Duncan Crabtree Ireland Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

EXCLUSIVE: SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said it on the picket lines earlier today, and now it seems that “cautious optimism,” as an insider also stated, has become the takeaway term Thursday for the state of talks between the guild and the studios.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA announced Friday that members have ratified new three-year contracts for voice actors who work on animated TV shows. The deals addressed the same concerns that fueled last year’s 118-day actors’ strike, notably artificial intelligence, which many actors fear will replace their jobs. As with the live-action agreement, the animation deals do not forbid the use of AI.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Comedian Hasan Minhaj, currently touring with a new show recounting the year he just experienced, is set to headline the 10th edition of the SeriesFest event this May in Denver. This year’s SeriesFest, an annual event focused on “championing emerging and underserved voices in episodic storytelling” (aka TV), is also set to honor Shonda Rhimes’ and Betsy Beers‘ Shondaland shingle, as well as Minnie Driver and SAG-AFTRA.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Issues around the use of AI in the production process is the big sticking point in SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations with the largest video game companies, SAG-AFTRA chief Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said Saturday during a wide-ranging Q&A at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Crabtree-Ireland, who is national executive director and chief negotiator of the performers union, said he put the chances of union members striking against key game companies is “50-50, or more likely than that we will go on strike in the next four to six weeks because of our inability to get past these issues,” Crabtree-Ireland told Brendan Vaughan, editor-in-chief of Fast Company, during a conversation focused on AI.

Three months after SAG-AFTRA ended its long and bitter strike against the studios, guild president Fran Drescher took a glamourous and humorous victory lap in front of some of her most notable members Saturday at the SAG Awards.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA signed a deal on Tuesday with an AI voiceover studio that sets terms for the use of artificial intelligence in video games. The union announced the deal with Replica Studios on Tuesday at CES in Las Vegas. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director, said that the terms include informed consent for the use of AI to create digital voice replicas, as well as requirements for the safe storage of digital assets.

Hollywood’s long strike season is over and the town can finally get back to work without the specter of any more labor action, for now.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor SAG-AFTRA has released the full 128-page contract that ended the actors strike on Nov. 8, with union leaders urging members to vote yes on the deal by the Dec. 5 ratification deadline.

Over two weeks after SAG-AFTRA reached a deal with the studios and ended their nearly four-month long strike, the actors guild has just released the full text of the tentative agreement.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher and National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland on Friday laid out how the actors’ 118-day strike was ended and their thoughts on the deal with the AMPTP.

The actors are set to vote on the tentative agreement with the studios after the SAG-AFTRA national board approved the deal.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA had settled dozens of issues, ranging from pension and health contributions, to page limits for self-taped auditions, to pay for background actors. But there was still the small matter of zombies. The union was worried that studios could use artificial intelligence to reanimate dead actors, or to create a digital Frankenstein out of the body parts of real actors.

EXCLUSIVE: A deal may not be in the cards tonight, but SAG-AFTRA and the studios could be heading back to negotiations within hours.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Progress has been made toward ending the SAG-AFTRA strike in recent days, but “a lot” of issues are still on the table, the union’s chief negotiator said Monday morning. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the chief negotiator and executive director of the guild, made an appearance at the Disney picket lines. In an interview outside the studio gates, he would not hazard a guess as to when the strike will be over.

EXCLUSIVE: SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP continued to communicate intermittently Sunday as they close in on possibly reaching a new deal that could end the 108-day strike.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher took to Instagram to express her condolences over the passing of Friends star Matthew Perry.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Four CEOs are set to return to SAG-AFTRA headquarters on Tuesday with a new offer that they hope will break the stalemate in the 102-day actors strike. Among them will be Disney’s Bob Iger, who called SAG-AFTRA’s top negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, on Saturday to invite the actors back to the bargaining table. The CEOs — who also include David Zaslav of Warner Bros.

After over a week of silence, the actors union and the AMPTP are set to return to negotiations on Tuesday, Oct. 24.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer On the first day of the SAG-AFTRA strike in July, union president Fran Drescher was asked how long she expected it to last. “We’re set up to go six months if we have to,” Drescher said. It hasn’t been that long yet.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer A group of A-list actors is adding pressure on SAG-AFTRA leadership to find a way to resolve the actors strike, which has now lasted 97 days. George Clooney, Tyler Perry, Scarlett Johansson, and others held a Zoom meeting on Tuesday afternoon with Fran Drescher, the president of SAG-AFTRA, and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director. Though the tone has been described as “supportive,” the actors did not call the meeting merely to express support.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Talks broke down last week between the major studios and SAG-AFTRA, with the studios saying that the gap between the two sides is “too great” to continue productive negotiations. Until they can bridge the gap, SAG-AFTRA will remain on strike and the entertainment industry will remain shut down. So how big is that gap? About $480 million a year.

It’s been nearly three weeks since SAG-AFTRA‘s talks with the video game industry broke off, but a power-up is on the horizon. The union said today that negotiations for a new Interactive Media Agreement will continue. But as for when — stay tuned.

SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is very happy with Taylor Swift and not so happy with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.

This is Day 76 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

With the actors’ strike now in its 63rd day, SAG-AFTRA leaders are ramping up their rhetoric against the studio heads, accusing them in the latest issue of the SAG-AFTRA Magazine of “behaving like petty tyrants,” “would-be feudal lords” and “land barons in feudal times.”

As the SAG-AFTRA strike clocked its 62nd day, and the WGA’s 135th, the former held a massive solidarity march today from Netflix HQ on Van Ness Blvd to the Melrose gates of Paramount to juice guilds’ spirits with the entertainment industry work stoppage running past Labor Day.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA held a massive march and rally outside the Paramount studio on Wednesday, as the union marked 62 days on strike. Union leaders argued that the strike has resonated across industries, as workers stand up to “unchecked corporate greed.” “What’s at stake is bigger than just the entertainment industry,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director. “It’s about the livelihoods of everyone who needs a job to earn a living.” He urged actors to use their voices and authenticity to speak for the broader labor movement.

Tim Burton is sharing his thoughts on AI getting inspired by his work for new creations. Earlier this year, BuzzFeed shared a piece where it prompted AI to “Tim Burton-Ize Disney Movies.”

SAG-AFTRA’s presence at TIFF continued into Saturday with a special picket outside Amazon offices here in Toronto with Canada’s commercial actors union ACTRA, who’ve been in a 501 day contract lockout with the country’s advertising agency’s org.

He brought zing to a sleepy Comic-Con, and he’s raising the humidity levels here at TIFF. SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland took the stage at the festival to give a post-Labor Day update on talks; and still it’s the same old story: The actors haven’t heard zip from the studios about moving forward.

This is Day 128 of the WGA strike and Day 55 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Megalopolis, the long-awaited passion project from Francis Ford Coppola, is the latest film to land an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA. The film finished production earlier this year so it is unknown what the agreement would be used for but with festival season ramping up it could potentially be getting one in order to be sold on one of the markets or potentially screen an upcoming festival and in need of one for publicity purposes.

Trustees of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan have unanimously agreed to a one-calendar-quarter extension of health coverage for certain qualified participants who would otherwise lose coverage on Oct. 1, 2023. The extension accounts for jobs that may have been lost in May and June of this year due to the Writers Guild strike. The WGA has been on strike since May 2, SAG-AFTRA since July 14.

J. Kim Murphy SAG-AFTRA issued a statement on Thursday evening to encourage members to promote and audition for approved interim agreement productions, as a means of “strengthening the union’s bargaining position and demonstrating solidarity.” The guild’s statement provides guidance in regards to the matter of promoting a project with an interim agreement, which has been a matter of contention among some SAG-AFTRA members since the strike began in July.

SAG-AFTRA has given an interim agreement to another upcoming fall festival pic with theChristy Hall drama Daddio, starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn. The agreement will allow talent to promote the movie at the upcoming festivals including Toronto, where it has been confirmed as a Special Presentation pic.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Movie distributors headed to this year’s fall film festivals hoping to buy select star-studded indie films must be prepared to agree to new contract terms from SAG-AFTRA, the union’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said Tuesday. During a broad press conference on the topic of SAG-AFTRA’s interim agreements program — under which some movies and TV projects can shoot or engage in publicity during the ongoing strike — Crabtree-Ireland confirmed what many in the indie film world have been sweating over for weeks.