Monthly Archives: November 2008

The Screen Actors Guild has announced it will ask its 120,000 members to authorize a strike vote.

Here, in a nutshell, is what brought us to this moment: The AMPTP, which represents TV and motion picture producers, has been trying to not pay much, if anything, for the reuse of old shows and film as well as the production of new material for "new media." In this case, that term applies primarily to distribution via Internet but can and will encompass a number of other forms. This is more than a matter of not wanting to share newly-found revenues. Actors make a large part of their incomes from residuals when their work is reused in so-called "traditional" venues, like when a TV network reruns a show. The studios are trying to take the position that as they shift such reruns from the traditional venues to new ones, the old residual payments will be replaced by little or nothing.

There are other issues but that's the biggie. It was a biggie in the lengthy Writers Guild strike of not that many months ago, and we wound up with an okay deal, as did the Directors Guild. The AMPTP has offered what they claim is a similar concession to actors…but the SAG leadership feels it's not comparable and not enough.

Most years, SAG negotiates its contracts in lockstep with a sister union, AFTRA — The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. This year, that alliance splintered and AFTRA leadership, which was much more reticent to strike, went in on its own and made what SAG's leadership and many onlookers consider a tepid and insufficient deal. The Producers then said, in effect, "SAG can have the exact same deal or they can go to hell. We're not negotiating any more." And while the two sides have met repeatedly since AFTRA settled in May, the AMPTP hasn't notably improved the offer. Which is why SAG is now asking its members to authorize a strike.

In my opinion, SAG is correct that they're being forced to accept a crummy deal. In an ordinary year, it would be all-out war, and an actors' strike would be so thorough and militant that the AMPTP would scurry to make a better offer. But this is no ordinary year; not with the AFTRA split and undercut and not with the economy turning rancid on everyone. I hope I'm wrong but SAG seems divided, dispirited and full of internal strife with competing factions blaming one another for the mess they're in. The studios probably feel they can sit on their "final offer" and wait for the union to crawl back and accept it.

At the moment, the timetable for a strike is unknown. SAG's intention to take a strike vote was announced yesterday. That can take 30-40 days and in this case, the ballots will probably not go out until the union has a chance to prepare an extensive informational campaign to rally its membership. So we could be looking at some time in late January for a walkout, which means we may once again see awards shows like the Golden Globes and the Oscars held hostage.

That's if they vote to strike. SAG's bylaws require a 75% strike authorization from its members in order to go out. In the current climate, that may not be attainable. If they do get it and do walk, they will not shut down all production because some TV shows are covered by AFTRA and can therefore continue.

As you may be able to tell, I don't have a good feeling about this. Stay tuned.

The comic art world has been mucho impressed with the paintings of Alex Ross…and I guess it's no secret that Alex often uses live models in his work. One of them is his friend, Frank Kasy. Here's an article about how Frank gets transformed into Superman. Thanks to Bruce Reznick for the link.

I don't do book reviews here. I just recommend books written by friends and I'm way behind in doing this.

Most of these are easy because they fall into the category of "If you have any interest in the topic, you should buy this book." That's the case with Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday, a new volume by Kim "Howard" Johnson, who's easily the world's foremost authority on all things Python. During the making of Life of Brian, Kim went over to be a part of the filming as a stand-in, aide and diarist. He kept detailed notes on everything that happened on the set and this new book is based on those notes.

Kim is an excellent reporter and that's darn near all you need to know. It means you get an intimate and fascinating account of how that wonderful movie was made, with insights into all the Pythons and their supporting players. So what are you waiting for? Order a copy from Amazon by clicking here.

Can you name anyone alive who's better at their job than Vin Scully is at his? As we near sixty years of "The Ol' Redhead" doing play-by-play for the Dodgers, I'm still stunned by this perfect match of man and mission. My interest in the team (in baseball at all) plunged when my local team no longer consisted of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills and others of that era. To this day, when I tune in a game, it's not because of whoever's currently wearing the Dodger uniforms. It's to enjoy the sheer beauty of Vin Scully describing whatever the hell those guys out there pretending to be Dodgers are doing.

Yesterday afternoon, I attended a luncheon in Mr. Scully's honor. Most of it consisted of colleagues heaping praise on the man and him turning the color of his hair in humble embarrassment. The first speaker was Jonathan Winters who, I'm happy to report, looked to be in pretty good health. The last before the honoree was Tommy Lasorda, who was nice enough to leave some food for the rest of us. Vin told a hilarious story about Dodger history which I can in no way recreate here…and anyway, you'd have to hear him tell it.

This was a function of the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, a group which among its other activities, honors three "legends" of TV or radio each year with these luncheons. Sometimes, the criteria for honorees seems a bit thin and you can tell that some in the hall are pondering, "Why are we toasting that guy?" Not this time. This time, everyone was asking why they're only now getting around to Vin Scully. The sheer unanimity of respect was something to behold.

In this post, I typoed the date when Turner Classic Movies is running the movie, The Runaway. I've corrected the post so it has the correct date, which is Sunday, November 30.

Didn't some of us vote for Barack Obama in the primaries because we didn't want Hillary Clinton managing U.S. foreign affairs?

Let's flash back to 1962 and the family film, The Runaway…the story of a young homeless boy and his dog who hitchhike across the country with a kindly priest. Directed by Claudio Guzman and featuring cinematography by Haskell Wexler, The Runaway had a mostly "no star" cast. The only really recognizable face belonged to Cesar Romero, who played the priest. There was a fair amount of advance publicity for the film, including a Dell comic book adaptation.

Do you remember this film? No? Well, there may be a reason for that. It was never released.

Exactly why is a little fuzzy. It apparently had distribution problems that prevented it from ever getting near your neighborhood movie emporium. It has been rescued from obscurity, however, by the devoted folks at Turner Classic Movies. They're running it on Sunday. November 30, at 8 PM Eastern Time.

This is not a recommendation that you watch or TiVo. I've never seen the film either and have no reason to believe it's any good…or even so bad it's good. Could be wonderful, could be dreadful. Who knows? But if you're intrigued at all about the nature of a movie that sat unseen in a film vault somewhere for half a century, there it is.

And if you'd like to read that Dell comic, the TCM people have put it up on their website. The artist is Tom Gill and I have no idea who wrote it.

The fine PBS TV series Nature, which brings us amazing footage and narratives, supplements its work with a comic book that's available to classrooms, educators, students, etc. This coming Sunday, they debut a new and engrossing episode, "The Wolf That Changed America," which I highly recommend. You can see a preview of it here and you can read or download the Nature comic book adaptation — scripted by me, drawn by Tom Yeates — on this page.

Hey, wanna do a nice thing for a stranger? Sure you do. After all, you're a nice, decent human being. The stranger is a lady who must be terrific because her son is a great guy and a pal of mine. Go read this and then send a postcard to spread a little cheer where it'll do some good.