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The filmmakers behind prominent documentaries on casting directors and the #MeToo movement have set their sights on another Hollywood subject: the evolution of the performers’ union SAG-AFTRA.

Director-producer Tom Donahue and producer Ilan Arboleda are working on a film about the transformation of the labor organization union between 2008, when the Writers Guild of America struck film and television studios and the Screen Actors Guild considered (but ultimately did not realize) their own work stoppage, and 2024, in the aftermath of the union’s landmark 118-day actors’ strike. The film will represent the culmination of interviews that have spanned a decade conducted by the filmmakers, whose project will additionally cover the union’s history and its longtime fight to create a middle class of actors, they shared with The Hollywood Reporter.

With two previous projects under their CreativeChaos vmg banner, the filmmaking team has leveraged Hollywood narratives to tell larger stories about...

SAG-AFTRA, the new performers' union that was formed on March 30 with the merger of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, has taken its first official action by establishing an initial 24-member executive committee. The panel was announced on on Wednesday, Variety reported.The committee is composed of a dozen national officers, and SAG-AFTRA co-presidents Ken Howard and Roberta Reardon have each appointed six additional members. Per the merger agreement, Howard and Reardon will chair the SAG-AFTRA executive committee.The officers are Ned Vaughn, executive VP; Amy Aquino and Matthew Kimbrough, co-secretary-treasurers; Gabrielle Carteris, Los Angeles VP; Mike Hodge, New York VP; Craig Dellimore, mid-sized locals VP; David Hartley-Margolin, small locals VP; Michael O'Keefe, actor/performer VP; Catherine Brown, broadcaster VP; and Jim Ferguson, recording artist VP.The appointed members are David Browde, Assaf Cohen, Rebecca Damon, Denise Dal Vera,...

Actor Gabrielle Carteris has been elected president of the Los Angeles local of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the union announced late Thursday night. Carteris succeeds Ron Morgan, who did not seek re-election as president but was elected to a seat on the local's board of directors.Los Angeles 1st vice president Susan Boyd Joyce, 3rd vice president Bobbie Bates, 4th vice president Jason George, and recording secretary Patrika Darbo were re-elected to their posts. Mike Sakellarides and Matthew Kimbrough were newly elected to the respective posts of 2nd vice president and treasurer. Kimbrough is also AFTRA's national treasurer.Morgan, Bates, George, Darbo, Sumi Haru, Sean Valentine, and Linda Harmon were re-elected to the local board of directors. Newly elected to the local board were Bob Bergen, Michee Harris-Hardaway, D.W. Moffett, Jenny O'Hara, Clyde Sacks, David Westberg,  Heather Branch, Holly Pitrago, and Dorenda Moore. Re-elected as Los Angeles representatives.

AFTRA is interested in merger with the Screen Actors Guild, but not if the effort is going to fail again. So we learn from an article appearing in the just-mailed Spring 2010 issue of AFTRA Magazine. The union makes clear that any such effort will encompass all of its members, and emphasizes that the goal is “creating one media and entertainment union for all actors, performers and broadcast journalists.”

SAG reacted favorably, with guild president Ken Howard remarking in an email to me, “I’m delighted to see AFTRA’s leadership speak out forcefully about something that I and other SAG leaders so strongly support. Joining SAG and AFTRA to create a single union is essential to performers’ maximizing their power. It’s undoubtedly an idea whose time has come.”

(AFTRA, for the non-laborites among my readers, is the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG...

By Daniel Frankel

AFTRA leadership has made it official: the labor organization will attempt to merge with the Screen Actors Guild for a third time.

In a joint letter to be sent out in the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists magazine this week, national org president Robert Reardon, along with VP Bob Edwards, second VP Ron Morgan, treasurer Matthew Kimbrough and recording secretary Lainie Cooke, called for the creation of a “new union.”

“Some see ...

As AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers continue their negotiations, the union sent its members an e-mail newsletter Thursday indicating that though it's limited in what it can divulge about the current talks because of a media blackout, the union is "making progress."

The e-mail, sent by AFTRA president Roberta Reardon, said that 31 working performer members are part of the primetime negotiating committee, chaired by Matthew Kimbrough. The committee has been "laboring diligently and responsibly in talks with the (AMPTP) regarding a new three-year agreement to Exhibit A of the Network Code," Reardon wrote. "We're making progress -- and the negotiating committee will be providing you with an update very soon."

Talks between the two sides started up May 7 after formal negotiations between SAG and the AMPTP ended without a deal the day before.

Exhibit A of the Network Code covers primetime TV dramas and sitcoms repped by AFTRA, including "Rules of Engagement", "Cashmere Mafia", " 'Til Death" and "Reaper".

The current contract expires June 30.

Los Angeles – The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) announced that its Primetime Negotiating Committee, comprised of 31 working actors, will commence formal talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) regarding a new three-year Exhibit A of the Network Code agreement tomorrow, Wednesday, May 7.

Exhibit A of the Network Code covers such AFTRA primetime network TV dramas and situation comedies as Rules of Engagement, Cashmere Mafia, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight of the Conchords, Dante’s Cove, The Reaper, and Til Death. AFTRA’s current primetime television contract expires June 30, 2008.

AFTRA’s negotiating team for the primetime talks will be headed by Primetime Negotiating Committee Chairman Matthew Kimbrough, along with AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon and AFTRA National Executive Director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth. The talks will take place at AMPTP headquarters in Encino, California.

AFTRA will adhere to a press blackout during the talks.

AFTRA Los Angeles has announced unopposed local-office candidates, including president Ron Morgan, and also listed those running in contests for 20 local and 12 national board seats.

Other incumbents running unopposed for additional two-year terms as officers in Los Angeles include first vp Susan Boyd Joyce, second vp Lori Alan, third vp Bobbie Bates, fourth vp Jason George and treasurer Jay Gerber. Actress Patrika Darbo was named as a candidate for recording secretary, replacing singer Dan Navarro, who isn't running for re-election as an officer.

Those selected by a nominating committee for ballot listing in races for three-year terms on the Los Angeles board include incumbents Lori Alan, Audrey Baranishyn, Matthew Kimbrough and Bill Ratner; and Roxana Cortes, Milo Edwards, Morgan Fairchild, Robert Pine and Joan Pirkle.

Also running for local seats, by petition, are actors Steven Barr, Carole Elliott and Russell McConnell. Incumbent announcer John Harlan was named by the nominating committee as a candidate to fill a vacancy representing his category, and Sharon Ferguson, also an incumbent board member, was named as a candidate for a vacancy in the dancer category.

AFTRA Los Angeles has announced the results of its 2004 election for the Los Angeles local board and the AFTRA national board members representing Los Angeles. The union, which represents television and radio talent in areas ranging from news and weather to soaps and variety shows, said one seat on the local board representing the sportscaster category and one seat on the national board representing the newsperson category are still vacant and will be filled according to provisions of the union's bylaws. The terms begin July 1, and 2,713 valid ballots were cast. Members re-elected to the Los Angeles local board for three-year terms include actors Marvin Kaplan, Jackie Joseph, Lori Alan, Bill Ratner, Cedering Fox, Matthew Kimbrough and Cain Devore. Also re-elected were announcer John Harlan, newsman David Horowitz and singer Dan Navarro.