A 10-month strike by SAG-AFTRA against BBH in the U.S. is coming to an end after the advertising agency agreed to sign the union’s new Commercials Contracts. BBH will produce all its commercials under these contracts, providing union wages and pension and health contributions to performers. As such, SAG-AFTRA members will be able to accept work on the ad shop’s productions.
The dispute between the two parties came to the fore on Sept. 5, 2018 when BBH publicly announced it would withdraw as a signatory to the SAG-AFTRA contracts in place at that time, contending that they were outdated and not responsive to the realities of a dramatically changing marketplace. SAG-AFTRA, which had filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), called a strike against the agency later that month. Then in May 2019, an administrative law judge ruled against BBH and instructed the ad agency to both recognize SAG-AFTRA as the representative of commercial performers and to negotiate with the union.
“Our goal from the start was to produce high-level, cutting-edge creative work for our clients on a level playing field in a fast-evolving industry. We lost the battle, will respect the ruling and move on. We thank our clients for their unrelenting support throughout this process,” read a statement from Brett Edgar, managing director of BBH NY. When asked by SHOOT for further comment, a BBH spokesperson declined to offer anything beyond what the agency and union released.
SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris said in a released statement, “We’re pleased that BBH has returned to their longtime status as a SAG-AFTRA signatory. Since the inception of our relationship nearly 20 years ago, we have partnered effectively to provide the best talent in the world to BBH clients while ensuring fair compensation and safe working conditions for SAG-AFTRA members. It has been and will continue to be an extraordinarily productive relationship delivering value to the entire industry. Now, with our new 2019 Commercials Contracts we are thrilled that BBH can take full advantage of the transformative compensation models in this groundbreaking agreement to better compete in the constantly evolving advertising industry.”
David White, national executive director of SAG-AFTRA, stated, “We are pleased to welcome BBH back to the SAG-AFTRA family. The tremendous solidarity of our entire membership is to thank for helping bring BBH back to the table. Our members look forward to once again collaborating with BBH and providing their professional talent to create innovative, memorable and award-winning commercials.”
BBH is an agency in the Publicis Groupe family which also includes such notable SAG-AFTRA signatory shops as Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett.
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More