Age limit to join national guard

In another victory for the WGA East’s ongoing campaign to organize reality TV shows, the writer-producers at Original Media have voted to be repped by the guild in collective bargaining. The vote, held under the auspices of the National Labor Relations board, was 42-9 to join. Original Media produces shows including Swamp People, Inkmaster and Stormchasers . “We look forward to sitting down with the company and negotiating a contract that will provide health benefits, paid time off, minimum compensation levels, and other basic union protections,” said Lowell Peterson, executive director of the WGA East , in announcing voting results today. In the last five years, the guild has negotiated contracts with three New York-based reality TV companies in Sharp Entertainment, Lion TV and Optomen Productions. It trying to get two others – ITV and Peacock Productions – to sign its contract. During recent hearings before the New York City Council , the guild presented … [Read more...] about Original Media Writer-Producers Vote To Join WGA East

SplashNews.com There's plenty of perks to being Madonna 's daughter -- but apparently, even those perks have their limits -- like automatic entry into fashion shows. Lourdes Leon and a friend thought they'd be able to stroll right into the Marc Jacobs Runway show Thursday night without issue ... but that wasn't the case. Check out the video, paps swarm Lourdes on her way into the Park Avenue Armory. SplashNews.com The two try to walk past security, but the guards aren't havin' it ... blocking the entry and refusing to let them inside. At one point, even the paparazzi chant "Let her in!" as Lourdes and her friend crack up, but the security guards don't crack. Gallery Launch Gallery Getty Finally, after a few phone calls, Lourdes and her friend give up -- getting back into their waiting SUV and leaving. Unclear where they were headed, but hopefully they had a reservation. … [Read more...] about Madonna’s Daughter Lourdes Leon Denied Entry to Marc Jacobs Runway Show

Atlanta Hawks Dejounte Murray should be good on sauce from Chick-fil-A FOREVER, or at least through the NBA season ... 'cause the Hawks star was gifted an enormous box filled with Polynesian packets! The Hawks guard got the surprise gift in the locker room right after the team's 132 to 100 win over the Suns in Phoenix on Wednesday. Of course, the NBA All-Star is obsessed with Chick-fil-A and their Polynesian sauce ... in fact, DJ was even eating CFA before the Hawks-Suns game. Murray's love of the sauce is well known, so when rookie guard Adrian Griffin Jr. handed him a box wrapped with paper printed with IG messages from fans talking about his love of the sweet and sour sauce, DJ knew what was in the box. Atlanta Hawks "I already know what it is," Murray laughed, "Polynesian! Haha!" And, unlike Karl-Anthony Towns roasting his teammate Anthony Edwards over his eating habits , it doesn't seem like anyone on the Hawks is … [Read more...] about Dejounte Murray Gifted Huge Box Filled W/ Polynesian Sauce From Chick-fil-A!!

Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne , Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, French filmmaker Alice Diop and Romanian director Cristian Mungiu have demanded that Iran ’s Fajr International Film Festival remove their films from the line-up of its current edition, running from February 1 to 11. The filmmakers said in separate statements that they discovered by chance that their respective films Tori And Lokita , Saint Omer , Rebel and R.M.N. had been included in Fajr’s selection without their personal permission. The issue only came to light as the festival kicked off because it had kept its line-up under wraps in a bid to head off boycotts by directors and producers, due to the brutal crackdown of ongoing protests related to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September. Paris-based sales agent Wild Bunch International which handles the titles said their inclusion in the Fajr line-up was also a surprise to them. Two other … [Read more...] about Dardennes, Alice Diop, Cristian Mungiu, Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah Demand Iran’s Fajr Film Fest Remove Titles From Line-Up

As talks are about to resume Monday on the final elements that many hope will lead to a new deal for the Writers Guild Of America, we wanted to lend some perspective and give voice to the TV and feature writers whose fortunes will be tied directly to the deal their union makes. This is the second in a quick succession of five questions we asked a panel of 10 writers. Here are their responses, and hopefully other writers will be moved to comment about the issues that worry them most as their work is monetized in this fast-changing digital age. Related: WGA: Why Gains, Lessons From 2008′s Strike Will Keep Hollywood From Another War DEADLINE: As a working writer, what is the biggest hardship right now facing you (i.e., one-step deals for feature writers, exclusivity clauses for TV writers), the one that gives you the greatest amount of worry for you and your WGA brethren? WRITER #1: I think the biggest setback from the strike was one-step deals. One-step deals were a … [Read more...] about Writers Rail As Talks Resume – Second Question In A Deadline Survey

EXCLUSIVE : Artists First on Friday announced its signing of boxing Hall of Famer, Sugar Ray Leonard . Leonard enjoyed an elite, 20-year career in the ring before being inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in 1997, winning three National Golden Gloves titles, two Amateur Athletic Union championships and the 1975 Pan-American Games crown. He first got into boxing at age 14 and turned professional after winning a gold medal at the 1976 Olympic games, in a last-ditch effort to help his family with medical bills incurred from his father’s hospitalization with meningitis. Leonard won his first professional fight at age 20, then going on to defeat some of the greatest boxers of the modern era, from Wilfred Benetiz to Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, from whom Leonard won the world middleweight title. His boxing career also saw him win world titles in the welterweight, junior middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight division, … [Read more...] about Sugar Ray Leonard Signs With Artists First

SAG-AFTRA is working on what will be the first truly comprehensive picture of the employment landscape for women and minority actors and hopes to release it within a year. SAG used to release the reports annually, then in 2004 it started issuing them every other year. After 2009, it stopped releasing the reports altogether. The problem was that AFTRA never released comprehensive casting reports on actors employed under its jurisdiction – which included daytime soaps and some primetime and basic cable shows, and new pilots – so the employment picture SAG presented was never really complete. And in the years leading up to their 2012 merger, AFTRA launched a concerted campaign to sign more pilots and cable shows to its contract by offering more favorable terms than SAG’s – a move that sparked a bitter feud between the two unions. Related: SAG-AFTRA Sets May 5 For Start Of New Contract Talks With AMPTP As AFTRA’s share of the TV jurisdiction ballooned, the missing piece … [Read more...] about SAG-AFTRA Working On Wide-Ranging Report About Casting Diversity

As talks are about to resume Monday on the final elements that many hope will lead to a new deal for the Writers Guild Of America, we wanted to lend some perspective and give voice to the TV and feature writers whose fortunes will be tied directly to the deal their union makes. This is the third in a quick succession of five questions we asked a panel of 10 writers. Here are their responses, and hopefully other writers will be moved to comment about the issues that worry them most as their work is monetized in this fast-changing digital age. Related: WGA: Why Gains, Lessons From 2008′s Strike Will Keep Hollywood From Another War DEADLINE: How are you feeling about the deal that the WGA is considering, and what concerns do you have that aren’t addressed in it? WRITER #1: I trust that small gains will be made and a strike will be averted and at this stage of the business that’s all that can really be expected. That is actually a success in 2014. Related: … [Read more...] about Writers Rail As Talks Resume – Third Question In A Deadline Survey