Yes, we’ve had to update our Union Bitch-Fight logo from 2008 to 2009.

Here’s the skinny in the briefest way possible. The Screen Actrs Guild (SAG) is still pissed at The Alliance Of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) for not wanting to re-negotiate their last contract offer, which has been on the table for five months. The AMPTP is pissed at SAG because the union was offered the exact same deal that the WGA and the DGA agreed to, and they say that making an exception for actors when it comes to digital media rights and product placement decisions will lead the other unions to bitch and moan about actors getting special treatment.

Now, it’s time to vote on a strike. SAG needs 75% member ratification, which is still up in the air. But, if ratified, they plan to move to strike in late January. Which is a whole month ahead of the Academy Awards…

Here we are again, back in F%*&ing Strike Season!

We haven’t even seen teh full fallout from the Writer’s Guild strike, which certainly hurt next year’s slate (hence both Harry Potter and Star Trek seeing upgrades to summer tent-pole status). The Academy Awards is gonna have some slim pickings this and next year, especially if SAG decides to ride its high horse into strike territory…

We’re starting to get little tidbits coming off of Sam Rockwell’s newest film, where he plays an astronaut who has been mining Helium 3 on the moon for the last three years by himself. Bad luck for him: two weeks before he’s supposed to leave he starts seeing and hearing things.

What’s got us the most excited about this film are the visuals and the fact that Clint Mansell (Requiem For A Dream) is on board for the score.

That looks like Kubrick-esque space and we love it. You can see some more images over at /Film and check out the full poster below:

As the Screen Actors Guild prepares for tomorrow’s meeting to determine if there will be a vote to strike, News Corp’s C.E.O. Peter Chernin thinks that the current economic state is enough reason not to ask for wage increases. From Variety:

“I think it’s genuinely foolhardy to think this is an appropriate time to go out on strike,” said Chernin on Thursday at a TV Week media conference in New York. “It would be devastating for the entire creative community for the actors to go out on strike.”

Chernin also reiterated the congloms’ stance that they won’t sweeten their final offer to the Screen Actors Guild, which has been insisting that it deserves better terms than those in the WGA, DGA and AFTRA pacts. The two sides haven’t met since July 16, and SAG members are working under terms of a feature-primetime deal that expired June 30.

“We have now made successful deals with virtually the entire Hollywood creative community,” he added. “SAG has come in and basically said: ‘The deal you made with everyone else is not good enough for us.’ We’ve made our final offer. We don’t want to send a false message that there is room for negotiation. We’re done.”

And by “entire Hollywood creative community,” we think you should be aware he means the heads of studios and the valet parking crew. They now get $5 tips instead of $2, thanks to studios tightening their belts on ordering creative projects and mass-releasing otherwise crap through DVD while taking home a majority share of rentals and online media. Also, the above quote’s sheer audacity is proof that when you mess with the writers’ guild, they clearly never forget.

It all depends on a meeting this Saturday according to Variety. And of course, by “may know what to do,” we really mean go on strike. This will be the first such meeting when the previously dominant Hollywood faction of the Guild was in power, but have recently been replaced by the more New York dominant Unite For Strength Faction.

All of this is almost like–you know, some sort of movie!

The newly empowered moderates — who have been critical of aspects of the leadership’s handling of the contract negotiations — have been playing it close to the vest. It’s unclear whether SAG members would support a strike authorization amid the current economic crisis, particularly since such a vote would require 75% approval among those casting ballots.

Speculation’s emerged that rather than seek a strike authorization, the coalition may seek to revamp SAG’s negotiating committee, currently dominated by Membership First members, and remove SAG national exec director Doug Allen as chief negotiator. Taking such steps would show that SAG wants to make a serious run at closing a deal with the majors after a stalemate lasting more than three months.

Such a move could be difficult, however, since the coalition has a razor-thin one-vote edge on the 71-member board.

In the mean time, while the fates and jobs of thousands lie in the balance, amuse yourself like I do with the Dancing Mecha Robot Banana :

>

Seems like Ozzy Osbourne has come out of whatever hole he last dug himself in since The Osbournes ended a satisfying pop culture death to make a variety show. Of course, probably under the assumption that he doesn’t need someone to write his lines (”Uhaghndjnnnn…SHAAARON!!”) the show’s producers have sought to make the program “half-scripted,” according to the New York Times.

Basic translation: We really do need to script the old man, but don’t feel like paying for it.

Of course, this does not please the Writer’s Guild:

Such a contract would pay reduced fees to guild-represented writers of skits, interview material and scene outlines, said the letter, written by Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of American West and Michael Winship, president of the Writers Guild East.
…
The guild said that Fremantle offered to “pay greatly reduced writing fees” to writers of skits, interview material and introductions, while other portions of the show would not employ guild-represented writers. Jeff Hermanson, an assistant executive director of the guild’s western branch, said that the guild had traditionally covered 100 percent of the work on programs like the proposed Osbournes show, which he called “a completely straightforward, traditional comedy-variety show.”

The tentatively titled The Osbournes: Loud and Dangerous would act as a possible companion to American Idol when it returns in 2009. No surprise that FremantleMedia North America is producing both shows.

When Dave was at a wedding in Colorado this weekend, someone asked him about the SAG strike. No joke: people dressed to the nines, sweating through their shirts to watch two people get hitched in the sun, twenty minutes later, Dave’s explaining SAG.

Is this one of those Mastercard “priceless” moments?

Not really. As soon as the guests were told that there was most likely not going to be an actor’s strike, everyone went back to drinking the free wine.

The punch line of the whole thing, we guess, is that very little has changed in the battle between the Screen Actors Guild and The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. They are STILL in a stalemate, and a strike STILL looks unlikely. SAG had its teeth cut this weekend when they turned down the “final offer” from the AMPTP.

Something strange is happening. We’ve stopped beating our heads against the wall about this, because we literally could not care less. Television production has continued almost without a hitch, film production slowed, but considering most of the stalls were put in place should SAG decided to strike, we’re starting to see studios green-lighting more projects.

SAG is the one who looks sort of like a wounded animal, living off their old contract until a deal can be reached, haggling over new media clauses, DVD increases and the ability veto product integration.

It’s estimated that SAG actors are losing about $6.1 million in pay increases they would have received from the “final offer” and a $10 million dollar bonus for the Guild is only awarded if a new contract is ratified by August 15th, far too short of notice for a new deal to be hashed out and for SAG members to vote.

Until something else happens, SAG is stil running on their old, expired deal.

Really, we don’t know what is going to happen next, but we’ll let you know when it does, because we’ve been covering this crap too long not to.