Monday, April 24, 2017

No Strike - No Lockout: What Does It Mean?


The Union agrees during the existence of this Agreement, unless the Producer fails to comply with an arbitration award, not to strike against, picket or boycott the Producer for any reason whatsoever, and to order its members to perform their obligations to the Producer hereunder and to use its best efforts to get the employees to perform such obligations.
Article 21J, TAG-Local 839 Master Agreement, (page 104)


No Strike, No Lockout is a common clause in labor agreements. Local 839 has one in every agreement - but we're certainly not alone in this. 

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Thursday, April 06, 2017

Why You Should Ask For More

The TAG-Local 839 Master Agreement. No upper limits.
All our contracts are written so that there is no upper limit on the benefits or wages you may negotiate. The key phrase is "better conditions..." - and you can find it on page 6...

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Monday, March 27, 2017

How Residuals Keep Your Health Plan Strong

Residuals were nearly one quarter of MPIPHP funding in 2016.
source: MPIPHP / Local 871 Pre-Retirement Seminar

I was talking with an artist the other day, and she asked "Why don't we get residuals? "We do," I said, "just not in the way you think."


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Saturday, March 18, 2017

How to Plan for Negotiations



Yesterday marked the end of the first week of the Writer's Guild negotiations with the AMPTP. The DGA has already concluded their negotiations, finishing up before the New Year. While we wait to see what happens next with the WGA, here are some takeaways regarding preparing for negotiations:


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Wednesday, March 08, 2017

Your Weingarten Rights

Weingarten Rights - this card may save your job!

As a union member, you have a right to union representation at certain meetings. Read more about the three rules that are collectively known as "Weingarten Rights".

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Wednesday, February 22, 2017

The Animation Wage-Fixing Lawsuit

The wage-fixing web: chart courtesy Bloomberg Graphics

Here's what you need to know about the wage-fixing lawsuit. It's real. Make sure your contact details are correct.


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Sunday, February 12, 2017

The 2017 Sci-Tech Awards

The proud winners of the 89th Academy Awards Scientific and Technical Awards (Photo by Buckner/Variety/REX/Shutterstock).

Congratulations to the winners of the Technical Achievement awards!

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Sunday, February 05, 2017

The 2017 Annie Awards



UCLA's Royce Hall was the place to be Saturday night if you like animation. Here are the winners from the 41st annual Annie Awards - congratulations to all!

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Friday, February 03, 2017

Artists, We Support You.

Executive Order 9066 led to signs like this. Let's not let this happen again.

Recent events have heightened anxieties for many. I write to remind you that we are here for the entire animation community. Here's what we provide:

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Monday, January 30, 2017

Don't Panic, Organize!



From the first day of my first IATSE General Executive Board meeting, here are my takeaways:

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Monday, January 23, 2017

Employee or Contractor?



Some studios offer work under independent contractor arrangements rather than hiring artists as employees. “1099” v. “W-2”. In most cases this is a bad deal for artists. Here are some facts:

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Monday, January 16, 2017

Working for Free - Don't.


How do you get experience if you have no experience? How do you get started working?

( Spoiler alert - I'm against working for free. )

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Monday, January 09, 2017

Unconscious Bias - it's a thing.


In Zootopia, you can be anything you want to be. Just watch out for unconscious beliefs held by others...

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Tuesday, January 03, 2017

Coming Up Roses...

John Ramirez, Mark Osborne and son at the 2017 Rose Parade.

Congratulations to Guild member John Ramirez! (shown above with the Little Prince float he designed for Netflix, photo via Tom Sito)

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Saturday, December 31, 2016

So Long, 2016!





A collection of the studios that employ our members; we now have contracts with more than two dozen studios. In 2016 we have seen record employment - that's definitely something to celebrate.

Here's some of the other things that happened this year...

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Monday, December 26, 2016

It was the best of times...



2016 is predicted to be another record-setting year for movie-going. Animation Domination is part of the lingua franca ( even if it's a thing of the past. ) One of the top three cable channels from last year has 'cartoon' in its name. So things are good, right?

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Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Warming up for the Oscars



With the recent news that the Visual Effect contenders for Academy Award nominations have been trimmed from 20 films down to ten, it makes sense to look at the Animation category...

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Friday, December 16, 2016

The IAP: the ( kind of ) 401(k) match you didn't think you had...



Have you heard about the Individual Account Plan (IAP)? Know what it is? A bunch of artists I saw at Nickelodeon today didn't know - so I write this post about a pretty cool benefit for Animation Guild members...

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Monday, December 12, 2016

Weekend Box Office


Based on estimates, two animated films hold spots in the top ten - and Moana clings to #1 for the third weekend in a row.


The weekend box office for the period of Dec. 9-11 based on industry estimates as of Sunday AM (still waiting on Disney):

1). Moana (DIS), 3,875 Theaters (0) / $4.1M Fri /$8.6M Sat/$6.1M Sun/ 3-day cume: $18.8M (-33%)/Total: $145M/Wk 3

2.) Office Christmas Party (PAR/DW), 3,210 theaters (-156) /$6.7M Fri. /$6.8M Sat/$4M Sun/ 3-day cume: $17.5M /Wk 1

3). Fantastic Beasts… (WB), 3,626 theaters (-362) /$2.8M Fri./$4.8M Sat/$3.1M Sun/3-day cume: $10.8M (-40%)/Total: $199.3m/Wk 4

4). Arrival (PAR), 3,115 theaters (+200)/$1.55M Fri/$2.5M Sat/$1.55M Sun/3-day cume: $5.6M (-23%)/Total:$81.45M/ Wk 5

5).Doctor Strange (DIS), 2,763 theaters (-172) /$1.2M Fri /$2.1M Sat/$1.3M Sun/3-day cume: $4.6M (-31%) /Total cume: $222.4M/Wk 6

6). Allied (PAR), 3,018 Theaters (-142) /$1.19M Fri/$1.76M Sat/$1.05M/3-day cume: $4M (-43%) /Total: $35.6M/Wk 3

7). Nocturnal Animals (Focus), 1,262 theaters (+1.135) /$1.1M Fri /$1.3M Sat/$773K Sun/3-day:$3.19M (+356%)/Total: $6.2M/ Wk 4

8.) Manchester by the Sea (RSA/AMZ) 368 theaters (+212)/$913K Fri/$1.4M Sat/$850K Sun/3-day: $3.155M (+37%)/Total: $8.3M/Wk 4

9) Trolls (DWA/20th Century Fox), 2,786 theaters (-370) /$625K Fri/$1.5M Sat/$975K Sun/3-day cume: $3.11M (-34%) /Total Cume: $145.5M/Wk 6

10). Hacksaw Ridge (Lionsgate), 2,277 theaters (-217) / $672K Fri /$1M Sat/$604K/3-day:$2.3M (-31%)/Total: $60.9M/ Wk 6


Comparisons of Moana to Frozen are out there, but it seems too early to tell which way the graph will bend.

Trolls continues to attract theater-goers, both domestically and internationally. Click here to read entire post

Friday, December 09, 2016

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