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The OLD SAG Watchdog

LOS ANGELES (September 8, 2020) – SAG-AFTRA has engaged entertainment/technology attorney and journalist  as an outside Special Counsel to the union, effective Sept. 1, to work on special projects and cutting-edge issues.

Handel brings a deep familiarity with SAG-AFTRA and with entertainment, technology, law and labor. He is a 30-year practicing attorney and covered the entertainment industry for The Hollywood Reporter for a decade.

SAG-AFTRA Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said, “We are thrilled to have Jonathan working with SAG-AFTRA and look forward to engaging his talents on a number of crucial issues and projects. He is an accomplished and forward-thinking attorney with a talent for incisive analysis, which coupled with his entertainment industry expertise perfectly positions him to help advise on complex matters for the union.”

“This is a time of enormous economic and technological challenge for all SAG-AFTRA members,” said Handel. “Working- and middle-class people are under assault in this country, and our industries are no different. I’m excited and grateful to have the opportunity to help tackle some of the toughest problems ever faced by the union’s members – many of whom I have the privilege to call friends – and I hope to make an enduring contribution to their careers, well-being and basic dignity.”

Handel has left his post at The Hollywood Reporter, but will continue to practice entertainment and technology law for other clients that do not conflict with SAG-AFTRA assignments. As part of the agreement to engage Handel, the union is also acquiring an app that the lawyer and technologist wrote to help members navigate their health insurance options.

Handel is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College with a degree in applied math and computer science and received his Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He was active in LGBTQ and party politics and wrote a local civil rights ordinance in addition to serving on various city commissions. He clerked for a federal court of appeals judge, practiced appellate litigation, served as a federal Associate Independent Counsel investigating alleged White House political misconduct, and was a member of the Writers Guild of America, West, legal staff, before transitioning to entertainment and technology transactional law, negotiating for a range of clients.

The author of four books on entertainment labor, including a full-color guide to residuals based on his industry-leading chart, Handel is currently on the adjunct faculty at USC Gould School of Law and Southwestern Law School and is a non-resident research fellow at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations’ Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. He is a widely respected industry commentator and has made more than 1,100 media appearances. He is also a prodigious writer of television scripts, stories, stage plays and poetry and is a member of the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights and an associate member of the Dramatists Guild and the Society of Composers & Lyricists.

ATA Chief Karen Stuart Urges Agents To Be “Diligent” About Ensuring Safety Protocols Are In Place For Clients Returning To Work

DEADLINE By David Robb

September 3, 2020 12:16pm
As film, TV and commercial production slowly resumes, Karen Stuart, executive director of the Association of Talent Agents, has told her 115 member-agencies that they should be “diligent about making sure proper safety protocols are in place to protect the health and safety of their clients.”

The safety of cast and crew members employed on commercials and other short-term productions is a particular concern because many are being shot without testing for the coronavirus and aren’t required to do so by Los Angeles County health officials. “The unions/guilds are working non-stop to reach an industry-wide safety agreement with employers in TV/Film,” Stuart wrote in a recent memo to her members. “The areas of commercials, music videos and similar short term productions are problematic.”

READ MORE

Host & Moderator: SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris

Presentation, Discussion and Audience Q&A Featuring:

• SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President and New York Local President Rebecca Damon SAG-AFTRA
• National Executive Director David White
• SAG-AFTRA Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland
• SAG-AFTRA National Director, Stunts and Safety Cedric Jackson

Healthcare Town Hall #2
Friday 8/21
6pmPT / 8pmCT / 9pmET
Zoom: http://LALocalTownHall.com
Meeting ID: 893 8464 1465 Password: 375191

After hearing from members, let’s get everyone updated and consider actions to get our healthcare back.