The Directors Guild of America, which has signed an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, has taken issue with the Screen Actors Guild, which has non, over the issue of union jurisdiction over programs produced for the Internet. SAG is insisting that all such shows be produced under the footing of the union narrow; producers maintain that they must be allowed to experiment with low-cost productions but have agreed to union jurisdiction if simply one union member is employed. The DGA has accepted the AMPTP's damage. On Wednesday, the DGA released a copy of a letter to its members from DGA President Michael Apted saying in effect that SAG's stead (he doesn't mention the sister union by name) would make online experimentation by the producers "structurally and economically unfeasible" and result in new media production gravitating "toward the Googles and Microsofts of the domain" which are not signatories to a union squeeze. The alternative would be for the studios to create "nonunion subsidiaries." Apted argued "Before there tin be a union caper, there has to be a caper. And scorn all the grandiose speak about the coming windfall, new media hasn't yet started raining money. The truth is that for new media production to realize its undeniably brobdingnagian potential -- and create all those jobs we want our members to have -- it must be granted the room to evolve and grow." Daily Variety quoted SAG National Executive Director Doug Allen as responding "I think what really stands logic on its head is the idea that the way to form union work is to encourage signatories to produce non-union under our contracts." �
21/08/2008
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