Matthew Loeb: Last News

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will meet again on Saturday, as they try to reach a deal before the writers’ contract expires at midnight on Monday. The negotiations are expected to go right up to the deadline. If no deal is reached, a strike could begin as early as Tuesday morning. The negotiators have been meeting regularly at the AMPTP office in Sherman Oaks. Though there have been no breakthroughs, there also has been no indication that talks are breaking down. Production has slowed in Los Angeles, according to data from FilmLA and anecdotal reports from labor leaders. As of Friday morning, FilmLA — which handles permits for location shoots — did not have any shoots scheduled for Tuesday or afterward for scripted shows.

EXCLUSIVE: In the event of a strike by the Writers Guild, IATSE members working on struck shows have the “legal right” to honor the guild’s picket lines, though they might be replaced temporarily by non-union workers, according to IATSE president Matthew Loeb.

IATSE’s General Executive Board voted unanimously today to endorse the re-election of President Joe Biden. The vote came shortly after Biden announced that he would be running for a second term.

The California IATSE Council, saying it is “appalled” by the racist comments made during a secretly recorded conversation last year among three members of the Los Angeles City Council and a local labor leader, called for all those involved to resign.

IATSE president Matthew Loeb is urging his members to get out and vote in the upcoming midterm elections and to contribute to the union’s political action committee, which overwhelmingly supports Democratic candidates for federal office.

Film and TV music supervisors, fed up with deteriorating working conditions and stagnant wages, want to unionize with IATSE, which is calling on the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers to voluntarily recognize them after a large majority signed authorization cards to join the union.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterFive months ago, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees was bitterly divided over a new contract, which was ratified by a historically narrow margin.Half of the membership defied their leaders and voted “no,” as opponents blamed International President Matthew Loeb for settling for too little and for not capitalizing on the threat of an industrywide strike.But while some of that anger remains, there is little evidence that the issue has carried over into local leadership elections this spring. Even where local unions have thrown out their leaders, turnout has been low, and the issues seem to turn more on personalities than on the contract.One of the hotbeds of resistance to the deal was IATSE Local 80, the union that represents 3,800 grips, crafts service workers and set medics.

Deadline has confirmed that Brian Kurland, a four-time Oscar-nominated sound mixer who sits on the Cinema Audio Society’s board, has resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over its plan to pre-tape several categories, including Best Sound.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorThe International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the largest union representing behind-the-scenes workers in North America, has joined the growing number of critics expressing their disapproval of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ decision to pre-record eight craft categories at the Oscars.The eight categories to be aired retroactively as part of the awards broadcast on March 27 include film editing, make-up and hairstyling, production design, animated short and sound.The statement released by IATSE President Matthew Loeb said, “By the nature of our jobs, behind the scenes, workers get little recognition as is, despite being the backbone of every production. The Academy Awards has been virtually the only venue where the very best on and off the big screen, above and below the line gather to honor each other’s incredible contributions through their crafts, inspiring millions who tune into the TV Broadcast in the process.

IASTE president Matthew Loeb pushed back today against the plan to pre-tape several categories in an attempt to tighten up Sunday’s Oscarcast, saying, “We believe a deviation for some crafts and categories but not others is detrimental.”

IATSE announced that film and TV production would not shut down at 12:01 a.m. on Oct.

The Art Directors Guild, IATSE Local 800, will hold two membership town hall meetings on Thursday to discuss strike preparations and what will be expected of members if a strike begins on Monday. The meetings will be held at 7 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT.

IATSE leaders are becoming increasingly frustrated by the slow pace of the ongoing negotiations with the AMPTP for a new film and TV contract.

IATSE and the AMPTP are “still talking” and are expected to return to the virtual bargaining table again Friday. Armed with strike authorization from his members, IATSE president Matthew Loeb can call a nationwide walkout of film and TV workers at any time if he and AMPTP president Carol Lombardini can’t reach a fair deal.

IATSE and the AMPTP have resumed bargaining today after working all day Tuesday to avert a threatened nationwide strike against film and TV productions.

IATSE and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have agreed to return to the bargaining table on Tuesday following the union’s historic strike-authorization vote. It will be the first time in more than two months that the two sides have engaged in collective bargaining.