More from Katie Kilkenny
Sesame Workshop Averts Strike: Tentative Deal Struck With Writers
The Sesame Workshop has averted a picket line outside its New York headquarters, as a new contract deal with its unionized writers was reached on Friday night. Sesame Workshop announced the five-year agreement hours before the educational nonprofit’s current labor contract with its writers expired. “We value our writers and their significant contributions to the […]
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IATSE Local 705 Reaches Tentative Agreement on Craft-Specific Issues With Studios
The union representing West Coast costumers has reached a tentative agreement on its craft-specific issues with studios and streamers. IATSE Local 705 struck a provisional deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Wednesday, the crew union IATSE announced Friday. Like with other recent IATSE Local tentative deals, the details of the […]
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“To Have Them Disappear Is Devastating”: Doc Filmmakers Reckon With Participant’s Abrupt End
The sudden end of Participant Media came as a shock to many in the entertainment industry, but it hit documentary filmmakers particularly hard, with some concerned that backers for serious-minded, issue-driven projects are becoming ever more scarce. Since its founding in 2004, the company — which sought to bring stories that could spark change to […]
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‘Ridiculousness’ Writers Reach First Union Contract
About nine months months after the writers on MTV’s viral comedy clips show Ridiculousness launched their attempt to unionize, the group has reached a first labor contract with its employer. The deal covering a group of 11 creative consultants who are unionized with the Writers Guild of America West was signed on Tuesday, The Hollywood […]
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As AI-Created Photorealistic Images Proliferate, Documentary Producers Draw Up Guidelines
As filmmakers start to incorporate more generative artificial intelligence into documentary production, leading to mounting concern over the use of “fake archival” materials, a group of producers is pushing ahead in their efforts to establish guardrails around the use of the technology in fact-based storytelling. On Tuesday, leaders of the Archival Producers Alliance — a […]
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Disneyland Character Workers File for a Union Election With the NLRB
The workers who play characters like Goofy and Mickey Mouse and cheer and dance at parades at Disneyland have taken a step forward in their push to unionize with Actors’ Equity. The group of organizers, which is seeking to represent 1,700 employees, filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, […]
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Sesame Workshop Writers Authorize Potential Strike
Unionized writers at Sesame Workshop have unanimously voted to authorize a potential strike as their negotiations over a new labor contract continue. Thirty-five workers at the nonprofit organization that produces Sesame Street have greenlit a potential work stoppage to begin on April 24 if a new contract deal isn’t reached by its current expiration date, […]
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Drew Carey Speaks Out About Funding Writers Meals Amid Strike: “It Was the Right Thing to Do”
Drew Carey is opening up about the hefty investment he made by paying for striking writers meals at two Los Angeles-area restaurants in 2023. In an appearance at the Writers Guild of America awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday night, the comedian addressed his decision to pay for WGA members’ meals at Bob’s Big […]
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Writers Guild Spoofs Studios’ Top Labor Negotiator at Awards Ceremony: “See You on the Picket Line in 2026”
The Writers Guild of America resurfaced its 2023 strike in a comedy bit that unfurled at the union’s Los Angeles awards ceremony Sunday night. More than half a year after the union ended its 148-day strike, the union spoofed the top negotiator representing studios and streamers during those talks, Carol Lombardini, in a raunchy and […]
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Additional IATSE Locals Reach Tentative Deals on Craft-Specific Issues
Two more IATSE Locals — covering set lighting professionals and costume designers — have reached tentative agreements on craft-specific issues with Hollywood’s top studios and streamers. IATSE Local 728, whose members include lighting programmers and chief rigging technicians, reached a provisional deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Thursday, IATSE announced […]
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Condé Nast Purgatory: Dozens of Staffers Marked for Layoffs Bide Time at “Central Editorial Group”
For the roughly 100 workers who have recently joined Condé Nast’s “central editorial group,” work has taken a bizarre turn in the past few months. In November, 94 Condé Union staffers at the glamorous media company behind Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair and Bon Appétit — across editorial, video and audience development — learned that they […]
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SAG-AFTRA Says There Is “No Room on Any Set for Disparaging Comments” in Response to ‘Tulsa King’ Allegations
Actors’ union SAG-AFTRA is weighing in on the allegations that Tulsa King star Sylvester Stallone allegedly mocked the appearance of background actors on set in Atlanta. When asked about the snowballing controversy, with one Tulsa King background actor speaking out Wednesday about comments he believes were directed at him, a union spokesperson said in a […]
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