Latest news with #CarolLombardini
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
TV Writers Hit By Drastic Reduction In Number Of Jobs, Says WGA
It's been a tough couple of years for the television writers' community. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) revealed that the number of TV writing jobs fell by 42% for the 2023/24 season. In a new report, the guild said that there were 1,819 television writing jobs during this season with 1,319 jobs compared to the 2022/23 season. More from Deadline AMPTP Names Greg Hessinger As Carol Lombardini's Successor; Lawyer & Ex-SAG CEO Faces Guild Contract Talks Next Year WGA Zeroes In On AI Protections In CBS News Contract Negotiations To "Safeguard Journalism As A Profession" Independent Writers' Caucus Adds 7 Board Members, Including 'Inside Out' Scribe Meg LeFauve & Former WGAW President Howard Rodman This comes after the WGA spent months fighting the studios for a new contract, something that the guild said was partly to blame for the new statistics. Other reasons included the decline in original programming across the cable networks and streamers pulling back from the number of shows 'as Wall Street demands quicker streaming platform profits'. There have also been a slew of cancelations and ending of shows. Most stark was the number of jobs lost for showrunners and co-exec producers, which saw 642 fewer jobs across the year. There were 378 fewer staff writer, story editor and executive story editor positions compared to the previous season as well as 299 fewer mid-level jobs, which include co-producers, consulting and supervising producers. There has been a pretty precipitous fall since the 2018/19 season with 15,08 showrunners and co-exec producers compared to the 952 there were last season. The report was sent to members by the WGA West board of directors and WGA East council. The WGA, which represents over 10,000 writers, went on strike between May 2 and September 27 2023. The strike was the second longest strike in the guild's history at 148 days, tied with the strike in 1960 but below the 153 days that the 1988 strike lasted. It coincided with the SAG-AFTRA strike, which ran from July 14 to November 9 2023. Best of Deadline 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media 'Hacks' Season 4 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
TV Writers Hit By Drastic Reduction In Number Of Jobs, Says WGA
It's been a tough couple of years for the television writers' community. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) revealed that the number of TV writing jobs fell by 42% for the 2023/24 season. In a new report, the guild said that there were 1,819 television writing jobs during this season with 1,319 jobs compared to the 2022/23 season. More from Deadline AMPTP Names Greg Hessinger As Carol Lombardini's Successor; Lawyer & Ex-SAG CEO Faces Guild Contract Talks Next Year WGA Zeroes In On AI Protections In CBS News Contract Negotiations To "Safeguard Journalism As A Profession" Independent Writers' Caucus Adds 7 Board Members, Including 'Inside Out' Scribe Meg LeFauve & Former WGAW President Howard Rodman This comes after the WGA spent months fighting the studios for a new contract, something that the guild said was partly to blame for the new statistics. Other reasons included the decline in original programming across the cable networks and streamers pulling back from the number of shows 'as Wall Street demands quicker streaming platform profits'. There have also been a slew of cancelations and ending of shows. Most stark was the number of jobs lost for showrunners and co-exec producers, which saw 642 fewer jobs across the year. There were 378 fewer staff writer, story editor and executive story editor positions compared to the previous season as well as 299 fewer mid-level jobs, which include co-producers, consulting and supervising producers. There has been a pretty precipitous fall since the 2018/19 season with 15,08 showrunners and co-exec producers compared to the 952 there were last season. The report was sent to members by the WGA West board of directors and WGA East council. The WGA, which represents over 10,000 writers, went on strike between May 2 and September 27 2023. The strike was the second longest strike in the guild's history at 148 days, tied with the strike in 1960 but below the 153 days that the 1988 strike lasted. It coincided with the SAG-AFTRA strike, which ran from July 14 to November 9 2023. Best of Deadline 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media 'Hacks' Season 4 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contracts Expiration Date Extended
Performers' union SAG-AFTRA and advertisers have extended their current labor deals as negotiations continue for successor agreements. The union and the Joint Policy Committee — which bargains on behalf of advertisers and advertising agencies — announced that they were prolonging their current three-year contracts until the end of the day on Friday. The contracts were initially set to end at the end of Monday, with the change allowing union performers to continue working under the old contracts as negotiations carry on. More from The Hollywood Reporter Carol Lombardini's Pay Rises to $3.7M During Year of Hollywood's Dual Strikes Lesli Linka Glatter on 'Homeland' to 'Zero Day' and Bringing Production Back to Los Angeles Joel Cohen Elected National Executive Director of Art Directors Guild Both sides have been tight-lipped about their objectives with these talks. SAG-AFTRA conducted its usual survey process with members, which it calls its 'wages and working conditions' meetings, in the fall of 2024 to help inform the union's priorities. Likewise, the Joint Policy Committee surveyed members during that same time period on areas of the contracts that were working and others that had proved to be stumbling blocks. Industry firms and the labor group last negotiated in 2022, a year before SAG-AFTRA helped shut down the scripted film and television industry with its months-long strike, which hinged partially on concerns about AI. The parties addressed the burgeoning technology in part by agreeing to an audio commercials waiver in June of 2024 that dictated consent and compensation for ads that use AI to personalize their message for listeners. Two months later SAG-AFTRA announced a deal with the AI ads marketplace Narrativ that offered a means for members to license their digital voice likenesses for commercials. Negotiations for the latest commercials contracts began on Feb. 20. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is leading the discussions for SAG-AFTRA, while DLA Piper partner Stacy Marcus is heading up negotiations for the employers. Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SAG-AFTRA's Duncan Crabtree-Ireland Hopes For 'Productive Bargaining' With New AMPTP President Greg Hessinger Ahead Of 2026 Negotiations
SAG-AFTRA has weighed in on the appointment of new leadership at the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers ahead of the union's negotiations with the major Hollywood studios next year. 'Greg Hessinger has extensive knowledge of the industry and is an experienced negotiator,' National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a statement to Deadline on Tuesday. 'We look forward to productive bargaining with him as we continue to represent and advance the interests of all performers.' More from Deadline AMPTP Names Greg Hessinger As Carol Lombardini's Successor; Lawyer & Ex-SAG CEO Faces Guild Contract Talks Next Year DGA Appoints Jon Avnet & Karen Gaviola To Lead Negotiations Committee For 2026 Bargaining Cycle Gizmodo Editorial Staff Ratifies First Union Contract Under New Management Hessinger is the former National Executive Director of the Screen Actors Guild, having taken up the post for about six months in 2005, before the merger with AFTRA. However, prior to his SAG top job, Hessinger also served as the National Executive Director of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. No stranger to labor negotiations, Hessinger also previously served as Director of Labor Relations for CBS. The AMPTP's succession plan comes nearly five months after the organization announced that its president of 15 years, Carol Lombardini, would be stepping down this year. Hessinger assumes his new position on April 14, and Lombardini will take on an advisory role. 'Carol Lombardini has given decades of service and broke ground as the first female lead negotiator for the employers. We wish her well as she steps into an advisory role with the AMPTP,' Crabtree-Ireland concluded. Hessinger is taking over on the heels of a relatively contentious previous bargaining cycle, when both SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America went on strike for more than 100 days. His experience on the other side of the negotiating table could indicate a new dynamic to come between the AMPTP and the guilds as they begin early talks in the next few months, ahead of next year's formal bargaining cycles. The WGA's contract expires on May 1, 2026, and the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA agreements both expire on June 30, 2026. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery How To Watch 'Wicked: Part One': Is The Film Streaming Yet? All The Songs In 'Severance' Season 2: From The Who To Ella Fitzgerald
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
AMPTP Names Greg Hessinger As Carol Lombardini's Successor; Lawyer & Ex-SAG CEO Faces Guild Contract Talks Next Year
A year ahead of the next contract negotiations with Hollywood's most powerful guilds, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers has its first new boss since 2009. Greg Hessinger will take over from the retiring Carol Lombardini as president of the studios and streamers' bargaining arm, we've learned. A former Director of Labor Relations for CBS and ex-CEO/National Director of the Screen Actors Guild, the versatile Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP Chair and Managing Partner of the NYC office is set to officially assume his new gig April 14 here in Los Angeles. More from Deadline Carol Lombardini Stepping Down As President Of AMPTP DGA Appoints Jon Avnet & Karen Gaviola To Lead Negotiations Committee For 2026 Bargaining Cycle Netflix Posts 'Adolescence' Star Owen Cooper's Audition Tape 'I'm deeply honored to step into this role at the AMPTP during such a pivotal time for our industry,' Hessinger said Tuesday. 'I've spent my entire career working to create and sustain opportunity in entertainment and media, and I look forward to partnering with our member companies and union leaders to ensure the hard-working individuals who drive our industry forward can continue to create inspiring content for audiences around the world.' Having run SAG during the mid-2000s, before the merger with AFTRA, Hessinger was described by then-guild boss Melissa Gilbert in 2005 as 'a passionate advocate for actors, one of the most creative minds in our industry and a seasoned, skilled executive and negotiator.' Before his SAG top job, Hessinger spent time in the TV trenches as the National Executive Director of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. In contrast to four-decade AMPTP staffer Lombardini, Hessinger's experience on the other side of the table reflects a reset of sorts coming off the often bitter strikes of 2023. RELATED: During the five months since Lombardini's stepping down was made public, the net was cast wide in the search for a successor. Among the various names rumored at one point to be in the running was the AMPTP's current SVP Business Affairs Tracy Cahill. Leading the studios and streamers' side in the successful contract talks with the Animation Guild late last year, Cahill — like Hessinger — is a partner at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP. The selection of Hessinger, who has been in private practice for a decade, to run the AMPTP follows the deep relationship MSK has with the organization and as a top go-to-firm for C-suites and A-listers when it comes to labor issues. With the power shifts in the industry during the past 10 years — the rise of Netflix, AI and prevailing MAGA political winds in the nation, plus the need to both represent and sometimes cajole the likes of Netflix's Ted Sarandos, Disney's retiring Bob Iger and Universal's Donna Langley — Hessinger's uniquely varied CV surely will prove to be his superpower. 'Greg has been on both sides of the table and knows entertainment inside and out, and is the right leader for our industry at this moment,' the AMPTP Board of Directors said today. 'He understands the priorities and values of those who make production possible and has an extensive track record of bringing parties together to find common ground. We conducted an exhaustive search process and have the utmost confidence that his experience and deep relationships will be invaluable to the work of leading the AMPTP.' Lombardini herself added Tuesday, 'I have no doubt that Greg is the perfect leader to continue to unite our industry and promote opportunity for those who bring entertainment to life.' To that, Hessinger will need to settle in quite quickly, as another bargaining cycle between the major Hollywood studios and the above-the-line unions is nigh. The Writers Guild of America's contract expires on May 1, 2026, and the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA agreements both expire on June 30, 2026. Typically, informal conversations begin as early as six to nine months in advance of formal negotiations, so both parties can have a sense of the others' priorities before meeting at the bargaining table. Those scheduled windows for talks can be relatively small timeframes to hammer out some of the more complex issues. Deadline hears that the unions are looking to begin informal talks this summer and likely were waiting for the AMPTP to hammer out its succession plan before doing so. Hessinger's first bargaining cycle leading the AMPTP will be a big one, since it will be the first set of talks following 2023's historically long dual strikes that upended the film and television industry for nearly five months and have had lasting impacts on production levels, which already were on the decline before the WGA and SAG-AFTRA hit the picket lines. Deadline understands that, as of now, the main concern for all the above-the-line unions is jobs, jobs, jobs. With so many members out of work, leadership is not just looking to fortify the paid positions that already exist but try to find ways to create more opportunities, especially domestically. Artificial intelligence and streaming are likely to be topics of conversation, but they are not expected to take center stage this time around, as the unions view plummeting production and employment as the ultimate priorities This is in line with recent initiatives aimed at bringing productions back to California, including the DGA-led 'Keep California Rolling,' which is urging the state to explore more ways to rework its current jobs-based incentive program to attract production back to the state, in addition to supporting Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposal to expand the California Film & TV Tax Credit from $330M annually to $750M. At the AMPTP since 1982, Lombardini isn't entirely exiting stage left. With institutional memory being one of the true coins of the realm in Tinseltown, the so-to-be former AMPTP president will move to an advisory position beginning next month. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery How To Watch 'Wicked: Part One': Is The Film Streaming Yet? All The Songs In 'Severance' Season 2: From The Who To Ella Fitzgerald
