SAG-AFTRA Board Votes Unanimously To “Strongly” Support The WGA In Its Contract Talks With AMPTP

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher has told her members that as the union prepares for its upcoming contract negotiations, which start June 7: “We must focus on modernizing our outdated and conservative contract. It is essential that we reshape our agreement to better reflect the new digital and streaming business model that is rapidly changing our industry.”

John Travolta (Grease) and Katherine Heigl (Firefly Lane) have boarded the rom-com That’s Amore!, written and to be directed by two-time Academy Award winner Nick Vallelonga (Green Book), with Christopher Walken (Severance) also in talks to star.

The Directors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have released a brief joint statement on the start of their contract talks, saying that they met on today “to begin formal negotiations for the 2023 Agreement. The DGA and AMPTP also agreed that neither organization will comment to the media.”

WGA strike continues and SAG-AFTRA looks to begin its own negotiations with the studios in June, SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland not only expressed solidarity with the WGA, but explained how actors’ problems are similar to those facing writers during a panel on the state of the TV industry.Speaking during the panel at SeriesFest in Denver on Monday, Crabtree-Ireland said current conditions in the industry are “not right.”“I think we all understand that things have been moving in the wrong direction as a result of the technological innovations in the industry, and that really has to stop because we can’t have a vital industry if the people who are responsible for creating all of that content can’t have a career, can’t pay for their basic living expenses,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “It’s not right.

Angelique Jackson SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher had a sobering message for Hollywood’s major studios as she joined a WGA picket line outside Paramount Pictures on Monday afternoon. “They feel like this strike is a strike for everybody in the industry,” Drescher said of SAG-AFTRA members and the WGA’s labor action. Drescher, who was elected SAG-AFTRA president in September 2021, marched arm in arm with Writers Guild of America West president Meredith Stiehm in a show of solidarity, joining a coalition of a few hundred members from each guild who were picketing outside Paramount starting at 9 a.m. PT as week two of the WGA strike began.

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher joined members of her guild marching in solidarity with Writers Guild of America members Monday on the picket lines in front of the entrance to Paramount Pictures’ backlot.Amid this display of solidarity, Drescher is preparing with SAG-AFTRA to begin talks on their own new contract, and she is signaling that actors need major change in Hollywood just as much as writers.“We can’t keep building on a contract that was developed in the 1980s,” Drescher told TheWrap. “I’m hoping that we go in with a new perspective, a different portal to enter the conversation just as we did with other talks that we were successful in resolving.

On the seventh day of the Writers Guild of America’s strike against Hollywood studios, guild leaders from both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, including actors union president Fran Drescher, hit the picket lines at Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles.

SAG-AFTRA, in partnership with the Motion Picture Association and a host of other industry unions and organizations, has launched the Green Council Initiative to promote eco-responsible entertainment. Founded by SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, the initiative’s top priority is the reduction of single-use plastic on set, on screen and in audience homes, while normalizing the use and depictions of reusables – much like the “Buckle Up Hollywood!” movement pushed to promote seat belt awareness back in the 1990s.

SAG-AFTRA, which starts its contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on June 7, is in “the same boat” with the Writers Guild as it strikes for a fair contract, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told a cheering crowd Wednesday night at the WGA strike rally at the Shrine Auditorium.

Remember what we told you in February that would be ending with its fifth season and Paramount was plotting a follow-up series from Taylor Sheridan?

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers struck back today, providing answers to the WGA’s talking points about the failed negotiations that led to the ongoing writers strike, which is now in its third day.

Actress Cheryl Fergison has opened up on social media about her newest hobby, roller skating, after restarting her childhood hobby.The former EastEnders star, who played Heather Trott from 2005 until the character's death in 2012, previously left fans shocked when she unveiled her impressive weight loss at the Tatton Park Pop Up Festival at Tatton Park in Cheshire. And sharing some off her weight loss secrets, Cheryl has been posting to Instagram, about her newest hobby, sharing some snaps and videos of herself roller skating.

The Writers Guild of America is on strike.

The Writers Guild sent a message to its members Monday evening saying that picketing will begin Tuesday afternoon if a deal on a new contract can’t be reached tonight.

On the eve of a threatened writers’ strike, SAG-AFTRA is advising its members that they should “continue to work” in the event of a writers’ strike, which could come as soon as Monday night at midnight.

SAG-AFTRA has once again – and for the last time – extended its dues-relief program for members experiencing Covid-related financial hardship. The union first began offering Covid dues relief in March 2020 during the earliest days of the pandemic. All along, however, it has encouraged members who can pay on time to do so.

SAG-AFTRA and the Joint Policy Committee of the advertising industry have agreed to end their Covid safety protocols for commercial productions effective May 11.

and Justin reportedly arrived separately, so don't start a rumor.The foursome dined at Il Cantinori, a celebrity hotspot that, yes, is where Carrie Bradshaw celebrated 35…or tried to, before no one she invited showed up. reports that this was a Saturday night dinner, and snagged photos of everyone arriving: Aniston wore all-black with gold accents, Theroux paired combat boots with an army green jacket, and the Batemankas coordinated in shades of black and dark grey.

IATSE has joined SAG-AFTRA and the DGA in support of the Writers Guild in its ongoing negotiations for a new film and TV contract.

The Writers Guild of America doesn’t want to strike, but it will if it has to. That’s the thrust of the guild’s latest video featuring WGA West board member and BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg discussing the history of gains the guild has made by standing firm at the bargaining table – and by going on strike if all else fails.