Latest in SAG AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA has reached an agreement with the major record labels for a new three-year contract covering performers in music videos. The deal was reached Thursday night after three days of bargaining. "It was an intense negotiation, but in the end, the labels and our negotiating team were able to find a shared path…

SAG-AFTRA says it's achieved a "significant victory" in its battle with six so-called "signatory services" that front for non-union advertisers so that they can employ the union's members in their TV commercials. In May, the guild revoked the signatory status of six of the services after finding that they were not…

Hollywood's unions are assuring members that their loan-out companies will not be negatively impacted by a new California law designed to end the misclassification of gig economy workers as so-called "independent contractors.” The bill – AB 5 – which was signed Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, was designed to protect…

SAG-AFTRA has begun talks with intimacy coordinators to develop protocols covering on-set nudity and simulated sex scenes. Earlier today, the union's Sexual Harassment Work Group hosted many of the industry's top intimacy coordinators to help work out those guidelines. "Engaging directly with our member leaders and…

SAG-AFTRA has filed a brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Ashley Judd's lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein. Judd sued Weinstein for sexual harassment and defamation in April 2018, but in January, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez in January dismissed her sexual harassment claim against the…

SAG-AFTRA national executive director David White has condemned a social media post that he described as a "threat" against Gabrielle Carteris, the union's recently re-elected president. "It has come to our attention that elected leaders have been threatened," he said in an email to the guild's board of directors…

Several protests have been filed challenging the validity of SAG-AFTRA's recent presidential election, in which incumbent Gabrielle Carteris handily defeated opponents including runners-up Matthew Modine and Jane Austin. One of the challenges, filed Tuesday by Brian Hamilton, a founder of Membership First, claims that…

UPDATE: SAG-AFTRA presidential candidate Matthew Modine has conceded defeat, sort of. The election was marred by some mudslinging from each side, and in a statement Modine appears to be keeping options open if the election is scrutinized. “I am proud of our campaign for transparency and the goal of uniting all 160,000…

It's Election Day at SAG-AFTRA and Candidates Night at the WGA. Ballots will be counted this evening in the SAG-AFTRA election and will go out to WGA members Thursday. There's been a lot of bad blood among the factions at each union, with accusations flying from all directions. Incumbents at both unions have urged…

In dueling email blasts to the members of SAG-AFTRA, presidential candidates Matthew Modine and Gabrielle Carteris both now are alleging that the other might have violated federal labor law in the course of the election, which concludes Wednesday with the counting of ballots. "If Matthew Modine broke the law in our…

EXCLUSIVE: SAG-AFTRA presidential candidate Matthew Modine is crying foul over a Los Angeles Times article published yesterday. Curiously timed with one week of voting left in the guild’s election, the article alleged that Modine had accepted in-kind campaign contributions from his "employer" – the for-profit New York…

Funnyman Rob Schneider has been elected to the SAG-AFTRA national board representing San Francisco and northern California, defeating incumbent Katheryn Howell and three other challengers. Howell, however, was re-elected president of the local. Schneider's election is a victory for Membership First, the union's…