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Studios rush to fill '09 schedule before possible SAG strike.

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R

Ripclawe

Banned
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117980473.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2562

Studios rush to fill '09 schedule
Possible SAG strike hurries high-profile pics

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCKAn end to the writers strike would come just in time for Hollywood studios, who are bumping up against the deadline to get projects into production before a possible walkout by actors on June 30.

The majors can also get busy figuring out which projects to greenlight for a fall start, since there's no room to spare in filling out the second half of the 2009 release slate. In addition they have to largely map out their 2010 skeds.

The majors had always planned to accelerate their production schedules in case of a SAG strike. No one, however, had planned on such a long WGA walkout, which has made script polishes and rewrites impossible.

Studios are keeping mum about what the end of the writers strike will mean for a handful of high-profile projects scuttled -- at least temporarily -- by the walkout, including Sony's "Angels and Demons," which needed script revisions, and Warner Bros.' "Justice League."

Sony reiterated this week that "Angels and Demons" is delayed pending the outcome of the strike. Others suggest it could go into production this summer if all goes well. That's also true for DreamWorks and Paramount's "Transformers 2." Both films are still set for release in 2009: "Angels and Demons" on May 15, "Transformers 2" on June 26.

At MGM, three pics -- "Thomas Crown Affair 2," "Death Wish" and "Fame" -- are on hold pending the resolution of the strike because of script issues.

Universal delayed Ridley Scott's "Nottingham," toplining Russell Crowe, because of the strike but still intends to make the movie in time for a 2009 release. Crowe became available to star in U's "State of Play" after Brad Pitt dropped out; that movie is lensing.

Some studios have been busier than others on productions to finish before a possible SAG strike. Twentieth Century Fox has been especially prolific, while Disney and Universal are about to be. Sony has been busy, too.

Warner Bros., on the other hand, is noticeably quiet on this front, in part because most of its movies slated for release through this year, as well as into next, are completed or are in post-production. Warners has only one movie dated so far for 2009, Zack Snyder's "Watchmen," set for release, on March 6.

The other majors have at least one summer 2009 tentpole dated, although it is still early.

Warners has a number of movies it will release through various output deals, as well as several undated, yet completed projects, including family entry "Where the Wild Things Are." Once the WGA strike ends, one possible 2009 Warners tentpole is McG's "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins," toplining Christian Bale.

There's also speculation that Warner Bros. could begin distributing films for sister company New Line, which Time Warner topper Jeff Bewkes wants pared down.

When the strike started more than three months ago, no one could have anticipated how a protracted walkout might change the film business. Now, one studio exec suggests that one consequence may be a slowdown in the number of movies being made, even on the busier lots, such as Paramount and Warners. (Disney and Universal already had cut back.)

"I think everybody is anxious to get some scripts worked on right now. On the other hand, I think we are going to make fewer movies, because the competition when it comes to dating is impossible right now. It's brutal. I don't think you're going to see us all rev back up to the same level of business," one studio exec said.

Yet even the exec concedes he's just talking about one or two fewer.

While the strike hit the television business more immediately, it could take months to determine the exact damage, if any, done to the film industry, since the cycle of moviemaking is so much longer.

Whatever the case, the next three months is a production free-for-all. Here's the status of studio projects that have already begun shooting or are about to go into the production and are scheduled to complete production before a possible SAG strike could interfere. This list doesn't include films that are largely wrapped or are in post, nor does it include animated movies, of which there are plenty in 2009.

DISNEY

"Confessions of a Shopaholic" -- filming

"A Christmas Carol" -- next week (Jim Carrey; 11/6/09 release)

(Tv) Christmas Carol: The Musical

"Bedtime Stories" -- February (Adam Sandler; 12/25/08 release)

"Witch Mountain" -- late March (Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson)

"The Proposal" -- late March (Ryan Reynolds-Sandra Bullock; 2/13/09 release)

"When in Rome" -- mid-April

"Hannah Montana Movie" -- mid-April

"High School Musical: Senior Year" -- mid-April

"Surrogates" -- late April (Bruce Willis)

"Prince of Persia" -- late July (7/10/09 release)

DREAMWORKS

"The Lovely Bones" -- Peter Jackson directing (3/13/09 release)

"The Soloist" -- filming

"I Love You Man" -- March (1/16/09 release)

"She's Out of My League" -- March or April.

PARAMOUNT

"Star Trek" -- J.J. Abrams directing (12/25/08 release)

"G.I. Joe" -- mid-February (8/7/09 release)

"Shutter Island" -- early March (Martin Scorsese directing, Leonardo DiCaprio-Michelle Williams)

SONY

"Year One" -- filming (Jack Black-Michael Sera; 6/19/09 release)

"Seven Pounds" -- March (Will Smith; 12/12/08 release)

"Julie & Julia" -- March (Amy Adams-Meryl Streep)

"Taking of Pelham One Two Three" -- March (Denzel Washington-John Travolta; 7/31/09 release)

FOX

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" -- started shooting. (Keanu Reeves; 12/12/08 release)

"They Came From Upstairs" -- started shooting (1/16/09 release)

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" -- started shooting (Hugh Jackman; 5/1/09 release)

"Max Payne" -- late February (Mark Wahlberg)

"Marley and Me" -- March (Jennifer Aniston-Owen Wilson; 12/19/08 release)

"Bride Wars" -- March.

"Night at the Museum 2: Escape From the Smithsonian" -- May (Ben Stiller; 5/22/09 release)

UNIVERSAL

"Cirque de Freak" -- Feb. 19

"Fast and Furious 4" -- Feb. 20 (Paul Walker-Van Diesel; 6/5/09 release)

"The Wolfman" -- early March (Benicio Del Toro; 2/13/09 release)

"Land of the Lost" -- early March (Will Ferrell; 7/17/09 release)More than one option(Tv) Land of the Lost
Series Information, Seasons, Credits, Awards
(Tv) Land of the Lost
Series Information, Seasons, Credits, Awards
"The Boat That Rocked" -- March 3

"Duplicity" -- March 10

"Public Enemies" -- March 10 (Johnny Depp-Christian Bale-Marion Cotillard)
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S

Sol..

I am Wayne Brady.
I don't care what anybody says. Fast and The Furious is the shit.



minus paul walker......and vin diesel.......and lucas black
 
P

Phobophile

A scientist and gentleman in the manner of Batman.
Sol.. said:
I don't care what anybody says. Fast and The Furious is the shit.



minus paul walker......and vin diesel.......and lucas black
Click to expand...

Can't you get your ricer fix on GAF?
 
R

Ripclawe

Banned
A-listers putting pressure on the guild to start talking. It sounds like the top wants to protect their bottom line even though the guild deals usually is about protecting the average actor out there.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/a-list-actors-pressure-sag-to-start-talks/
EXCLUSIVE: There's rarely anything spontaneous in Hollywood when it involves powerful actors and powerful moguls. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that a carefully orchestrated campaign is about to get underway in the trades and mainstream press to pressure and no doubt demonize as strike-militant before too long SAG president Alan Rosenberg and national executive director Doug Allen (aka "the football guy") along the same lines that WGAW president Patric Verrone and WGAW executive director Dave Young (aka "the garmento guy) were. (SEE UPDATE BELOW WITH SAG BOARD MEMBER'S UNOFFICIAL RESPONSE)

I hear that on Thursday the trades will carry an ad signed by George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, and others trying to push the SAG leaders to start negotiations early. Also, Matt Damon, Reese Witherspoon, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, etc will begin making phone calls to SAG leadership on Friday. Also, a piece on this subject has been signed by Hanks and Clooney and submitted to the Los Angeles Times Op-Ed page. (Question: Don't LAT editors ever ask who was the actual author of a piece like this? I was recently told "no".)

Next Tuesday, News Corp No. 2 Peter Chernin and Disney CEO Bob Iger are taking out an ad in the trades responding to the Clooney ad and will invite SAG/AFTRA in for early informal conversations. How interesting that this campaign kicking off coincides with complaints from Hollywood CEOs that they fear starting principal photography on movies if the actors will walk come June. As the WGA talks drew to a close, top agents said privately they would now focus all their energies on averting a SAG strike. Then, at last week's luncheon for Oscar nominees, Clooney sounded off about his guild.

Right now, no SAG-mogul talks have yet been scheduled on the contract that expires June 30. But at least Rosenberg and Allen have been learning from the trials and tribulations that the WGA went through at the hands of the Hollywood CEOs. One of the first problems they'll face is whether SAG should institute a "qualified voting" earnings threshold requirement. (Ever since the extras union merged with SAG to strengthen the guild, only a third of SAG's 120,000 members earn more than $1,000 as SAG actors. But now the elite working actors want to take away the right of all SAG members to vote on the guild's major contracts. The WGA went through something similar years ago.) A two-week-old petition has circulated among SAG's working TV and film actors. Rosenberg and Allen will be meeting next week with reps from the petition group.

UPDATE: A SAG board member responds to me unofficially about the A-list pressure: "SAG W & W (wages & working conditions) meetings are taking place practically everyday at 5757 Wilshire Blvd. This is where the membership talks with the SAG leadership about what they'd like changed in the contract. Talks with the AMPTP, even informal ones, would be premature until this process is over. (It concludes the end of February).

I also find it disingenuous that the people listed as "pressuring SAG to go in early" are NOT participating in this contract talk process with their union, nor do you hear them speaking about any of the possible deal points in their comments to the press. Attendance of the W & W meetings is open to any actor with a current SAG card. It seems to be a very naive request to blindly call for early talks while we're 1) four months from our contract expiration, 2) only halfway through the w&w process, 3) have it handled.

Doug Allen and Alan Rosenberg, in addition to our negotiation committee chairs, know what they are doing. Nobody is gunning for a strike. The focus is squarely upon composing a collection of needs for the acting community to be negotiated with our employers. The panic is unnecessary."
Click to expand...
 
S

Snaku

Banned
2euq5ud.gif
 
K

kame-sennin

Member
(Ever since the extras union merged with SAG to strengthen the guild, only a third of SAG's 120,000 members earn more than $1,000 as SAG actors. But now the elite working actors want to take away the right of all SAG members to vote on the guild's major contracts. The WGA went through something similar years ago.)
Click to expand...

So the union is... anti-working class?
 
R

Ripclawe

Banned
http://www.reuters.com/article/ente...RSS&feedName=entertainmentNews&rpc=22&sp=true

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The final epilogue to the tumultuous writers strike has been written, but Hollywood is bracing for a possible a sequel to the costly walkout -- this one starring film and television actors.

While the TV industry has rushed to bring derailed shows back on the air since screenwriters returned to work three weeks ago, the threat of renewed labor unrest by actors in the months ahead has put movie studios in a tenuous situation.

Filmmakers are reluctant to launch any production that cannot be completed before the expiration of the Screen Actors Guild's major film and TV contract on June 30 -- a date being treated as the union's de facto strike deadline.

Assuming a typical 60-day movie shoot, plus extra time for days off, possible overruns and re-shoots that might be necessary, that means few if any big-studio movies will start filming after the end of this month, industry experts say.

"The studios for the most part are not greenlighting any movies that would have to be in production after that (June 30) deadline," said an insider at one leading talent agency who was not authorized to speak publicly about client issues.

Labor jitters have even prompted Hollywood's leading insurance carrier, Fireman's Fund Insurance Co, to offer a first-of-its-kind "strike expense" policy for studios.

The policy covers the costs of a strike-related production shutdown in the event that an actor's illness, equipment damage or other unexpected loss pushes the shooting schedule of a movie past SAG's June 30 contract deadline.

To qualify, a film must be scheduled to finish shooting by June 15 and already be covered by a so-called completion bond, which insures a movie's financial backers against the cost of failing to finish a picture on time and on budget.

STRIKE FATIGUE

Nerves are still raw from a 14-week strike by 10,500 writers that shut down much of the television industry and derailed numerous film projects, idling thousands of production workers and costing the local economy some $3 billion.

The walkout ended February 12 after the two sides reached agreement on a deal giving writers more money for work distributed over the Internet. The contract was formally ratified by the Writers Guild of America membership last week.

The Screen Actors Guild shares many of the same contract demands. But SAG also faces issues unique to its 120,000 members, such as forced commercial endorsements through product placement in TV shows and movies.

Many in Hollywood believe strike fatigue is running too high for another work stoppage to materialize. But with tens of millions of dollars at stake when a film production is disrupted, movie studios are playing it safe. Some of the industry's biggest names are caught up in the uncertainty.

Steven Spielberg has called off the April start to a DreamWorks film about the trial of the 1968 anti-war activists, the Chicago Seven, according to Daily Variety newspaper

Michael Bay, director of the 2007 summer action blockbuster "Transformers," is keeping his fingers crossed as he and DreamWorks stick to an early June start date for a sequel to the movie.

"If there is a strike, we shut down. But shutting down isn't that big a deal," Bay told Variety, explaining that he hoped to mitigate the cost of a potential disruption by working out special deals in advance with equipment vendors and sound stages where he would shoot.

Independent producers who rely on third-party financing lack such flexibility because investors require completion bonds, which insurance companies are hesitant to issue for any film that cannot be finished by June 15.

"There were a number of projects that we had to surrender on and admit there was just no way to meet the bond deadline," producer Paul Schiff, whose credits include "Rushmore" and "Date Movie," told the Los Angeles Times.

PRESSURE FOR TALKS

Meanwhile, SAG leaders have come under mounting pressure to open contract talks with the major studios as soon as possible, leading to tensions between the guild and its sister union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

SAG President Alan Rosenberg, who campaigned on a promise to take an aggressive stance at the bargaining table, has insisted the guild will not be ready to begin official talks before early April.

Some leaders of AFTRA and SAG's New York wing have agitated for talks to begin sooner, as have several high-profile actors, including George Clooney and Tom Hanks, who met with Rosenberg over dinner last month. They and other stars also took out full-page ads in Hollywood trade papers calling for immediate negotiations.

And over 1,000 SAG members recently presented Rosenberg with a petition urging the union to limit any voting on a new contract or strike authorization to those members who have worked a specified number of days during the past six years.

Rosenberg said he opposes the idea but would take it to SAG's governing board at its next meeting in April.

Rosenberg and SAG executive director Doug Allen recently suggested that informal talks like those that led to contracts with the WGA and the Directors Guild of America, were already under way. "We will certainly continue to meet with the CEOs of the major networks and studios as we prepare for formal negotiations," they wrote in a February 28 memo to members.

Reuters/Nielsen
Click to expand...
 
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