IATSE Back at the Bargaining Table With a Focus on Cinematographer Issues

Another IATSE local has a tentative deal with the studios.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer When the Writers Guild of America went on strike last May, union leaders argued that artificial intelligence posed an existential threat to writers, painting a picture of a dystopian future in which TV shows might be crafted by one writer and a machine. Ten months later, the tone in Hollywood labor circles has shifted significantly. At a March 3 rally in Los Angeles, Matthew Loeb, international president of IATSE, argued that AI has the potential to make union members’ jobs easier.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Mario Van Peebles has been tapped to direct “That’ll Be the Day,” the story of how Buddy Holly and other musicians of the late 1950s helped give birth to rock ‘n’ roll and influence the wider societal and cultural landscape, including the civil rights movement. Music has been central to much of Van Peebles’ work, from his 1991 gangster movie “New Jack City” to his work on “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” which he co-executive produced for Hulu.

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Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Studio negotiators have been talking for nearly a month with the largest union representing Hollywood film crews, and have still not tackled most of the major issues on the table. The two sides have set an unusually long bargaining schedule, hoping that more talking on minor matters will build good will and lower the risk of another crippling strike this summer. In the last couple of weeks, negotiators have chalked up a handful of wins, shaking on six tentative agreements with local IATSE unions.

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The royal family has finally found the answer to their public relations problems. They’re willing to spend… get ready for this… £25,000 on it.

Back at the bargaining table with the studios this week after several days of caucusing, IATSE today laid out their plans for the next phase of talks as the contract expiration date inched closer and closer for a tense Tinseltown.

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Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While at Series Mania Festival, Larry Tanz, Netflix‘s VP of EMEA Content, unveiled ambitious new shows commissioned from France and the Netherlands, including an untitled thriller series starring Isabelle Adjani, and “Amsterdam Empire,” a Dutch crime series starring and executive produced by Famke Janssen. The untitled French thriller series revolves around a young mother on the run finds an unexpected opportunity to bounce back by becoming a picker in a prestigious flower farm in Provence. But the mysterious death of the family patriarch of the company casts her under the spotlight as the prime suspect.

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Marta Balaga Upcoming six-part series “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” is set in one of the most infamous concentration camps in history. And yet, “it’s a love story.” “When Lali says that, you are supposed to question his words. But they did meet there, they did fall in love, they did survive and went on to live in Australia.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Prime Video is diving into genre in the Nordics with a new slate of shows, including the Swedish mystery crime series “Blind Spot” starring Ida Engvoll (“Love & Anarchy”) and Pål Sverre Hagen (“Furia”), and Henrik Georgsson (“The Bridge“)’s dystopian thriller “VAKA,” starring Emmy-award nominated Jonas Karlsson and Aliette Opheim. Based on Anne Holt’s best-selling novel “1222” which revolves around the character of Hanne Wilhelmsen, a sharp and dark-minded police officer. The series, penned by celebrated author Sara Heldt (“Sandhamn Murders”) together with Erik Skjoldberg (“Occupied”), follows Hanne who finds herself sheltered in an isolated mountain hotel after a train crash and starts investigating on mysterious murders even though she’s been temporarily suspended from the police.

IATSE as contract talks get underway. Affiliates of UNI Global Union, which reps 500,000 works across 140 unions and guilds across the international media, entertainment and arts sector, have pledged their support for IATSE as it begins negotiations with AMPTP on its Hollywood Basic Agreement, which is set to expire on July 31. IATSE is also a UNI affiliate.

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Paramount+ may have culled a raft of international originals last month but UK commissioning appears to be continuing apace.

Naman Ramachandran India premieres of France’s “The Taste of Things” and Korea’s “Exhuma” will open and close respectively the first edition of India’s Cinevesture International Film Festival. Tran Anh Hung won best director at Cannes 2023 for “The Taste of Things,” which was subsequently submitted as France’s official entry to the Oscars’ international feature category.

Carolyn Giardina In advance of Friday’s 61st annual International Cinematographers Guild (Local 600) Publicists Awards luncheon, the Guild gathered several nominees who spoke with Variety about their favorite campaigns, issues that will affect them during IATSE‘s contract negotiations, and how they embraced “the art of the pivot” during a challenging year. The luncheon, which also raises funds for the Guild’s scholarship fund, will be held Friday at the Beverly Wilshire hotel. It’s an exciting but rapidly changing time to work in publicity, says Chris Garcia Nutley of Warner Bros.

J. Kim Murphy The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and Hollywood’s major studios have concluded their first week of talks Thursday evening, with both parties planning to resume negotiations for a new union contract on March 18. The IATSE Basic Agreement Negotiating Committee, which represents IATSE, Teamsters 399 and the Hollywood Basic Crafts, proposed the new agreement to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on Monday.