Two actors unions and the U.S. advertising industry said Monday they agreed to extend a contract covering commercials on TV, radio, the Internet and other new media by six months through March.
The extension gives the Screen Actors Guild extra time to finish stalled talks with Hollywood studios over a contract covering prime-time TV shows and movies that expired in June. Actors continue to work under the terms of the old deal.
Both the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists held a six-month commercials strike in 2000 that drove work overseas.
The extension comes on top of a two-year extension agreed to in 2006.
At that time, the advertising industry and the unions commissioned Booz Allen Hamilton to study new compensation models for performers to deal with the shift of ads to the Internet and other new media. The study was completed early this year.
In March, SAG and AFTRA acrimoniously ended 27 years of joint negotiations with studios over movies and prime-time TV shows in a spat over jurisdiction and the makeup of the bargaining team.
SAG and AFTRA have yet to decide formally whether to jointly bargain on the commercials contract.
The ad industry is represented by a joint committee of the Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
Review: Director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked”
It's the ultimate celebrity redemption tour, two decades in the making. In the annals of pop culture, few characters have undergone an image makeover quite like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Oh, she may have been vengeful and scary in "The Wizard of Oz." But something changed — like, REALLY changed — on the way from the yellow brick road to the Great White Way. Since 2003, crowds have packed nightly into "Wicked" at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre to cheer as the green-skinned, misunderstood Elphaba rises up on her broomstick to belt "Defying Gravity," that enduring girl-power anthem.
How many people have seen "Wicked"? Rudimentary math suggests more than 15 million on Broadway alone. And now we have "Wicked" the movie, director Jon M. Chu's lavish, faithful, impeccably crafted (and nearly three-hour) ode to this origin story of Elphaba and her (eventual) bestie — Glinda, the very good and very blonde. Welcome to Hollywood, ladies.
Before we get to what this movie does well (Those big numbers! Those costumes!), just a couple thornier issues to ponder. Will this "Wicked," powered by a soulful Cynthia Erivo (owner of one of the best singing voices on the planet) and a sprightly, comedic, hair-tossing Ariana Grande, turn even musical theater haters into lovers?
Tricky question. Some people just don't buy into the musical thing, and they should be allowed to live freely amongst us. But if people breaking into song delights rather than flummoxes you, if elaborate dance numbers in village squares and fantastical nightclubs and emerald-hued cities make perfect sense to you, and especially if you already love "Wicked," well then, you will likely love this film. If it feels like they made the best "Wicked" movie money could buy — well, it's... Read More