IATSE_1st2017_web

Executive Board regarding the activities
of the Motion Picture and Television Production
Department since the last General
Executive Board meeting.
Vice President Miller reported on the
status of the current major production
agreements. The new 2017 Low Budget
Agreement, which is part of a separate
report, will be sent to the printer shortly,
and the AICP Agreement has been distributed
to the Locals. In addition, as part
of the ongoing process of fine-tuning the
Motion Picture and Television (MPTV)
one-off contract templates, there are now
stronger penalties to protect members of
the Alliance working under one-off contracts.
Entertainment production is at an
all-time high in the U.S., with continued
strong growth in the new media sector. In
the past year, there were agreements put
in place for over one-hundred new media
projects; Netflix alone accounted for almost
forty new productions.
Recently the Directors Guild of
America concluded negotiations with the
AMPTP, and this spring the Writers Guild
and Screen Actors Guild will also bargain
for successor agreements. The MPTV department
will be evaluating these agreements
as they will inevitably impact the
Basic Agreement negotiations in 2018.
Assistant Department Director Holtgrewe
elaborated on the growth of new
media production. Netflix has recently
claimed that they will invest heavily in
unscripted content in 2017. They plan
to debut twenty such projects, including
global competition series “Ultimate
Beastmaster”, which is under contract,
and, more recently, “Bill Nye Saves the
World”, a new talk show. Netflix believes
their original programming lineup will
grow to 1,000 hours, more than doubled
from 2016, and the company vows “that’s
a conservative measure right now.”
The Department is well situated for
this deluge of new media content, and is
focused on negotiating competitive and
strong agreements for members. The Department
believes it has a firm grip on
this segment of the industry.
The expansion of unionized nonscripted
programming continues. Representatives
Trachtenberg and Kaplan
have engaged in a flurry of non-scripted
organizing. The strength of members has
allowed the International to bring these
shows under contract. Of particular note
is the world of Food Network competition
shows. This is significant to mention
because, Representative Trachtenberg
has, most recently, unionized Iron Chef
Gauntlet. Discussions are ongoing in this
genre.
Representative Aredas reported that
the Association of Independent Commercial
Producers (AICP) contract was one
of the first IATSE Term agreements to implement
the IATSE Training Trust Fund
contribution requirements. Since adding
the Training Trust to the Agreement,
there have been over one million dollars
in commercial agreement contributions
from hundreds of different companies.
Representative Aredas commented on
the number of jobs in the TV commercial
industry and the negative impact that inhouse
production by advertising agencies
is having on Union employers and work
opportunities for our members.
The AICP Agreement was renegotiated
in the past year. The IA is in the resign
period for commercials, and there
are currently 282 signatories to the AICP
Agreement. Ten commercial companies
have been organized since the GEB’s last
meeting. Representative Aredas discussed
one such company, a small, but growing,
commercial production entity named Pet
Gorilla.
The IATSE low budget compliance
audit program continues to audit various
productions including Low Budget Motion
Pictures, Music Videos, Commercials,
and New Media productions. The
communication and sharing of information
from the members to their Union is
the most important way to track if a production
may be over budget or not. There
are currently thirteen low budget compliance
audits in progress, and ten completed
inspections since the last meeting of
the General Executive Board. Of the completed
projects, none were found to be in
violation, and one self-reported that they
exceeded their costs and paid the necessary
adjustments.
The IATSE has crew employed on
every major award show being produced,
including the Oscars, Grammys, and
Tony Awards. There are approximately
thirty term signatories to the awards
show agreement and the Department
signs dozens more each year on a single
production basis.
Representative Fry reported that in
2016, the state of Kentucky increased its
incentive program making it one of the
most lucrative in the country. As expected,
a flood of production flowed into the
state. In early August, Representative Fry
traveled to Kentucky with Local 600 for
the purpose of organizing two low budget
productions. Tragedy Girls is worth particular
mention because organizing the
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