Actor Strikewatch Update: December

The possibility of another Hollywood strike has become real again. The Screen Actors Guild has announced they will mail strike authorization ballots to its members on January 2, 2009, and will count the votes on January 23. For more info, see Variety.

This development follows after a reboot of negotiations with federal mediators recently failed in November, as we reported last month.

The vote requires a high threshold of 75% to approve the strike authorization, which is seen as giving union negotiators a much stronger bargaining position but does not in itself guarantee a strike will occur. However the producers group (AMPTP) has been loathe to give ground on payments for "New Media" formats such as Internet streaming, which industry observers believe will be the next important area as viewership continues to decline for broadcast television and DVDs.

If a strike did occur, unlike the past writer's strike, it would immediately halt ongoing productions including Lost, which has been filming Season 5 continuously since mid-August, and would thus be somewhere beyond the halfway point of the planned seventeen hours of programming.

So after January 23, check the news to see if your fix of Lost may be in jeopardy.

UPDATE: December 22, 2008 - The strike vote scheduled January 2 has been postponed, with an emergency SAG board meeting to be held January 12-13, due to the number of high-profile opposition from actors within the union. Read more at Variety here.

Actor Strikewatch Update: November

The winds are fanning the possible flames of a debilitating actor's strike again, an issue largely dormant since July, when the Screen Actor Guild's primetime contract expired.

In the aftermath, there was no new contract, but there was also no strike, due to prevailing belief that the union's membership would not have the stomach to authorize a strike on the heels of the writer's strike. Life went on, and filming at all networks for a new television season commenced on schedule.

Last week, the union met with the producers (AMPTP), along with a federal mediator, for the first time since July, with negligible signs of progress.

Today, the news media are reporting that talks officially broke down completely, and the union responded by announcing a campaign to convince its members to authorize a strike. Whether they will be successful in the midst of a worldwide economic downturn, but with so much on the line such as "new media" viewing payments (have you watched Lost on abc.com lately?), has yet to be seen. Read more at a nice, in-depth article at the LA Times.

If a strike does begin in the near future, it will of course interrupt the filming of Lost's Season 5, which will probably be somewhere more than halfway through the season by the beginning of the new year. It doesn't look likely yet, but fans should keep an eye on the news to see if the Screen Actors Guild manages to muster a strike authorization. If that happens, it will almost certainly affect our 2009 fix of Lost in some fashion.

Actor strikewatch update

The possibility of a strike remains in Hollywood, as the Screen Actors Guild yesterday rejected the "final offer" from the producers' group AMPTP. The current contract expired at the end of June 30, although SAG did not strike and the producers did not lock out the actors. The producers had given their ultimatum, a "final offer" just before the contract lapsed. As expected, the proposal made no movement on the actors' key demands on DVD payments and new media.

On July 8, AFTRA, the sister actors' union, announced that is members had ratified a new contract with the producers, something SAG had campaigned heavily against. SAG is perceived to have less leverage now, although their spin is that the ratification percentage was unusually low (62.4% rather than >90%), and the vote included members of AFTRA who are not actors. The vote was also an indicator to SAG about the level of support for a possible strike authorization vote among its own members (which would require 75% voting yes), because about 40000 actors are members in both actor unions; the conclusion of the vote casts some doubt on SAG's ability to launch a strike.

Yesterday on July 10, SAG officially rejected the producers' final offer, as expected (and offered their own compromise in the form of a counterproposal, although technically the producers aren't even listening after their final offer). But all of Hollywood, including the producers and actors, is loathe to strike after weathering the recent WGA strike. California governor Arnold Schawzenegger and LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have openly offered their services as mediators. The producers have stated they are through with negotiating after giving their final offer-- SAG states it is ready to continue negotiating. The impasse may continue through the late summer, although if it continues until September, it may affect the Emmy Awards, which the producers would likely rather avoid; it would also delay the starting of production for Lost's Season 5.

Read more at Variety here and here and the NY Times here

Actors may still strike

The prospects have become increasingly poor for an easy resolution of the contract negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the producers group (AMPTP), which have reached their 35th day, and with current developments now look to last until at least mid-July. If the dispute is not resolved by late summer, the timely resumption of filming for Lost's Season 5 will be jeopardized.

Part of the problem is that SAG's sister union AFTRA has reached a tentative deal with the producers, a deal which now goes to vote with its general membership. The results won't be announced until July 8, more than a week after the June 30 expiration of the actors' contract. That also means SAG probably won't cut a deal before that announcement. More than 44000 actors hold cards in both unions, and SAG is lobbying heavily to have "their" actors vote no on the AFTRA deal: if the deal does not get a green light among its members, AFTRA may be forced to reluctantly rejoin SAG for joint bargaining for a better deal from the producers. It also means SAG is unlikely to go on strike before July 8. In fact, SAG has not yet made the significant leap of actually putting a strike authorization to vote among its members.

The producers are not staying still either. They have taken the extraordinary step to announce they will soon make the actors a "final offer", and offer which is likely to be made before June 30, and also likely to be ignored by SAG, at least until July 8 when they can evaluate their leverage after AFTRA's vote. However since the offer almost certainly will make no compromises on the various points SAG really wants, it looks like there will be a larger battle mid summer.

The next thing to watch for in the news is if SAG begins a strike authorization vote among its general membership, and whether or not it passes.

Read more at Variety.

(If you're just learning about this news, you can catch up with our summary here.)

July 2, 2008 Update: The contract has expired at the end of June 30 as expected. The actors have not struck, and the producers have not locked out the actors. Also as expected, the producers gave their "final offer" as promised, less than a day before the contract expired, an offer that reportedly made no movement on the main platforms of the actors. The rhetoric between SAG and AFTRA has been heating up regarding AFTRA's contract vote among its general membership, with big names such as Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, George Clooney recently offering their various opinions. About half of AFTRA members also are in SAG, and SAG has been campaigning for these dual card holders to vote down the contract. The entire industry is still awaiting these results, which should be known early next week on July 8. The vote may be used by SAG to help guess if its own members have the will to pass a strike authorization. If the AFTRA contract vote passes, SAG will find itself without enough support among actors for its views, and may be forced to compromise with the producers. If the AFTRA vote fails however, SAG will have more leverage with the producers with a now-realistic option to strike in its bargaining arsenal. Stay tuned for July 8.

July 9, 2008 update: It was announced yesterday that AFTRA members ratified the contract. SAG is perceived to have less leverage now, although they are spinning the story to point out that the ratification percentage was unusually low (62.4% rather than >90%), and the vote included members of AFTRA who are not actors. No one knows how the news will play out, but now the ball is in SAG's court to comment on the AMPTP's "final offer", which we may hear in two days on Thursday, when talks resume. Read more at Variety here, and also read their commentary here explaining how the timing of the Writer's strike affected SAG, back when the industry was wondering if the writers would wait until now to strike simultaneously with the actors.

Actor talks resume

The primetime contract negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the producers group (AMPTP) restarted again this week.

The clock is ticking toward the June 30 expiration of the actors' contract. The pressure is on SAG as their sister actor union AFTRA have reached a tentative deal, a deal which opened the way for SAG to resume negotiations which had ended three weeks ago with some signs of progress. However the union leadership doesn't seem as if it will budge timidly from some of its sticking points, primarily in DVD and new media/Internet compensation, no matter what compromises AFTRA recently made. Read more at Variety.

A strike authorization is a big step, and not a certainty, given the recent writers strike.

Anything is still possible, and given the phenomenal ending of Lost Season 4, it would be a shame if the filming of Season 5 was delayed by yet another Hollywood strike.

(If you're just learning about this news, you can catch up with our summary here.)

SAG, Producers, reschedule negotiations

The producers and SAG (Screen Actors Guild), which covers Lost and nearly all of primetime TV)), announced Wednesday (link) that they would resume their negotiations for a primetime contract in less than two weeks, on or before May 28. These negotiations had been halted May 6 (with SAG protesting that a deal was close, link) when the producers switched tracks to begin negotiations with the sister actors union AFTRA (American Federation of Television & Radio Artists), which today continue their 9th day of negotiations.

By May 28, the less-demanding AFTRA is expected to have hammered out a contract, and SAG can begin. Whether or not a strike come June 30 is likely is still up in the air, but the planned resumption of talks can only be good news, as Lost Season 5 is slated to begin production late this summer. If you're just learning about this news, you can catch up with our summary here.

Actor talks stall without deal

The negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the producers group (AMPTP) ended today without a deal for a new primetime contract (link). The current contract expires in just under eight weeks on June 30, after which a strike (and a delay to the start of filming of Lost Season 5 in August) becomes a possible outcome.

The talks had been repeatedly extended, with the most recent extension last Friday due to a promising thaw in some no-compromise issues. However the talks are now indefinitely postponed as the AMPTP now turns to negotiating with AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), the sister actors union which recently divorced SAG for the purpose of joint bargaining. A new round of talks with SAG are not scheduled, although the talks with AFTRA may well end with a deal in only two weeks.

If you haven't been keeping up with the issue, the vast majority of prime-time television, including Lost, are under SAG contracts. The primary area of dispute are payments for DVDs, and new media including downloads and ad-supported streaming.

There are some reasons to believe a strike is not necessarily imminent come June 30. The producers axed the prospect of further negotiations with SAG today, despite SAG's statements that a deal was close; therefore it may be only a pressure tactic when in reality the two sides are closer than ever. Hollywood is still reeling from the recent writer's strike, and it is not a certain prospect that SAG would be able to generate a landslide vote among its own members to actually authorize a strike. Furthermore, SAG may be loathe to strike since it would mean the now-unfriendly sister union AFTRA may gain a larger footprint in prime-time, and a large head start in digital media, the promising new wild-west frontier of acting jurisdiction. However AFTRA is expected to have lesser demands, and it is possible the producers might be unlikely to give SAG more than it gives AFTRA, a scenario which might cause deadlock and a strike.

Anything is still possible. Let's hope for a speedy resolution well in advance of June 30, but for now, stay tuned to the negotiations with AFTRA, as these will affect SAG's future efforts. But for tonight, it's definitely not good news as the end of talks without a deal will do little to settle the nerves of Hollywood.

A breath of hope: SAG talks extended with progress

Friday ended with some good news: progress on the primetime contract talks between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the producers. These already extended talks had been scheduled to end yesterday, and there were ominous signs of deadlock. However the end of talks on Friday brought the good news that progress had indeed been made, and under this circumstance, both sides agreed to extend the bargaining again, through this weekend until Tuesday.

The first sign of give-and-take bargaining was that SAG finally dropped its ironclad demand for a doubling of DVD payment, shifting reimbursement to other methods. Although a deal is still not certain, the good-faith move by SAG has opened a door of promise and hope that a deal may be cut by next Tuesday. The sister actors union, AFTRA, has agreed to delay the start of its own talks until after Tuesday. In case you haven't been reading up, the actors' contract expires on June 30, and Lost (like the vast majority of primetime shows) works under a SAG contract.

Actor Strike Possible? May Update

As reported in our previous entry, the primetime TV contract talks between the producers (AMPTP) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is about to end tomorrow, after three workweeks of negotiations.

The prospects don't look good, according to industry press (see Variety). Yesterday, the AMPTP broke media neutrality with a public criticism of SAG, which apparently has not backed off of its hot-button demands, in particular for a doubling of DVD reimbursement as well as its demands for New Media which are significantly better than the terms recently negotiated by the writers (WGA) and directors (DGA). The producers have long said the actors should not expect a better deal than these other unions.

In all likelihood then, talks with SAG will end tomorrow and go on hiatus and the AMPTP begins talks with SAG's rival union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (AFTRA). As a reminder, most primetime shows are under SAG contracts, including Lost. AFTRA only has 3 shows in primetime (they are powerful in daytime TV), but if they can ink a quick deal at less demanding terms, they may be able to get a larger foothold in SAG's traditional territory, and maybe even in upcoming digital new media projects.

Talks may with SAG might resume after AFTRA is finished with its negotiations, but it's already May and the contract expires in two months on June 30. There's plenty of time for more negotiations, and a strike is not for certain, but a quick resolution and ease of mind by tomorrow evening now seems very unlikely. Lost Season 5's timely resumption may hang in the balance. We'll check back tomorrow.

Michael Eisner speaks on strike

Former Disney CEO (and current CNBC host) Michael Eisner opined today that the WGA strike was essentially over (link), meaning that the remaining steps to ending the strike were a mere formality. He said: "It's over. They made the deal, they shook hands on the deal. It's going, on Saturday, to the writers. A deal has been made. They'll be back to work very soon... I know it's over."

To clarify, the strike isn't over until it's over. This means the scheduled Saturday general membership meeting for WGA East and WGA West will still happen-- this will be a townhall-style event to explain the draft contract to the members in order to gauge their opinion during a live meeting. The vote won't occur then-- if all goes well on Saturday, all of the members then will then need to formally vote. I'm not sure how it works, but I'm guessing it will be a relatively time-consuming process conducted through the postal mail.

So what Eisner is saying is that in his opinion, the WGA negotiators are very happy with the terms of the draft deal, and that by extension, the membership are almost certain take the deal with open arms. Eisner is likely to have some inside word on the deal, but the entire world will have a better idea if he was right after the WGA's live meetings Saturday. If these go well, the WGA leadership is likely to email all of their members encouraging them to vote for the deal when ballots come in the mail, a recommendation that will carry much weight. Therefore Saturday's result, if positive, will be interpreted as a de facto done-deal.

Then, the studios might begin re-assembling their various film crews in anticipation of the formal vote result. Yesterday, EW noted that this process might take until early March (link), and in the cases of many series will force story arc rewrites to accommodate a shorter season. An Ugly Betty writer commented, "We would definitely need to change storylines... I know where we're going to end up, but there's going to have to be some major readjustment to get there."

The same may be very well true for Lost, and as we commented last weekend (link), the number of recovered episodes will also depend on whether ABC extends the television season-- something almost unheard of, but possible in a season marred by a strike. We can predict the fan outcry over anything less than the full 8 remaining episodes, but that eventuality appears to be almost certainly unlikely.

And to play doomsayer, don't count on the Season 5 just yet, because the WGA deal may not be good enough for the actor's union SAG, which may have loftier goals for New Media residuals than the WGA. And SAG, unlike the writers, could immediately halt Hollywood on the first day of any strike after this coming June. See Daily Variety's article for more on this.

Lost's Writing on the Wall?

UPDATE 2:

Last Friday, there was news from Hollywood that should have Lost fans concerned. The membership of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) authorized a strike. The mandate to authorize was strong, with 90.3% of votes, and over 5,500 of 12,000 members (of this normally low-turnout union) voting.

So why is this happening now, and what does it have to do with Lost?

It turns out that all the folks who make the TV and film you watch possible, including writers, directors, and actors, are represented by unions, who have contracts with the producers, specifically the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The WGA contract expires on Halloween-- hence the current possibility of a strike as a new contract is negotiated. If you were around during the last WGA strike in 1988, you know how bad TV and film can get during these strikes.

But strike authorization is sort of a bargaining tool in itself: it gives union leadership a trigger to pull, and the negotiators for the other side (AMPTP) know it. However it does not mean a strike is inevitable.

Gregg Nations, Lost's script coordinator had this to say about what this strike authorization means in his post at the official Fuselage forums:

"What the 90% strike authorization does is hopefully scared the producers into realizing that the writers mean business. There is no fooling around. There's going to be harsh, pointed criticism from each side, bad feelings are going to come out of it like crazy, and then maybe there doesn't have to be a strike. It's not set in stone that writers walk out on Nov. 1 -- but if things don't look good to the negotiating committee, then they can call for a strike any time after that.

"With such a high voter turnout and a high percentage voting yes, maybe this means nothing will happen. If the vote had only been say 50% yes, then the producers would've walked all over the writers. As it is now, that ain't gonna happen. But it is all about money, and the big companies don't like parting with it, so it's still going to be a battle."

It gets hairier though. The Directors Guild of America (DGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) contracts also expire soon, in April-June 2008. The WGA may decide to continue working until then, when potentially all three unions could strike simultaneously for combined leverage, essentially bringing the Hollywood machine to a standstill: no writers, directors, or actors.

But besides June is so far away that Lost Season 4 is safe right?

We don't know. Potentially the writers could strike as soon as their contract expires, the day after Halloween.

Given that Lost has been filming Season 4 since late August, that means that by November 1, the film crew would have finished about six or seven episodes, and the writers might be done with about three more. (According to Jorge Garcia's post here, they are currently filming 4.06). That makes a ballpark figure of ten episodes of the scheduled sixteen before Lost must halt filming, if filming continues without WGA workers, and 6 or 7 if not. Lost's stellar stable of writers includes stalwarts such as Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis, and Elizabeth Sarnoff, and prominent newcomers such as Brian K. Vaughan. You have to remember that quite a few of the writing assistants on Lost, and script editors (such as Gregg Nations or Patti Dalzell) are also part of the WGA, and much of this work is performed during actual filming. And Lost's showrunners Damon & Carlton-- they are WGA members and would be required to strike too. For those of you hoping the Lost writing team was being forced into this, think again. That's not how the film industry works.

Again, Gregg Nations explains in another post at the Fuselage:

"If there is a strike, we will shut down immediately. Carlton is on the negotiating committee for the WGA, and there is no way that any of the writers would cross a picket line. We will not bank episodes or scripts. Depending on how many episodes are completed before a strike were to happen, it would be up to ABC to decide how to air them.

"Personally, I think the WGA is in a very good bargaining position, and if there is a strike, it's the producers and studios who are being the uncompromising ones. This could be a contentious round of discussions and you never know how things will work out. Hopefully it'll all go smoothly and it won't be an issue."

Scripts are simply "not in the can" through to the end of the season, even if the overall storyline is already mapped out. There are WGA-related jobs that are required even during filming. Filming of Season 4 simply cannot continue without the writers, and if you believe otherwise, you are gravely misinformed.

Also, notice that Gregg Nations mentioned that Carlton is actually on the negotiating committee for the WGA. What does that mean for the average Lost fan? Two things. First, Carlton is in fact central to the leadership machinery of the union that could initiate a strike. Second, Carlton may be required to stay in Los Angeles to deal with negotiations, tethering him from making his frequent trips to Hawaii as the "on-the-ground" showrunner for Lost. This work may dilute any hopes that while Carlton and Damon would have to halt all work covered by the WGA, they could in theory continue as executive producers of the show.

Assuming the worst case, Lost might halt production at about ten episodes, or even less if production halts immediately. Then ABC is presented with an unenviable choice: Do they broadcast those ten? This would mean reneging on their promise to eliminate a mid-season hiatus, and in their minds would risk the entire Lost franchise because of low ratings after the hiatus, as had occurred in Season 3. But the network will be desperate to show anything to keep the company running. This also means a random cliffhanger, because the mid-season storyline arc won't account for a strike-based hiatus. Or instead, they can find enough "replacement fare" to cover themselves until the strike is resolved, then broadcast Season 4 all sixteen episodes in a row. Replacement fare? I'm talking R&R: Reruns and Reality shows, because the latter doesn't require writers, or even actors for that matter. For the record, in that case I'm hoping ABC takes the pre-canned Daybreak off the archive shelf, a series that improved greatly after the clumsy and draining pilot episode, and could deserve another chance.

As mentioned above, SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and DGA (Directors Guild of America) are also set to strike. Their contracts expire in summer 2008 they have the potential to be a killer to the TV industry, especially if WGA waits until then to strike for a devastating triple-strike. In that case, Season 4 will be safe, finished broadcasting, and re-run fodder for us fans. But what a triple strike would likely be aiming at is the networks' jugular of the Fall 2008 sweeps period, meaning Lost Season 5 won't start filming until perhaps 2009, pushing Lost's end date back one year to 2011.

Gregg Nation comments:

"I'm really not sure how ABC would handle episodes completed and 'in the can.' They may wait to see how long a strike would last. Or they could decide to burn them off and then have another mini-hiatus until after the strike is over and production is back in the swing of things. ABC will be facing that issue with all their shows if a strike happens."

Now these are the gloom and doom cases of the effects of various strikes on Lost. There are reasons to think the worst case isn't coming.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the DGA usually negotiates its contracts many months before the previous one expires. Their contract expires in June 2008, but they may even begin negotiations this November, and may even work something out. Then the WGA may hesitate to force a strike when the DGA is sitting happy with a new contract.

Some more background. First off, what are the unions striking for? Money of course, a type called "residuals", which means payment (in addition to the salary for the original work) for each rebroadcast of the material, including cable, foreign, DVDs, as well as digital streaming and downloads.

The studios don't want to pay residuals to writers until they have recouped their overhead costs, and additionally don't want to pay the apparently large jump in figures requested for DVD sale residuals. If the producers don't budge, then the best bet for the unions is the crippling leverage of a triple strike in June 2008, which would mean, at least, Season 4 would be safe. Now you may be thinking this is a selfish act by the writers, they just want more money, right? Wrong. An example that is easy to think about and understand is that when you walk into a store and buy a book, the author gets 15% or something around that. When you buy a DVD, the writers only get about $0.04 off each DVD sale. Seem fair to you? They aren't stealing money from you the viewer. New technology is changing the way the media industry makes money. The writers are asking for their fair share from the uber-rich media conglomerates; in the case of Lost, this means Disney, and we all know how unfathomly rich they already are. I'm on Carlton's side here.

Confusion often arises when we mention that producers are fighting the writers in this labor dispute. "But wait", you say "Carlton and Damon are both producers and writers." Yes, but no. I'll give you another quote by Gregg Nations that helps clarify this:

"As far as Carlton and Damon being writers and producers and caught in the middle, it doesn't really happen like that. This is where the term "producer" becomes problematic because of the way it's defined. Creatively, Damon and Carlton call the shots; therefore they are the (creative) executive producers. However, it is Touchstone (now called ABC Studios) who pays for the show and is therefore the producing entity. (And ABC Studios is in turn owned by Walt Disney Corporation, which in the end is really the paying/producing entity.) So the big corporations, like Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, CBS, Fox, NBC Universal, etc., are the 'producers' the writers guild is negotiating with. It kind of comes down to the suits versus the creative people.

"There is a producer's guild, and I'm not sure what the membership requirements are to join. Maybe someone like J. J. Abrams could join since technically he owns his own company and produces various shows. I don't know if it's a requirement to join the producer's guild and be a signatory to the various other guilds in order to employ WGA, DGA and SAG members. I know as a member of the WGA, you are not allowed to work for companies that are not signatories to the minimum basic agreement. And that's the agreement the WGA and the producer's guild is trying to hammer out now.

"So we'll see. SAG's contract is up at the end of April, which is why film production is starting to be affected. If a film can't start and finish by the end of April, companies are passing on it. Everything is being moved up because of that. So if the writers strike, I would imagine that the actors would strike, too. And that would be bad, too..."

Well, let's all cross our fingers and see what happens. Give me a beard and call me Jacko, and flash me forward to a future with no strikes and plenty of Lost on tap.