The schedule for the 2009 Cannes Film Festival has been announced and the American representation is at it’s lightest since 2006. Of the notable films on this years schedule: Quentin Tarantino will be screening his Inglorious Basterds, Sam Raimi will be screening his finished print of Drag Me To Hell, Ang Lee brings Talking Woodstock with Emile Hersch, Liev Schreiber, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan to France, and Terry Gilliam will bring the real last Heath Ledger film, Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. And, of course, UP’s historic opening spot.

But what does the WGA have to do with this craziness…

Thank GOD! I can retire this damn graphic! For at least two years…

I never thought I’d have to retire this graphic. I’ve spent a year watching this crap (which you can see in the Strike category HERE), and now it looks like we’ve got a deal!

Sort of…

-SAG wanted a better contract, like the WGA and DGA.
-SAG couldn’t figure it out and the AMPTP pulled out of negotiations.
-A group of New York SAG members filed a written assent removing the head negotiator and gagging the President of SAG, Alan Rosenberg. Those people call themselves Unite For Strength.
- Four people acting under the name Member’s First filed a temporary restraining order to halt the assent written by Unite For Strength. Those four are: Alan Rosenberg, Anne-Marie Johnson, Diane Ladd and Kent McCord. Yes, big SAG names.

I don’t really give half a crap how they figure this crap out, because it all makes so little sense. SAG is not going to get a better deal about residuals without striking, and even if they do strike more money will be lost in the Hollywood economy at this critical time when the entire state of California is feeling the pinch.

This Sunday, there is going to be a teleconference meeting between the two factions, and I’m pretty sure I know what they are going to say. The LA “Membership First” MF’ers are going to say that without a negotiated contract that handles the internet, product placement and residuals form online broadcasting (not internet-based programming, but reruns) that the questionable SAG “coup” is an assault on the middle-class actors who require residuals to live and feed their families.

The New York “Unite For Strengh” faction is made up mostly of big names that you’ve heard of; Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, George Clooney, etc. These guys are rich enough to see the reality of the situation: SAG needs a contract with the AMPTP. They are operating under the old one which doesn’t have any provisions for the way media operates today and SAG isn’t going to pry a better deal out of the AMPTP because the producers know that if SAG is allowed to hold out for a better contract, the WGA and DGA will be knocking at their doors soon.

Both factions have a good point, but both are being ridiculously pig-headed (a good example is the video from Membership First protests I will post below the cut) and seem incapable of getting on the same damn page.

FIGURE IT OUT, YOU IDIOTS! You’re actors, God-bless you for the entertainment you give me, but I don’t pay money to see middle-class actors (sorry guys), I pay money to see big-name actors. Big-name actors make a name for themselves by pounding the pavement until they rise to the top, just like musicians. Someday, those middle-class actors could be big-name actors and along the way, I’m sure the trials and tribulations of trying to raise a family on residuals from that one M*A*S*H you did in your youth is tough. But writing for money is tough, and directing for money is tough and producing is tough because you have so much money you’ve completely forgotten about what those without really want.

A union like this shouldn’t have been infighting for over a year now. I should not have had to re-photoshop my Union Bitchfight logo. The problem with the Membership First stance isn’t that they feel they were victims of a coup, it’s that the selling point of the union, the name actors, are largely on the side of Unite For Strength. Not only that, but MF already had their chance at getting a new contract and it ain’t going to happen. Membership First: I can find someone on Craigslist who, for $40, will shill for SAG in a YouTube video, I can’t get Matt Damon to shill for anything Matt Damon doesn’t want to.

When the Have-Nots battle the Haves, the Have-Nots must have a unique and irreplaceable skill, and to those with the deep pockets, middle-income actors are disposable.

So figure this out amongst yourself before you weaken the overall position of the Guild…

(video still under the cut)

In the interest of full disclosure, I made a bet last week with a producer friend of mine named Elizabeth. It was a simple one: SAG will not strike this year. If the year closes without a strike or the SAG contract with the AMPTP gets resolved before the year is out, I get $20.

So, in the interest of Andrew Jackson, it’s with a little bit of glee that I get to report Doug Allen’s removal as National Executive Director and and Chief Negotiator of the Screen Actor’s Guild.

The SAG majority enacted something called “written assent,” where a majority of the Guild’s membership can force action on the entirety of the Union. Usually, these things would be handled by a vote, but the last time the silent majority tried to express their grievances, Doug Allen basically told them they were uninformed idiots and they should keep their mouth shut (HERE). The dissenting members then attempted to oust Allen through a good old-fashioned vote at a meeting, only to meet opposition from President Alan Rosenberg and a group of pro-Allen supporters who filibustered for 28 hours to avoid a vote.

Thank the Lord there are bylaws that allow for forcible removal. The SAG silent majority un-gagged themselves and acted upon “written assent” to meet the following demands (sent to SAG members in an e-mail):

In its entirety, the written assent accomplishes the following:

– Removes Doug Allen as National Executive Director;

– Engages David White as interim National Executive Director;

– Names John McGuire as Chief Negotiator for all contracts, including the TV/Theatrical Contract currently in negotiation;

– Replaces the TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee with a Taskforce, which will represent the Board of Directors;

– Directs that only interim NED David White, John McGuire, or their designee may communicate on behalf of Screen Actors Guild to other organizations, the general public, or the press;

– Retains the law firm of Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann & Sommers LLP to advise the National Board and represent the Guild in negotiation of the terms of a written contract with David White;

– In response to voting irregularities at the last Board meeting, instructs SAG staff to develop and implement a fraud-proof security system to regulate the use of the voting remotes used by Board members to cast their votes.

One would assume this would piss off Doug Allen…

The Writer’s Guild of America sure did screw television over this year. Call us crazy, but there were certain TV shows that were never able to return to their pre-strike awesomeness, and there were certain TV shows who weren’t able to put the strike behind them (could Heroes be the only show that fits into both categories?).

Films, on the other hand, haven’t really begun to be effected yet. A lot of the scripts that were halted during the WGA strike of 07/08 are coming up for 2009’s production slate, and people are starting to wonder what that means for this year’s on-screen quality…

The New York SAG meeting did not go well for the heads of the Hollywood-based Screen Actors Guild. Apparently, NY SAG called for the resignations of SAG president Alan Rosenberg and executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen. Alec Baldwin even stood up himself and suggested the LA-based negotiation team be thrown out and a new team be brought in, one that has a more serious view of the entire situation.

DHD reports:

And NY Division members sounded off against holding the Strike Authorization Vote and in favor of accepting the AMPTP’s June 30th “last” contract offer as is without further bargaining. “The sense of the meeting was that ‘the deal doesn’t look so bad’. And ‘the economy is terrible right now’. And ‘this is all SAG’s fault because the leaders didn’t merge with AFTRA’,” one attendee told me. “Because ‘New Media isn’t that important right now” and “in three years when all the unions are united we’ll be able to make up what we’ve lost’ on an assumption that IATSE, AFTRA, the DGA, WGA, and SAG ‘can all get together as one’. “

Ah, yes, the giant film union that probably has the AMPTP shaking in their boots, if creatives weren’t so unorganized and picky as to bicker amongst themselves until the cows come home and economic downturn holds just as much weight as new media rights.

And just in case NY thought they could send a message to SAG that now is NOT the best time to have 120,000 actors walk off movie sets, putting tens of thousands of people out of work, SAG has already responded…