Scott

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It’s not only actors and writers who are out of work amid their union strikes — it’s every member of the crew who makes production possible. You know how at the end movie credits you sometimes see “The making of this film supported over 15,000 jobs and involved hundreds of thousands of work hours”? Yeah, they’re all unemployed right now, and they’re being frank about the struggle. In July the WGA auctioned off experiences and memorabilia as a way to raise funds for striking writers. Now actors are following a similar model, only instead of raising funds for themselves, celebrities are auctioning off their time and possessions to benefit the crews who have been standing in solidarity with them. And there are some fun choices up for grabs:

In an effort to help crew members who’ve lost their healthcare due to Hollywood strike-related shutdowns, several actors — including Adam Scott, Natasha Lyonne, Lena Dunham, John Lithgow and Bob Odenkirk, among others — are offering experiences to the highest bidder in the Union Solidarity Coalition’s new eBay auction.

That’s right Scott to walk your dog (only if you’re Los Angeles-based), and according to the description, you can take photos and videos and even join him on the walk.

Lyonne and her dog Rootbeer have volunteered to help you work through the tricky New York Times crossword puzzle. Rosemarie Dewitt and Ron Livingston are offering to help one lucky couple adjudicate a relationship squabble where “rulings are final,” the description reads.

Perhaps you’re looking to dine with “real-life besties” Odenkirk and actor David Cross, who have made themselves available in New York or Los Angeles (or over Zoom) to join you and a friend for dinner. “Handmaid’s Tale” actor Ann Dowd, and Rachel Bloom are also offering meal-related experiences.

Lithgow, Dunham and Busy Philipps are putting forward more artistic experiences. You can commission Lithgow to paint a watercolor portrait of your pet, or hire Dunham to paint a mural inside your home. Or brush up on your ceramic skills by taking a pottery class in New York City with Philipps.

You can also zoom with the cast of “Manifest,” “Bones” or “New Girl,” or ask Maggie Gyllenhaal or Sarah Silverman 20 questions.

A number of collectible items and signed memorabilia is also up for auction, including a fedora owned and signed by the legendary Tom Waits or a blue apron signed by “The Bear” cast members, Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri and more.

Signed scripts, a signed “Stranger Things” poster, items from Parker Posey’s personal collection of “Dazed and Confused” memorabilia, and more is also available on the Coalition’s online auction.

[From CNN]

As of this writing the bidding on Lena Dunham painting a mural in your home is up to $3,050, plus $9.65 for shipping. I find the first figure deeply troubling and the second one confusing — what’s being shipped? Lena? The paints? At least it’s all for a good cause. If you have a couple hundred to a few thousand dollars available, shop wisely and generously. You can also make a smaller donation to The Union Solidarity Coalition. The auction is open until September 22. In the meantime, I’ll continue to work on the crossword puzzle with my own pooch. Although we are available for a double date in case you’re reading this, Natasha Lyonne and Rootbeer.