Today's statements from SAG and AFTRA about this weekend's split. (Splitsville Over TV Soap: Why AFTRA Now Refuses To Jointly Negotiate With SAG):
From: SAG President Alan Rosenberg
Date: March 30, 2008 8:08:40 PM PDT
To: SAG Members
Subject: AFTRA ENDED JOINT BARGAINING RELATIONSHIP WITH SAG
Dear Screen Actors Guild members,
You will hear many things over the next few days about AFTRA’s decision to effectively terminate our Phase One joint bargaining relationship. We have been jointly bargaining several contracts with AFTRA since 1981 and the AFTRA board voted yesterday to end that relationship (under the Phase One Agreement) and forge ahead without SAG.
AFTRA HAS THREE TELEVISION SHOWS UNDER THIS CONTRACT AND THEY DON’T COVER MOTION PICTURES.
As your President, I feel it is important that you have the facts.
AFTRA leaders claim…That SAG attempted to “raid” its jurisdiction and to “campaign” to help The Bold & The Beautiful daytime drama actors decertify from AFTRA.
FACT: Actors from the show, who are also SAG members, asked to meet with us. We heard their complaints of extreme dissatisfaction with AFTRA, AND DIRECTED THEM TO TALK WITH AFTRA. We did not have a campaign of any kind.
AFTRA leaders claim… The Bold & The Beautiful incident was “the last straw,” but waited more than two weeks to raise the issue. Instead, the day before the joint SAG/AFTRA board meeting, they alerted the press (not SAG) and accused us of poaching. Two days earlier, they had participated in our two-day national joint Wages & Working conditions meeting where members of both unions VOTED UNANIMOUSLY to approve the proposal package. Didn’t the “last straw” matter then?
AFTRA never has stated how it plans to come to the aid of the B &B actors. They are too busy blaming us for the problem. Institution first, members last.
FACT: SAG IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY WAY IN ORGANIZING DAYTIME DRAMA ACTORS. While we have great respect for daytime actors, this is AFTRA’s area. In fact, the SAG national board passed a motion Saturday morning to assure AFTRA (as AFTRA requested) that SAG will abide by the AFL CIO rules regulating raiding.
FACT: Despite this expression of good faith and reassurance from SAG, AFTRA leaders voted to “suspend” Phase One and go it alone. They marched into our board meeting, said they would not be bargaining jointly, and left. The joint board meeting to approve the proposal package for joint bargaining never even took place.
AFTRA leaders claim …SAG has undertaken a campaign to discredit them.
FACT: AFTRA bargained cable deals at rates lower than SAG minimums and waived residuals. They fully admit this and are now getting backlash from members who are wondering where their residuals went. AFTRA must be accountable for granting these waivers to the contracts we have fought hard to achieve. Again, how is this problem SAG’s fault? Will they now go bargain these sub-standard contracts for primetime network/pay TV programs and lower the bar for all SAG actors in the process?
AFTRA claims …that SAG Hollywood leaders are looking for a strike.
FACT: Not true. Nobody wants a strike, especially after the 100 day WGA strike. Elected SAG leaders across the country want to be strong on your behalf at the bargaining table. YOU elected your leadership. You elected me to achieve the best possible wages and working conditions. While the DGA and WGA made deals, we are not directors or writers. We are actors, and actors have different issues that are not in the DGA and WGA deals.
What’s next?
We will begin negotiations. We believe the AMPTP will be eager to do so, especially since motion picture start dates are critical. Your national board approved the proposal package yesterday that so many members contributed to during our W & W process. We are ready to negotiate.
Members are our first priority, not the institution. As your president, I vow to continue to work hard to improve the lives of all actors and their families. You deserve nothing less.
---
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists NEWS RELEASE
March 30, 2008
-- AFTRA National Board Overwhelmingly Approves to Suspend Phase One Joint Bargaining with SAG and Makes Plan to Negotiate Primetime TV Contract on Its Own
-- Board also unanimously approved the AFTRA Network Television Code and the AFTRA Sound Recordings Code, and adopted procedures for membership ratification
LOS ANGELES -- The National Board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists -- a national union of more than more 70,000 performers, journalists, broadcasters, recording artists, and other talent working in the entertainment and news media -- overwhelmingly voted Saturday in favor of suspending the joint bargaining process under the Phase One agreement with the Screen Actors Guild and plans to negotiate the Primetime TV contract with employers on its own.
"AFTRA's leadership believes that our union must devote its energies first and foremost to working on behalf of performers," said Roberta Reardon, National President of AFTRA. "During the past year, AFTRA has fought hard and expended an enormous amount of time, energy, and resources to maintain the integrity of our Phase One joint bargaining process with Screen Actors Guild so we could sit across the table from the industry with total and unequivocal unity. Unfortunately, SAG leadership has made this impossible.
"For the past year, SAG leadership in Hollywood has engaged in a relentless campaign of disinformation and disparagement, culminating in a recent attempt to decertify an AFTRA daytime soap opera. As a result of this continued and ongoing behavior by SAG leadership, which at its core harms all working performers and the labor movement, we find ourselves unable to have confidence in their ability to live up to the principles of partnership and union solidarity. AFTRA believes it must now devote its full energies to working on behalf of performers, and not wasting time assessing whether our partner is being honest with us.
"The board's approval of a suspension of Phase One -- not a termination -- was mindful of the fact that there many among SAG's leadership that are as troubled by the events that have led us to this point as we are. We are hopeful that someday, the historic trust between these two organizations can be rebuilt -- in the best interests of all performers," said Reardon.
Given the suspension of joint bargaining with SAG, the AFTRA National Board cancelled the joint meeting with the SAG board and instead continued its special session.
After a review of the recommendations from the AFTRA-SAG Joint Wages and Working Conditions Committee, the National Board unanimously approved the proposals en banc and without amendment to serve as the official AFTRA proposal package for negotiations with employers on the AFTRA Exhibit A to the Network Code that covers primetime dramatic programming. The National Board also approved the Negotiating Committee appointed by AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon, with Los Angeles actor and AFTRA National Treasurer Matt Kimbrough as chair.
The AFTRA National Board also approved tentative agreements reached with employers for the AFTRA Network Television Code and the AFTRA Sound Recordings Code and adopted procedures for membership ratification of the contracts.
In unanimously approving the tentative agreement with the four major television networks and producers on the AFTRA Network TV Code, the National Board noted that the new agreement contains solid increases in wage rates for all categories, increased contributions for the AFTRA Health and Retirement plan, and addresses discrete issues affecting every category of performer. In addition, the agreement preserves significant principles which are a hallmark of AFTRA contracts -- such as universal coverage of
background performers and contract security for daytime serial contract players.
"This agreement is a major milestone for AFTRA as substantial gains in wages and working conditions for performers were successfully achieved," said Reardon, who also served as chair of the Network Code Negotiating Committee. "This contract is extraordinary for performers and made significant progress on many fronts, including importantly new media jurisdiction and compensation."
The AFTRA Network TV Code covers actors and all on-camera and off-camera talent on all forms of television programming: syndicated dramas, daytime serials, game shows, talk shows, variety and musical programs, news, sports, reality shows, and promotional announcements. Programs covered by the Code include diverse programs such as "Good Morning America," "20/20," "American Idol," "The View," "The Tonight Show," "Late Show with David Letterman," "Oprah," "The Price is Right," "Deal or No Deal," "Days of Our Lives," "The Bold and the Beautiful," All My Children, "Cake," "Saturday Night Live," "Entertainment Tonight," and "Survivor."
The National Board voted to recommend the agreement in a mail referendum ballot to the entire AFTRA membership.
The National Board also unanimously approved the tentative agreement for the AFTRA Sound Recordings Code -- the national contract with the recording industry, which covers royalty artists and session singers who work with the more than 1,200 recording companies, including the four major labels -- EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner -- and most of their subsidiary labels. In addition to popular music in all genres, the Sound Recordings Code covers classical recordings, Broadway cast albums, Latin recordings, and spoken word recordings, including audio books.
"This is a breakthrough agreement for AFTRA members," said Randall Himes, AFTRA Assistant National Executive Director for Sound Recordings and co-lead negotiator for AFTRA. "The members of the AFTRA negotiating committee -- session and royalty singers, rap artists, and other performers across all fields of recorded music from pop and hip-hop to Latin and country -- worked diligently to achieve this contract for their fellow AFTRA members. The challenge of negotiating while the industry is confronting both a digital transition and rampant piracy underscores the remarkable work of the committee members in keeping their focus."
Highlights of the agreement include wage increases for session performers,improvements in health and retirement coverage for royalty artists, and a new formula for compensation on digital downloads.
In recommending approval of the tentative agreement, the National Board determined that any AFTRA member in good standing who had earnings from the Sound Recordings Code since July 1, 2002, will be eligible to vote on the contract.
In other action:
-- Responding to the petition from more than 1,400 performers to define "affected members" for voting on contracts, the National Board authorized National President Roberta Reardon to appoint a committee, to be confirmed by the Administrative Committee, to review the so-called "Working Actors Voice" proposal and report recommendations to the National Board.
-- Recognizing the work needed to restructure the AFTRA Non-Broadcast/Industrial Code and to reorganize members and signatory employers, the National Board granted authority to the AFTRA Non-Broadcast/Industrial Steering Committee to seek an extension to the contract that expires April 30, 2008.
The AFTRA National Board is next scheduled to meet in a face-to-face plenary session in Los Angeles on June 6 and 7.
UPDATE: Tonight I received the news that AFTRA national president Roberta Reardon and officers 
including Susan Boyd Joyce, Denny Delk, Bob Edwards, Matt Kimbrough, Shelby Scott held their national meeting and approved a formal rift with their stepsister actors union SAG. They then went to SAG's national board meeting and declared that AFTRA won't negotiate jointly with the Screen Actors Guild on the new primetime TV contract. This, in spite of a long-time agreement by AFTRA to bargain jointly with SAG and not undercut rates. So basically those "make nice" pronouncements of recent days are out the window. And all because of a blown-way-out-proportion incident involving AFTRA, SAG and the soap opera The Bold And The Beautiful. Now AFTRA has taken such an extreme position that not even the AFL-CIO may be able to rein it in.
The AFTRA maneuver is disingenuous, bordering on slightly dishonest, because I'm told the union has known about the B&B incident for weeks and done nothing until this weekend. Then there's the curious and convenient timing of an obviously planted story in the Los Angeles Times Saturday, designed to give Reardon some protective cover. So it now looks like tonight's announcement was a carefully planned 11th hour ploy by her to get out of joint bargaining and justify AFTRA's going it alone. My sources assure me that AFTRA has false concerns because SAG has no interest in organizing daytime. If anything, the concern is justified the other way around because AFTRA is already treading on SAG's scripted TV turf by repping, for example, both Damage and Dirt.
It was hardly a secret, much less a scoop, that the Emmy-winning star of The Bold And The Beautiful, Susan Flannery, has for some time now circulated a petition to decertify AFTRA as the union representing the actors on the long-running soap. But, suddenly, the LA Times was exaggerating a minor matter whereby SAG's national executive director Doug Allen was approached by two B&B actors for a meeting. 
When the duo launched into a litany of complaints about AFTRA's representation, witnesses tell me that Allen properly turned them aside and sent them back to AFTRA. But it took the LAT until the 11th paragraph to convey that salient point. And the paper never bothered to mention that these two B&B cast members were also SAG members since there are many dual cardholders.
This is, after all, the very same newspaper that took every side but the WGA's when the striking writers were pressured by the moguls and the directors. And the same newspaper that ignored the recent AFTRA-SAG blame game when AFTRA was at fault. Yet the LAT on Saturday was breathlessly reporting how "AFTRA officials were upset at SAG for not telling them about the meeting until two weeks after the fact, according to Reardon." Interesting that she timed her public hissy fit to the very weekend when both AFTRA and SAG national boards were meeting on the eve of the two guilds starting joint negotiations on the primetime TV contract.
I'm told from inside AFTRA's board confab that Reardon "misrepresented the incident to blame Doug Allen for encouraging poaching and raiding even though that's not the case. Reardon said it was the straw that broke the camel's back. She's using this as an excuse because she's wanted to get out of Phase One for the past year."
Reardon acolytes keep claiming that SAG's so-called "Membership First" leadership clique is causing all the current trouble with AFTRA. Don't misunderstand me: there's plenty of petty nonsense going on inside both camps. But it's painful to watch the actors guilds battle amongst themselves (or even the actors inside SAG) with that June deadline bearing down. I sense real concern that dual cardholders may not stay loyal in the event of a SAG strike. Which serves to explain why this latest Reardon move looks like an AFTRA ploy to further encroach on SAG's jurisdiction by offering inferior terms on contracts. While SAG accounts for 100% of motion pictures and about 90+% of television, AFTRA has 3 shows under this primetime TV contract. Now it appears that AFTRA is going to negotiate those on its own, thus continuing the union's shameful history of pay undercuts and residuals giveaways that have compromised actors for years. Lots of casts are still unhappy with AFTRA's basic cable deals, and its penchant for lousy one-time-only pacts, so there will be more when AFTRA folds on primetime contract points. Why, it's a Big Media mogul's wet dream!
But here's what Reardon said in a statement Saturday night:
"AFTRA's primary goal is to improve and protect the working lives of performers. During the past year, AFTRA has fought hard and expended an enormous amount of time, energy and resources to maintain the integrity of our Phase One joint bargaining process with the Screen Actors Guild, so we could sit across the table from the industry with total and unequivocal unity. Unfortunately, SAG leadership has made this impossible. For the past year SAG leadership in Hollywood has engaged in a relentless campaign of disinformation and disparagement, culminating in a recent attempt to decertify a AFTRA daytime soap opera. As a result of this continued and ongoing behavior by SAG leadership, which at its core harms all working performers and the labor movement, we find ourselves unable to have any confidence in their ability to live up to the principles of partnership and union solidarity. AFTRA believes it must devote its full energies to working on behalf of performers, and not wasting time assessing whether our partner is being honest with us. With this in mind, the AFTRA National Board today voted overwhelmingly in favor of suspending Phase One, and negotiating the primetime television contract on our own. We are now prepared to move forward and negotiate a strong contract for our members as soon as possible. This action was taken in the hope that someday, the historic trust between these two organizations can be rebuilt – in the best interests of all performers."
SAG President Alan Rosenberg also released a statement, and sounded pissed:
"We remain focused on negotiating the best terms for actors covered by the TV Theatrical contract. We spent weeks working with our fellow actors in AFTRA on joint proposals to improve the lives of all working actors. AFTRA's refusal now to bargain together and their last second abandonment of the joint process is calculated, cynical and serves the interests of their institution not its members."
Naturally, the AMPTP chimed in from the sidelines, since the Big Media companies have been watching with glee while AFTRA beats up on SAG:
"On February 14th, just after we concluded our agreement with the writers, we called for our negotiations with actors to begin promptly. Today we are pleased that to learn that AFTRA is also ready to begin talks immediately. We are determined, as we have always been, to work hard and bargain reasonably with the actors' unions so that we can all avoid another harmful, unnecessary strike."
Finally, very late Saturday night, Reardon sent this email signed "in solidarity" to AFTRA members:
March 29, 2008
Dear AFTRA Member,
AFTRA's primary goal is to improve and protect the working lives of performers. During the past year, AFTRA has fought hard and expended an enormous amount of time, energy and resources to maintain the integrity of our Phase One joint bargaining process with the Screen Actors Guild, so we could sit across the table from the industry with total and unequivocal unity. Unfortunately, SAG leadership has made this impossible. For the past year SAG leadership in Hollywood has engaged in a relentless campaign of disinformation and disparagement, culminating in a recent attempt to decertify a AFTRA daytime soap opera.
AFTRA recently became aware that leaders of SAG have involved themselves in a campaign to encourage cast members on the CBS daytime drama "The Bold and the Beautiful" to decertify AFTRA as their union. The people leading this drive apparently believe that decertifying AFTRA would further the goal of having one union for all actors. In fact, it would do the opposite. If successful, it would leave the performers on "The Bold and the Beautiful" stripped of any union representation and uncovered by any union contract. This situation is sadly not surprising given SAG Hollywood leadership's ongoing campaign of misinformation to disparage AFTRA.
The truth is that the existing AFTRA contract for daytime series provides players with strong provisions regarding crediting, overtime rates, and vacation days. Year after year, AFTRA has consistently won raises and improvements for daytime players—despite the efforts of networks and producers to cut costs at daytime serials. A vote to decertify would strip the cast of "The Bold and the Beautiful" of all these hard-fought gains. To achieve anything close to what the AFTRA contract offers, the cast would have to negotiate from scratch—perhaps even strike—without the support of performers covered by the Network TV Code.
The involvement of SAG leaders in the effort to remove AFTRA from a show covered by an AFTRA contract violates all norms of union solidarity. But this most recent situation, along with the continued and ongoing behavior by SAG Hollywood leadership, which harms all working performers and the labor movement, forced us to confront on the eve of negotiations the very painful question: how could we sit beside SAG at the bargaining table at the same time that its leaders in Hollywood are conspiring to undermine the gains we’ve achieved for all performers?
AFTRA's leadership believes that our union must devote its energies first and foremost to working on behalf of performers, and not waste any more time assessing whether our partner is being honest with us. With this in mind, the AFTRA National Board today voted overwhelmingly in favor of suspending Phase One, and negotiating the primetime television contract on our own. We are now prepared to move forward and negotiate a strong contract for our members as soon as possible.
This action --suspension rather than termination -- was taken with the understanding that many among SAG's leadership are as troubled by the events that have led us to this point as we are, and in the hope that someday, the historic trust between these two organizations can be rebuilt – in the best interests of all performers.
---
Meanwhile, here are all my recent SAG-AFTRA stories:
SUNDAY AM: This weekend's movie gross showed that Hollywood couldn't revive the slumping box office during spring break even though 30% of students are out of school. No. 1 is Sony Pictures's PG-rated based-on-a-true-story 21, which opened to a solid $8.6 million Friday and $9.6 million Saturday from 2,648 theaters. With Sunday estimates, that makes a better than expected $23.7M for the moderately budgeted pic (sources tell me it cost $35M). The casino card-counting caper suddenly came on strong tracking-wise these past two weeks to surprise everyone but the studio execs. A shocker was how weak the reviews were: only 22% positive among top critics on Rotten Tomatoes. But audiences craved the escapism. As a rival marketer gushed to me, "It is wish fulfilment in the truest sense of the phrase, this notion of a real person being able to beat the system, get the girl and live the life. The pic tapped into that really nicely." I'm told the audience was broad based, drawing from all 4 quadrants -- older and younger men and women, with 53% male and 47% female with 53% under the age of 25.
In its 3rd weekend in release, Fox's Horton Hears A Who! continued playing strong in 3,826 dates for $5.2 million Friday and $7.3 million thanks to Saturday kiddie matinees to surge well past the all-important $100 million mark. It's new cume is $117.2M after this weekend's extra $17.4M because there was little else at the cineplex aimed at tots.
In 3rd place is The Weinstein Co's Dimension/MGM spoof Superhero Movie which was a superdud. Despite playing wide in 2,960 venues, the newcomer finished Friday virtually stillborn with only $3.4 million and Saturday with $3.8 million. That meant a $9.5 million weekend which is 33% less than its studios were hoping and the experts were predicting. Frankly, it's unthinkable since this pic had a big 75% awareness equally divided among males and females. Gee, Bob Weinstein's Dimension banner used to be the best at making this genre of light satires when it was based at Disney. But maybe audiences are tired of seeing the same old shtick. However, some analysts astutely foresaw a problem with Superhero going after the same PG-13 audience as 21. A Superhero insider told me over the weekend: "We played young because of Drake Bell. 
We were doing well during the day but fell off at night. 21 ended up with the audience we needed. It seems they got the teens and did better than expected with them."
No. 4 was Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns which scored $7.7M this weekend from 2,016 runs for Lionsgate starting its 2nd week in release. Its new cume is $32.8M. Two holdovers, Paramount's Drillbit Taylor (3,061 dates) and Fox's Shutter (2,756 plays) duked it out for 5th place. The Owen Wilson starrer from Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen won with a $5.8M weekend (and new $20.5M cume) while the horror flick finished 6th with a $5.3M weekend (and new $19.1M cume).
Friday's No. 7 Stop-Loss fell a spot to 8th after it opened to only $1.7 million Friday and Saturday from a limited 1,291 plays. It eked out a $4.5M weekend. Although the drama from MTV Films was the best-reviewed movie opening this weekend, Paramount wasn't expecting much because no Iraq war-themed movie has yet to perform at the box office. "It's not looking good," a studio source told me before the weekend. "No one wants to see Iraq war movies. No matter what we put out there in terms of great cast or trailers, people were completely turned off. It's a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that's unresolved yet. It's a shame because it's a good movie that's just ahead of its time."
Finishing out the Top 10: Warner Bros' 10,000 BC was #7 with a $4.8M weekend and still anemic new cume of $84.9M from 3,055 theaters; what a bad sign that, starting its 4th week in release, this expensive CGI-bloated pic still hasn't broken the $100M barrier. Disney's College Road Trip held onto 9th with $3.5M for its 4th weekend in release at 2,270 dates. And No. 10 was Lionsgate's The Bank Job, hanging in for a $2.8M weekend from 1,869 venues.
(FYI: Comments on this website are monitored. If you left a comment and it didn't post immediately, it's likely that NF is away from the computer. Please be patient.)
I don't understand why the Warner Bros lot wasn't draped in black starting the middle of this week. Because the studio should be mourning the imminent loss of a shitload of Superman dollars. I've finally got my hands on the entire 72-page ruling Wednesday of U.S. District Court Judge Stephen G. Larson who concluded: "After 70 years, Jerome Siegel’s heirs regain what he granted so long ago — the copyright in the Superman material that was published in Action Comics, Vol. 1. What remains is an apportionment of profits, guided in some measure by the rulings contained in this Order, and a trial on whether to include the profits generated by DC Comics’ corporate sibling’s exploitation of the Superman."
Think about it: Siegel sold the rights to the action hero he created with Joseph Shuster to Detective Comics for $130, and his heirs got back ownership of the character in 1999 and can possibly lay claim to $50+ million of Warner Bros' and/or its DC Comics' cash. The Shusters look to clean up before too long, too. If you want all the Superman lawsuit's juicy background, Portfolio's Amy Wallace did a detailed article here.
For instance, Joanne Siegel (who'd been the sketch model for Lois Lane) wrote a 3-page letter back in 2002 to then Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons calling the company “greedy” and “heartless” and acting “just like the Gestapo ... your company wants to strip us naked of our legal rights… Is that the reputation you want?” The answer is a resounding yes. Because for years Warner tied with Disney for its aggressive unwillingness to settle these kinds of legal disputes and its absurd eagerness to risk going to court. Its corporate counsel would hire litigation piranhas hungry for billable hours who pledge to make each case go away by exhausting the patience and resources of the creators or rightsholders. It's a thoroughly effective but completely disgusting way of doing business.
Yet it's interesting that, especially lately, Warner has lost or settled some very pricey lawsuits, especially those pursued by that Malibu Robin Hood of a litigator, Marc Toberoff, who has taken on Big Media on behalf of creators and their heirs for Superman and Superboy, The Dukes of Hazzard (read about it here), The Wild Wild West, It's Alive, and so on. The majors both fear him and hate him, with good reason: he's a relentless opportunist, which is exactly what's needed.
Finally, lest any rabid Superman fans blame the Siegels or Shusters for fucking up a Superman Returns sequel, or a Justice League of America movie featuring Superman (or not), know this: Warner execs fucked up both all by themselves. There's been enough backstory surrounding these pics to fill a book. I say there wouldn't have been if only Superman Returns had been any good...
So I was told this today by an insider about that recent Sumner Redstone-Tom Cruise rapprochement meal at the very public Polo Lounge: "Jews like to break bread before Passover! If the economics are right, Paramount is interested in working with its old friend." But here's the breaking news: I've been forewarned about a big Paramount-Tom Cruise announcement soon. (Redstone's Viacom owns owns the movie studio.) Will wonders never cease? Sure, when the price is right.
CAA has shown me the Pellicano trial transcript from Wednesday's testimony by partner 
Kevin Huvane which serves to clarify why he used the old CAA building as the residential address for his driver's license. (See my previous, Pellicano Trial: CAA Partners Say Nothing.) So, in the interest of fairness and accuracy, I'm printing this info where Huvane elaborates. Here, Huvane was shown Exhibit 161, the printout of a law enforcement database search made about him with info about his DMV license:
Q. Underneath that it says, "Residence address as of 1-31-1996". Is that your residential address?
Huvane: That's the address that we used for all mailing purposes.
Q. And what address is that?
Huvane: That's the old CAA building address.
Q. Okay. Why did you use the old CAA building as your DMV address?
Huvane: because you never want to give your home address. You know, we have clients who have problems with security, with people looking up who their agents are, things coming inappropriate;ly to your house, so we wanted everything to be straight to the office.
Q. So for security purposes, even on your license, you used your business address?
Huvane: Yes.
UPDATE: A big meeting went down today inside Warner Bros theatrical marketing where staff learned their fates with "the blending" of domestic and international marketing. (Needless to say, people were throwing stares at the Glass Building where marketing and distribution are housed.) Sources tell me, "There were some promotions and some reshuffling but no layoffs whatsoever. We're expecting to make announcements next week on those promoted. But we haven't even started writing the press releases yet." The moves made today are by worldwide marketing czarina Sue Kroll as she handpicks her staff after her boss, Warner Bros Pictures Group prez Jeff Robinov, squeezed out Dawn Taubin.
The biggest news is that Blair Rich is promoted to EVP of worldwide marketing. (She just got upped last year to SVP of international marketing, so this is a huge boost. She started as Sue Kroll's assistant and is said to be popular with filmmakers but not vendors. She's also the daughter of legendary Hollywood TV producer Lee Rich, whose Lorimar was purchased by Warner's.) Gene Garlock upped to SVP for worldwide promotions. (He gets additional domestic duties from previous post as SVP for international promotions). Julie Goodwin will co-head worldwide publicity with Lance Volland (who previously oversaw international publicity). This all follows Debi Miller's departure for CBS's new film division after serving as EVP of domestic theatrical marketing. (She was unhappy for the past six months...) But this blending is just the beginning because it doesn't include the eventual integration of New Line and/or Picturehouse.
Kroll at the end of the day issued this statement: “We have begun integrating our domestic and international theatrical marketing departments into a worldwide organization. We expect this process to be ongoing and evolve over the next six months to 12 months. This time frame will allow us to both concentrate on our primary task, which is our films and filmmakers, while providing as much time as necessary to determine the most effective structure for our group.”
Meanwhile, staff under Kroll are already chattering about her work ethic. As a result, there's a serious culture shock going on. I'm told by an insider: "Certain executives who used to leave every day at 3 PM are now being required to attend meetings that start at 6 PM." I'm told that 8:30 PM is now the normal quitting time.
News reports say the Delaware court has ruled against Liberty Media's John Malone in his effort to block Barry Diller from splitting InterActiveCorp into multiple companies. Well, at least Malone managed to land some down 'n' dirty jabs at Barry during this month's court proceeding. The only problem now is for shareholders who will continue to watch Barry run IAC just like he did Hollywood studios years before: any damn way he wants to. (See my previous, Diller vs Malone: Sumo Wrestling In Court)
The complaint was filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court. This really sounds like one of the worst cases of phony-baloney studio accounting, not to mention sheer arrogance, in Hollywood history. Geez, when is Big Media going to stop this larceny? For instance, according to the lawsuit, NBC Uni is claiming that, as of the end of fiscal year 2006, Quincy M.E. has accumulated over $66 million in net losses -- this after we all know that the 1976-1983 series is a classic shown all over the world even to this day. Through his Beverly Hills attorneys Johnson & Johnson [UPDATE: This firm and another are representing me in a class action lawsuit related to a personal matter. I forgot to disclose that when I wrote this post on a busy news day. I apologize for the omission.]
Klugman just gave this statement to me: "I don’t want their money. I want my money. I can’t believe they’ve collected over $250 million dollars and they say they are still in the hole. I have 28% of the net and they won’t even give me a copy of my contract. I worked for them for almost 8 years. I got up at 4 o’clock in the morning. I would rewrite. I did a ton of work. It’s on every day. I haven’t gotten a penny for years."
Worse, the lawsuit claims that when Klugman asked to see his paperwork with NBC Uni, the network and studio "have refused to give Plaintiffs a copy of the contract". So on June 21, 2007, Klugman’s attorney wrote a letter to NBC Uni requesting "a copy of any and all contracts pertaining to Klugman and Quincy M.E." On September 26, 2007, NBC Uni responded that it's “unable to comply with your request … because it is NBC Universal’s policy not to provide copies of talent contracts or other confidential documents.” The lawsuit notes that, under the terms of the NBC Uni contract, Klugman and his company Sweater Productions are entitled to a “Participant Share” of 25% of all “net profits” attributable to Quincy M.E. But NBC is required to "properly account" for the net profits to Sweater/Klugman which has a right to audit the records of NBC Uni if a dispute arises. On March 5, 2008, Klugman’s attorney gave notice to NBC Uni of Klugman’s intent to audit the TV series.
David E. Kelley left WMA this week for Endeavor. Topher Grace exited Morris also for Endeavor recently. Comedy feature writer Ed Solomon recently departed Morris to go to CAA (as did WMA's director Jim Mangold three months ago...).
Sony's 21 should do in the neighborhood of $21+ million for the weekend.
While Michael Ovitz's name keeps coming up repeatedly in the ongoing Pellicano trial (though he's charged with no wrongdoing), he's also been the subject of an ongoing multimillion dollar lawsuit brought by his one-time Internet partner, billionaire investor Ron Burkle. But yesterday Ovitz scored a big victory when that lawsuit by Burkle alleging that the co-founder of CAA and fired Walt Disney Co. president broke a business agreement was dismissed yesterday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Soussan Bruguera. She decided that the men never had a formal partnership and, if anything, had more of a "friendship that soured" than a business relationship, and that terms of their oral agreement were too vague to enforce. Burkle's attorney said he will appeal Bruguera's decision to grant Ovitz's motion. Meanwhile, Ovitz's counter-suit against Burkle is still on, and a trial date has been set for April 28. Nevertheless, Burkle managed through the long and winding lawsuit to muddy Ovitz's reputation, already tarnished by his many business failures. Burkle filed the complaint back in February 2005, claiming the two made a verbal agreement in the 1990s to jointly combine "their skill, money and knowledge" on investments but alleging that Ovitz breached their oral pact repeatedly. There's now a long list of Ovitz's former business partners from Hollywood, Broadway, Wall Street, Madison Avenue and sports (to name just a few areas) who despise him now.
It happened yesterday after Kate Bosworth, a longtime UTA client, let the agency know she was leaving. So far she hasn't landed at another tenpercentery. But her latest film 21 looks like it will have a good opening weekend. Meanwhile, the rumor mill has heated up about UTA after this loss, and Vince Vaughn's leaving, and partner Marc Korman's jump to Endeavor. Competitors are swirling rumors that UTA's talent department is "falling apart" because of a "toxic atmosphere". There was even talk of a "coup attempt" to unseat some partners there or a "sure thing" that three talent agents are leaving. I'm on overdrive trying to check out every phone call. So let me set the record straight:
I can report that the lousy news led yesterday to some closed-door meetings among UTA's partners that turned ugly (as seen through the glass walls). "The partners had a fight. It was a bad week. But nobody's going anywhere," an insider explains to me. "The partners are hyper-passionate, so when stuff happens, they get upset. This is not a place where nobody cares." I'm told specifically that a couple of young partners not in the agency's talent department used the losses of Vaughn and Bosworth to "make some noise and get everybody uptight" and took advantage of Nick Stevens being out of town to take aim at two partners in his talent department, Lisa Hallerman and Sharon Sheinwold. Another source tells me, "It is true there were many conversations going on relating to the talent department and actors. The agency this week turned in on itself. It did get heated and loud. Yesterday was an intense day, but today is calm. I don't think anyone is leaving. I don't sense it at all."
At the same time, both inside and outside UTA, there appears to be a recognition that the major boutique may be at a crossroads right now. It certainly has turned down, and keeps turning down, overtures from other agencies to merge. It's still, as I like to describe it, the pretty girl at the party with a lot of very high-producing clients. But I do think it's getting harder for UTA to go it alone as the entertainment industry itself keeps consolidating. Yes, it has a unique place in the Hollywood food chain (even if its agents eat their young). The talent and tenpercenters attracted to United Talent can be described as notoriously aggressive and even combative, but also collaborative and creative, and ultimately original and iconoclastic. This is not agenting according to the philosophy that one-size-fits-all, thank god. True, over the years, UTA's actors list and personnel roster have been continuously picked off by CAA. "But UTA consistently does something that CAA can't, and CAA knows it: grow talent," a source reminds me. I don't see why that wouldn't happen now.
- Vince Vaughn Fires Agency And Manager
- UTA Partner Defects To Endeavor
SAG and AFTRA Representatives To Present Contract Proposal Package To Unions’ Joint Board On Saturday, March 29
Los Angeles (March 27, 2008) -- The Joint Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) National Wages and Working Conditions Committee met in a face-to-face plenary March 25 and 26th and unanimously approved proposals for consideration by the joint AFTRA-SAG board of directors at its meeting this Saturday in Los Angeles. The Joint National Committee reviewed proposals submitted by Wages and Working Conditions Committees that have been meeting across the country since Jan. 30. The two-day plenary meeting included SAG and AFTRA members from various locals, branches and divisions. Participants included AFTRA President Roberta Reardon and SAG President Alan Rosenberg. The names of committee members will not be released and the unions will have no further comment on the proposals being submitted to the Joint National Board or the status of the unions’ Wages and Working Conditions processes until after Saturday’s meeting.
You be the judge: I'm told this promo is supposed to air April 3rd before the return of NBC's My Name is Earl. In it, Jeff Zucker offers not just a recap of the show's fall season but also some zingers about issues left over from the writers’ strike. Worse, it shows him leering at Alyssa Milano's boobage and signing off as "JZ out...". I wish this were a hoax -- but it's real. At what point did NBC's "Must-See TV" degrade into "JZ TV"? UPDATE: NBC just confirmed to me that Zucker taped the intro "at the request of Earl's creator, Greg Garcia". And in response to my query, Garcia emails: "It was my idea. We had to do a recap of the show because we'd been off for so long, and I thought this would be a funny way to do it. The writers wrote the whole thing, I asked Jeff if he would do it, and he was cool enough to say yes. I loved the way it turned out, and I think it's fucking hilarious." Well, I bet it never airs:
