Media & Entertainment Law

Video Business Shuts Down

Posted on January 06, 2010
Video Business magazine, a definitive chronicler of the home video business for 29 years and a sister publication of Variety (parent co. is Reed Business), is closing its doors after 29 years, effective this week. Both the online and print operations will go dark...

Cat Fight in the Fox?s Den

Posted on January 01, 2010
Until moments ago (mid-day Jan. 1), when a deal was reached, Fox was threatening to black out its channels, most notably Fox broadcast, from Time Warner Cable (TWC) unless TWC anted up a subscriber fee of reportedly $1 per subscriber per month. Historically, cable networks such as HBO, Showtime, AMC, etc...

WGA Strike Photos Wanted

Posted on December 28, 2009
I'm publishing my blog as a book and need photos for the cover. In particular, I'm looking for colorful, emotional crowd shots of WGA rallies and marches, especially the march on Hollywood Blvd. in Nov. 2007. I'm also interested in photos of SAG rallies and Back to Work rallies...

Closing Windows?

Posted on December 11, 2009
Interesting email from my satellite company today. DirecTV urges me to order Julie & Julia on PPV. Not my cup of tea, thanks, though I suppose Julia Child probably had a clever way to brew a cup of tea while cooking up some unusual dish at the same time...

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Little-Noticed Music Deal

Posted on November 30, 2009
Everyone listens to music, but musicians unions may not attract the same attention. Several people, including myself, reported on the composers and lyricists recently, but this time I?m talking about the musicians themselves, i.e., the performers. Turns out their union, the American Federation of Musicians, made a deal three weeks ago with the studios ? but it appears (correct me if I?m mistaken) that no one reported it (though the LA Times did mention that the deal was in negotiation)...

No More Sounds of Silence on the Music Composition Front?

Posted on November 19, 2009
Everyone knows that composers and lyricists make scales ... now they want to make scale as well. Union scale, that is (or, even better, above scale). One of the few non-unionized sectors of Hollywood, composers and lyricists - the people who write music (as opposed to musicians, the people who perform it) - are now in talks with the Teamsters for representation...

Book review: "Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars" by William Patry

Posted on October 24, 2009
The content and technology businesses are at war, as is well-known and as I discuss in a recent article. It?s a struggle that focuses on unauthorized file sharing and new business models?in other words, a copyright war. Undeniably, the entertainment industry often battles demand rather than trying to satisfy it, and copyright laws have taken a corporate turn...

SAG Interim Nat'l Exec Director Hired as Permanent

Posted on October 18, 2009
SAG's Interim National Executive Director David White just got the permanent gig and can drop "Interim" from his title. The vote on today SAG's national board, which began meeting yesterday and is still meeting today for a little while longer, was 70...

Rosenberg v. SAG: Court of Appeal Implies Appeal May be Moot

Posted on October 12, 2009
Alan Rosenberg is no longer president of SAG, nor even a national board member, but his lawsuit against his own union drags on pointlessly. Believe it or not, he?s still trying to undo Doug Allen?s firing, the appointment of David White, the ratification of the TV/theatrical contract and, no doubt, the discovery of a new ring around Saturn...

Handel appointed Adjunct Professor at UCLA School of Law to teach entertainment unions & guilds course

Posted on October 02, 2009
On a personal note, I've been appointed as an Adjunct Professor at UCLA School of Law. I'll be teaching a course on entertainment unions and guilds starting in January. I also continue as of counsel at TroyGould. Below and attached is the press release from TroyGould...

SAG: Four Hardline Horsemen in the National Board Room

Posted on September 27, 2009
Thursday?s SAG election was a victory for the moderate coalition. Yet, strangely enough, the leaders of the losing hardline faction will all find seats on the national board, and will continue to be a shadow government within the union?s Hollywood board?a board on which, in contrast, none of the key moderate leaders will be voting members...

SAG Moderates Win Presidency, Secr. + Additional 4 Natl Seats

Posted on September 24, 2009
In a victory for the SAG moderate coalition (Unite for Strength / USAN / independents), the UFS candidates for president, Ken Howard, and secretary, Amy Aquino, won the union's national offices.However, the election was close: Howard's total was slightly less than the two hardline candidates added together (Anne-Marie Johnson and Seymour Cassel) and Aquino's was slightly more than that of incumbent Connie Stevens...

SAG Presidential Election Close

Posted on September 24, 2009
A well-placed source says the SAG presidential election is very close. It's a reliable source, but only a single source. Caveat emptor. Not surprising, given how long it's taking to get results - over 3-1/2 hrs past first predicted time (6:38 pm vs 3:00 pm, LA time).

SAG Moderates Win NY & Everywhere Else

Posted on September 24, 2009
According to unofficial sources, and as SAGWatch is reporting, SAG moderates have won every open NY Board seat that was up, and all the regional seats that were up as well.Hollywood results are not in yet (expected in 1.5 hrs or so), but all the seats up in Hollywood are hardline Membership First - thus, they can only lose more seats, or hold Hollywood numbers at best...

SAG Presidential Candidate: I'll Seek Strike Authorization Next Year if Elected

Posted on September 19, 2009
In an open conference call today, SAG VP and presidential candidate Anne-Marie Johnson said she will seek a strike authorization next year, before the mandated early negotiations next fall, if she?s elected. She argued that that?s what?s needed to gain bargaining leverage and added that she?s ?confident? the SAG membership would vote Yes, especially after the guild conducts an educational outreach campaign during its wages and working conditions (W&W) meetings with members...

AMJ: If I?m Elected, David White is Out

Posted on September 18, 2009
In a campaign video, Membership First?s candidate for SAG president, Anne-Marie Johnson says that one her first proposals as new president would be to recommend to the national board that ?a search committee be seated . . . immediately? to replace SAG interim National Executive Director David White...

I'm still here

Posted on August 26, 2009
Many thanks to those who have asked after me, since I haven't blogged for some time now. I'm just taking a break to do some client work and other stuff, but will be back.

Rosenberg v. SAG Lawsuit Reply Brief Filed

Posted on July 24, 2009
The appeal grinds on. SAG president Alan Rosenberg and three other Membership First hardliners (1st VP Anne-Marie Johnson and board members Diane Ladd and Kent McCord) filed their reply brief earlier this week.I'm told there will be oral argument (unscheduled as yet)...

Fixing the Residuals System

Posted on July 24, 2009
The residuals system is broken. It?s expensive to administer and is an invitation to conflict as platforms such as new media evolve. Yet we need residuals, because talent survives on these payments between gigs. Can the system be fixed? Yes, I believe so...

?Octomom the Musical? Opens in LA to Sellout Crowds

Posted on July 23, 2009
A play loosely inspired by the LA-area mother who had octotuplets opened last Saturday to standing-room only crowds in Los Angeles. The so-called Octomom is not the only character skewered in the zany musical: other include Bernie Madoff, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Vince Shamwow (of magic towel fame) and even Octomom?s fertility doctor, who has a mad and somewhat creepy crush on her...

Culture Clash on the Internet

Posted on July 22, 2009
The Internet has devalued content to the point where it is often offered at no charge?newspapers, for instance?or widely misappropriated, as with music and movies. Either way, many people expect much of their content to be free. Why is this, how did it happen, and, focusing on music and movies, what can be done about it? I?ve previously written about the why, in Huffington Post and Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law articles, and identified six factors...

SAG President?s Anti-SAG Suit Continues

Posted on July 06, 2009
For those who like keeping up with legal dockets, SAG a few days ago filed its Respondent?s Brief in the appeals court case that stems from the lawsuit filed by SAG president Alan Rosenberg and three other Membership First hardliners (1st VP Anne-Marie Johnson and board members Diane Ladd and Kent McCord) against their own union...

Film on the Downswing

Posted on June 22, 2009
Factoid: Kodak gets 70% of its revenue today from digital products, and an outgoing Kodak exec says that the company plans to stay in the film business ?as far into the future as possible,? which isn?t exactly a ringing endorsement of analog formats. This all is courtesy of an AP story in the NY Times on the discontinuation of Kodachrome (yes, the story mentions the Paul Simon song), which also points out that Kodak has introduced new still and motion picture stocks in the last few years...

WGA Candidates for President and Board Announced

Posted on June 22, 2009
SAG?s upcoming elections have been getting some attention, but the WGA West is having an election this summer as well. The ballots go out sometime in late July or August, and are apparently due back September 17. Current WGA West president Patric Verrone is running for one of the open board seats, but not for president (I believe there are term limits)...

LA Goatherd Wanted

Posted on June 22, 2009
Sometimes going off-topic can't be resisted. I live in Laurel Canyon, which as LA residents know is in the middle of the city yet is a still-rustic hilly area from the 1920's that even has a few dirt roads remaining. The ethos still has echoes of the 60's and 70's (can an ethos have echoes?)...

WGA Institutes Qualified Voting

Posted on June 18, 2009
The WGA membership has approved new rules limiting members? eligibility to vote on strike authorization and ratification of the feature-primetime contract: members now have to have earnings of $30,000 under a WGA agreement during the six years preceding the vote or 15 or more qualified years as a pension plan participant, Variety reports...

Independent New Media Productions

Posted on June 16, 2009
There are casting notices out there for SAG new media productions under the ?SAG New Media Contract.? A few notes may help clarify what these are, and help performers enforce a few of their rights. First, this is not the new media sideletter recently negotiated with the AMPTP (major studios) as part of the theatrical contract...

SAG Lawsuit Still Grinds On; Court Denies SAG?s Motion to Dismiss Appeal

Posted on June 15, 2009
As I previously reported, SAG?s counsel in late May filed a motion to dismiss the appeal by SAG president Alan Rosenberg and three other Membership First hardliners (1st VP Anne-Marie Johnson and board members Diane Ladd and Kent McCord) of a Superior Court order that denied their application for a temporary restraining order...

Union-Focused Journalist Departs to Academia

Posted on June 12, 2009
Andrew Salomon, the National News Editor of Back Stage and author of the magazine?s Espresso blog, is leaving his job effective July 31. He?s joining the faculty of SUNY Purchase (Purchase College at the State University of New York) as a tenure-track assistant professor of journalism...

SAG Resolution Resolves Little for Film Business

Posted on June 11, 2009
With the SAG contract ratified, will the film business finally get back to normal? Unfortunately, no. Although we'll see a brief spike in production, the business we once knew may never reappear, for a host of reasons. . . . to read more, see my piece in Variety ??????? Subscribe to my blog (jhandel...

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