April 19, 2009 - Rumors have surfaced in Hollywood that if the agreement between SAG and AMPTP is not embraced by the membership of the union, the studios, already making cutbacks and suffering losses, will be forced to lock out the actor's union within days and to, essentially, shut down the town. An unnamed studio executive, who asked for anonymity because he is a conniving scumbag who is using this outlet to send out his threats without taking any responsibility for it, said, “We really hate to do it. Our jobs are on the line too. Our corporate parents are ready to shut it all down. We only wish the actors understood that they are playing with a time bomb and though they may not like this contract, it is better than anything they will see if they force us to close our doors for the next six to eight weeks before they cave and settle. Uh, can that last part be off the record?”
April 27, 2009 - The membership Screen Actors Guild has agree to a pact with the Association Of Motion Picture & Television Producers, avoiding a second work stoppage within a span of two years. The new leadership of SAG, which pushed aside president Alan Rosenberg and his negotiating team to get this deal done offered a bittersweet perspective. "This deal is not very good for actors... but given the mess that Rosenberg and his allies made of it, it was the best that we could do. Next time, we'll know better than to put those radicals in charge of our union."
April 28, 2009 – Alan Rosenberg resigns from the presidency of SAG… signs on for the next season of “So You Think You Can Sing!”
June 2009 – Two studios laid off another 6% of their film and television workforce today, citing union threats to strike in 2011.
July 2009 – The SAG/AFTRA merger has gone through, bringing together the two acting unions. The new union is to be known as AFSTRA.
May 2009 - DGA, WGA, and AFSTRA all closed deals with AMPTP this month, avoiding a work stoppage. The contract as being held up a groundbreaking, raising the fee for online use of a network show to a record $325 per year and, for the first time, getting a union deal for Twittered content.
Read the complete post at http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/archives/2009/04/the_future_news.html