Actualités

AFTRA announced the results late Wednesday of its Los Angeles Local elections. The seats in play included those on the national and local boards, and delegates to the AFTRA national convention this summer.

This election cycle carried extra weight because it arrived in the midst of voting on SAG's controversial TV-theatrical contract and because of the candidacy of several dual card-holders running for office despite their antagonism toward AFTRA.

As it happens, Membership First partisans did pick up some local and national board seats -- vocal AFTRA critics Anne-Marie Johnson and Alan Ruck were elected to the AFTRA national board, and David Jolliffe was elected to the L.A. Local board.

The complete results are as follows:

Actor Ron Morgan was re-elected president of AFTRA Los Angeles and will begin his new two-year term July 1; he ran unopposed. Morgan also was elected to the national board for a four-year term,...

The Screen Actors Guild stalemate grinds on. Variety says there are back-channel talks with studio heads, but it’s hard to know whether talks are actually in progress or, if any, how substantive they are. These rumors have persisted off and on for almost two months at least.

Causing the stalemate is the issue of contract expiration date rather than new media; there’s talk of a trade-off between this issue and the (unrelated) SAG demand for force majeure payments per the previous SAG agreement. Meanwhile, the passage of time itself threatens to generate new roadblocks.

The SAG Board is meeting this weekend, and Variety suggests a proposed TV/theatrical deal might be presented to the Board then. I’m skeptical, but you never know. The SAG story has had a surprise around every corner, although for the last year, stalemate has unfortunately been the one constant.

What is known...

The Los Angeles Local of AFTRA announced Thursday the complete list of candidates for its 2009 election of officers and board members, Los Angeles-based national board members and 198 delegates to the AFTRA national convention.

Ballots will be mailed May 8 with a voting deadline of June 3. All elected Los Angeles officers and board members will begin their terms July 1. National board members begin their four-year terms at the end of this summer's national convention, scheduled for Aug. 6-8 in Chicago.

Candidates will have the opportunity to address the membership at the annual "Meet the Candidates" forum the night of April 29 at the union's headquarters. Most of the acting candidates are dual cardholders in AFTRA and SAG.

All seven incumbent L.A. officers were named candidates for re-election by the AFTRA L.A. nominating committee. They will run unopposed for additional two-year terms. They are:

L.A. president Ron Morgan

First vp Susan Boyd Joyce...

This email was sent by AFTRA to members today about the AMPTP talks:

May 19, 2008

Dear AFTRA Member:

As you know, AFTRA has been in negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on our contract covering primetime network dramatic programs—also known as Exhibit A—since May 7. Because a press blackout is in effect for these talks, I felt it was important to contact you directly with you a brief update.

We are confronting a number of challenging issues, and a resolution may not be quick or easy. However, our discussions with the Industry have been professional and businesslike, and we remain focused on continuing negotiations in this vein.

As expected, there are several significant issues in the area of New Media—including, most notably, how AFTRA members will participate in original New Media productions, and under what circumstances employers can exploit excerpts from traditional TV programs in New Media.

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.