Backlot Buzz—Guild Styles Differ as Strike Dates Near

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It didn’t take the closing of the old Spago or the shuttering of that other industry watering hole, Citrus, this week, to show that something is seriously wrong in Hollywood.

With only three weeks to go before the Writers Guild of America’s studio contract is up, and with less than three months until the Screen Actors Guild contract runs out, things have ground to a near-standstill in the movie world or at least, in the executives’ and agents’ suites, where future projects are put together.

True, there was the usual whirligig of minor deal-making: Ashley Judd committed to star in Warner Bros.’ “Catwoman.” Kate Hudson attached herself to “Last Call,” a romantic comedy about a heavenly escort assigned to pick up her next target, a “shock-jock.” And Ellen Burstyn agreed to produce and star in Lifetime’s “Their Last Chance,” about a hardened criminal who finds redemption through training dogs for the blind.

But nobody wants to talk about these droplets of news; all they want to discuss is The Strike.

Things have become so bad that one top firm, United Talent Agency, has mandated an across-the-board pay cut in the hope of side-stepping layoffs, while several other top agencies have either cut back on expense accounts or put them on hold altogether.

And yet, behind the scenes, a frenzy of activity is taking place as the two guilds grapple with their studio nemeses.

The guilds themselves could not be a greater contrast. While the WGA is a model of unity and efficiency, putting a terrifically orchestrated spin on its side of the negotiations (which are expected to resume in mid-April after having broken off last month), SAG is a beehive of internal dissension.

Not only has the union had to deal with its usual battalions of competing factions (supporters of SAG President William Daniels have clashed repeatedly with those of two other high-level SAG executives, Leonard Chassman and John McGuire); it has also had to handle replacing its executive director, Ken Orsatti, who announced his resignation earlier this year. No candidate has yet been named to Orsatti’s post, even though SAG has hired a major headhunter to help fill the job.

This only adds to the burden of bad news that the union has had to deal with, including the admission that its recent commercials strike cost it some $100 million in lost revenues.

There is, at least, a ray of hope: After weeks of speculation, SAG recently named Brian Walton as its chief negotiator. Best known for having led the WGA in its five-month 1988 work stoppage, Walton is generally regarded as a man who knows how to negotiate and who genuinely wants to reach an accord. As recently as April 1 he insisted, “Actors don’t want a strike. Actors want a deal.”

Just who will determine whether a deal is done, and when a date will be set for deal talks to even begin, is a whole other matter.

Contributing columnist Stephen Galloway can be reached at [email protected].

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