- Part 3

November 6, 2020

Stuntplayers on ‘The Walking Dead’ Win Pay For Reuse Of Stunt Clips

from David Robb

SAG-AFTRA has won an arbitration and confidential settlement with the producers of The Walking Dead over compensation due to stunt performers for the reuse of clips from the show in which they appeared. Some of those stunt personnel are unidentifiable in the clips, however, and the union is asking the stunt community for help in identifying them so that they can be paid.

SAG-AFTRA and the show’s producer reached the confidential settlement agreement based on an audit of scenes reused in the “In Memoriam” segment of Talking Dead from February 29, 2016, through the present. The union says its auditors discovered and reviewed reused clips that contained identifiable stunts and performers, noting that all of the stunt performers identified in the clips are being compensated at their day pay rates plus late payments for each clip. Under terms of the agreement, individual checks will be sent to SAG-AFTRA on or before November 20, and after verification that the full amount has been paid, the union will mail the checks to the performers.

Gabrielle Carteris’ Politics Put Stunt Players’ Lives in Jeopardy

Brian Hamilton

from Dave Robb’s article at DEADLINE:

SAG-AFTRA’s national board, at a contentious meeting tonight, passed a resolution to form a task force to “investigate and address” issues involving “paint-downs” and “wigging.” The motion was brought to the board by SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris.

The move, which was opposed by five stunt performers serving on the board, comes after dozens of stuntmen and women signed a letter sent Sept. 30 to the leadership of SAG-AFTRA calling for an end to “wigging” – the age-old practice of putting wigs and dresses on stuntmen so they can double for actresses – and “paint-downs,” in which dark make-up is applied to white stunt performers so that they can double for actors of color.

The resolution was opposed on procedural grounds by many members of the union’s main opposition group, Membership First, and by all five stunt performers serving on the board, who argued that safety should always be the first priority, and that the resolution could tie the hands of stunt coordinators in their hiring decisions, which could lead to more on-set accidents and injuries. “Every stunt person on the national board voted against it,” said board member and stuntman Peter Antico. “This referendum was not on the agenda, and they wasted three hours of the meeting giving us hearsay without any substantiation evidence of anything that they were saying. The stunt community is against racist practices and paint downs, but safety must always come before diversity. We proposed an amendment to include all stunt people on the Task Force who serve on the local and national boards, and it was turned down by people who know nothing about the stunt business.”

“Most of Membership First abstained,” said a source familiar with last night’s meeting. “The reason why was for process reasons. Everyone in Membership First is against paint downs and wigging. They find the process abhorrent. The problem was that Gabrielle never consulted any of the stunt people on the board. That’s why they’re there, because there are other issues at play – mainly safety. We have to find a way for everyone to have fair and equal access to work. Membership First didn’t want to block the Task Force, but they’re sick and tired of Gabrielle excluding certain people for political expediency.”

Hollywood’s TV, film production cut in half this summer due to COVID-19

Brian Hamilton

NY POST

By Alexandra Steigrad

A couple wearing facemaks take pictures at the Griffith Observatory with a view of the Hollywood sign at the start of Memorial Day holiday weekend amid the novel coronavirus pandemic in Los Angeles on May 22, 2020. (Photo by Apu GOMES / AFP) (Photo by APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images)

October 15, 2020 | 11:06am

The coronavirus slashed movie and TV production in Hollywood by more than half this summer, according to a new report.

Movie and TV shoots in Los Angeles plunged 55 percent versus a year ago to just 4,199 days in the July through September period, according to the non-profit group FilmLA, which tracks production in Tinseltown.

The group added in its report late Wednesday that the film industry’s “road to recovery hinges on a planned October restart for scripted television and feature projects of scale.”

While smaller-scale productions resumed filming in the LA-area in mid-June, larger shows that require more people on set have been delayed since mid-March under coronavirus-related restrictions.

Feature films dipped 64 percent to 362 shoot days. Many of Hollywood’s most anticipated movies, such as “The Batman,” starring Robert Pattinson, “The Matrix 4,” starring Keanu Reeves and “Mission Impossible 7,” starring Tom Cruise, have all experienced film delays due to the coronavirus, pushing release dates into 2021.

October 13, 2020

A Mobile App To Identify Workplace Serial Sexual Abusers

Brian Hamilton

SAG-AFTRA has developed a mobile app that will collect data on serial sexual abusers and allow members to report sexual harassment in the workplace. A beta version will begin limited testing with members later this month, and a full version is expected to be made available later this year.

“It has been three years since a group of brave women came forward with stories of sexual harassment, assault and rape perpetrated by Harvey Weinstein, at the time one of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry,” SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris and national executive director David White said Monday in a message to their members. “Since then, countless women and men have come forward to expose the industry’s pervasive sexual harassment problem, to bring perpetrators to justice and to work for real, lasting change.”

October 10, 2020

SAG-AFTRA lays off dozens more amid the pandemic.

Brian Hamilton

SAG-AFTRA lays off dozens more amid the pandemic. In the new round of layoffs, its third this year, approximately 45 staffers were impacted by the cuts. Some 171 staffers have been laid off by SAG-AFTRA since March brought COVID-19 shutdowns in the United States.

–Leadership for the performers union, president Gabrielle Carteris and national executive director David White, wrote a note to SAG-AFTRA’s roughly 160,000 members on Thursday, saying that the additional layoffs were made “in response to the accelerating impact of the pandemic on the union’s current and future financial condition.” The story in The Hollywood Reporter.