Actors Union Cuts Independent Films Some Slack

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In an unusual effort to quell fears of independent film producers, the Screen Actors Guild made an offer last week to grant waivers to certain productions, meaning that they could continue even if actors went on strike.

The offer of waivers is noteworthy because the union has yet to begin formal negotiations with the studios, much less mention the word strike. The waivers would make it easier for film productions to obtain completion bonds.

Insurance companies that guarantee completion bonds to independent film companies have imposed a June 15 deadline, two weeks before the actors’ contract with the studios expires, on film productions before issuing bonds.

A completion bond, costing about 2 percent of a film’s budget, guarantees that financial backers of an independent film will be paid in the event that the movie is not completed on time or on budget.

“That deadline effectively put a halt to green-lighting any new film projects,” said veteran producer Michael Cerenzie, co-chairman of CP Productions in Los Angeles.

Hollywood’s major studios aren’t eligible for the new actors guild completion waiver. Nevertheless, it’s seen as a good sign.

“I think that this is a sign that SAG really wants to work things out without a strike,” said Cerenzie, who is anxious to get started on his second Sidney Lumet film, “Getting Out.”

“The news was a big relief,” Cerenzie said. “Sidney called me from New York first thing in the morning and said, ‘Did you hear the news? Let’s get going.'”

In order to get a SAG waiver an independent producer must abide by any interim agreement that SAG might craft if a strike should occur and agree to whatever terms are eventually worked out in negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Meanwhile, SAG isn’t offering specifics about what it takes to qualify for a waiver. And the waiver won’t be offered to producers and production companies that use SAG actors for television shows, series and commercials.


New Publisher

Former Variety executive Eric Mika was promoted to vice president and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter last week in the latest senior management restructuring move by parent company Nielsen Business Media.

John Kilcullen, former publisher of Hollywood Reporter and Billboard, left the company last month “to pursue his passion as an entrepreneur,” according to a Nielsen statement. Kilcullen was also senior vice president of Nielsen’s Film & Performing Arts and Literary & Music groups.

Howard Appelbaum was named vice president and publisher of Billboard, and Andrew Bilbao was promoted to vice president and chief operating officer of Nielsen’s newly formed Entertainment Group.

The establishment of Nielsen Business Media’s Entertainment Group consolidates its half-dozen entertainment publications and four trade-show events into one unit, headed up by Gerry Byrne, the group’s new senior vice president.

Byrne took the helm of the consolidated unit March 1, with responsibility for growing revenue across Nielsen’s digital and print products.


Bad News

Declining advertising revenue for a second consecutive year prompted Dean Singleton-owned MediaNews Group to lay off 22 employees, or about 5 percent, of the Woodland Hills-based Los Angeles Daily News staff last week.

Most of the layoffs hit the editorial department of reporters, photographers, editors and library and clerical staff. The 150,000-circulation newspaper cut newsroom staffing to 100. A handful of employees in advertising and circulation are also leaving.

In addition, the print media conglomerate handed out 20 pinks slips to employees at its other regional publications, the Daily Breeze in Torrance and the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

Douglas Hanes, publisher of the Daily News, said that a two-year downward spiral in classified advertising revenue had forced the deep editorial staff cuts.

The three categories of classified advertising automotive, real estate and employment typically generate between 35-45 percent of a newspaper’s total revenue. That advertising base has declined by between 8 percent and 10 percent annually across the country during 2007.

Newspaper industry analyst John Morton said that 2007 is a harbinger of more to come in 2008.

“Classified advertising was bad last year and it looks to only get worse this year,” Morton said. “Despite popular opinion, it’s not because of the Internet. It’s because the overall economy is in a down cycle.”

Morton cautioned that deep cuts in editorial staff may help newspapers win the battle today but if publishers don’t get creative they can still lose the war.

“The business cycle will come around again,” Morton said. “The big question everybody is asking is whether the advertisers will return to newspapers when it does.”


Staff reporter Brett Sporich can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 226, or at

[email protected]

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