SAG and Making Magic: Hollywood Labor Update

Members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists today approved their new three-year contract with Hollywood studios. The Screen Actors Guild had tried its best to kill the AFTRA deal. No wonder -- industry navel-gazers have forecast that the smaller union's approval probably would put the kibosh on any idea the SAG leadership might have to ask its members to give the thumbs-up on a possible strike. SAG's contract with Hollywood studios expired at the end of last month.

Actress Barbara Niven (Frederick Brown/Getty)

Appearing at Day 1 of Thank God We're Working Summer TV Press Tour 2008 to promote HER new Glutinous Hallmark Channel Made-for-TV Movie, SAG national board member Barbara Niven explained to TV critics, "All of us in this business, we love what we do so much. We just want to all get a little piece of the pie so we can keep doing it. I think the conglomerates are forgetting that it's not all about big business, but it's about making magic, like what we did," she said, referring to the upcoming "Moonlight & Mistletoe," in which Tom Arnold plays the owner of Santaville, a yuletide attraction in tiny Chester, Vt., that is on the verge of bankruptcy. Niven plays the beautiful waitress who works at the Santaville Inn. I know -- magic ...

Lisa de Moraes

By Rose Jacobius  |  July 8, 2008; 11:40 PM ET Summer TV Press Tour 2008
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