Few Random Acts Of Hollywood Kindness

kindness.jpgUPDATED: CAA today gave assistants bonus checks. Not from individual bosses, but from the company. All the other major agencies are doing it too; Paradigm's checks go out next week (and Sam Gore's tenpercentery even had its annual Christmas party), Endeavor will be paying bonuses to assistants, etc. They could have easily gotten away with not doing it because of the strike. But the big agencies are working hard to keep their assistants and support staff employed. A PR firm owner who does a lot of business with the studios and networks contacted me because he wanted to anonymously contribute to needy WGA families so their children would be sure to have something under the tree. There are toy drives and I'm sure other random acts of kindness happening this month of Chanukah and Christmas and Kwanzaa to balance all the nastiness. Otherwise, Hollywood really is like this YouTube video purporting to be secret footage from the WGA-AMPTP negotiations.

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10 Comments »

  1. Let’s try to keep this up not just for the holidays, but for the duration of the strike. Then, once the strike’s over, we can go back to thinking only of ourselves again.

    Comment by ANA — December 11, 2007 @ 7:10 pm

  2. When reviewing Disney they left out, ‘Watch out for flying “water balloons.”‘

    Although no one’s sure if it was water or not.

    Comment by Disney Gater — December 11, 2007 @ 7:23 pm

  3. Wow, even the agencies are being nicer and less heartless than the studios and networks.

    Comment by sidelined — December 11, 2007 @ 7:42 pm

  4. Random acts of Hollywood kindness? This is only one example, but I know it’s much more well thought-out than “random”:

    When the show I worked on closed down for an extended “winter hiatus,” our crew received a memo from our exec in charge of production. It let us know that if ANY of us find ourselves in severe financial straits due to the strike, we should contact her, as assistance might be available.

    No, I don’t know the details, but I do know that combining personal responsibility with community support makes it much less likely that my colleagues will lose their homes.

    May the opposing sides soon find a reasonable middle ground!

    Comment by beejaygee — December 11, 2007 @ 8:58 pm

  5. Amazing… CAA doing something nice…Oh, wait, they’re doing something nice for themselves… Self-serving self promotion… Shameful. How about doing something nice for their clients… how about some Christmas cheer and a helping hand. Oh, wait, their clients don’t need any financial help. They’re with CAA. D.

    Comment by David G. — December 12, 2007 @ 5:04 am

  6. Wow, this is great. I’m adding the CAA to my list of “Heroes”.

    Comment by Lisa — December 12, 2007 @ 6:55 am

  7. Hey Nikki!

    Thanks for letting me know about my bonus!

    Comment by paradigmasst — December 12, 2007 @ 11:24 am

  8. Oh, please.. If CAA had chosen to cut assistant bonuses it would be a drop in the bucket. And if they cut those then they would get slack for still giving the agents their HUGE bonuses. (and you know they would never deny themselves) An assistant bonus is usually one week’s pay, which is roughly equal to an agent’s monthly cell phone bill! They aren’t heroes, just don’t want to feel like shitheads when they cash their own huge check.

    Comment by victoria — December 12, 2007 @ 8:48 pm

  9. Thanks for featuring our video!

    Comment by John Baum — December 13, 2007 @ 1:22 am

  10. You mean the assistants that haven’t been fired, right?

    Comment by Ruby Redlips — December 13, 2007 @ 1:47 pm

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