DAILY NEWS for
Tuesday December 2 2008

Hollywood's labor brawl has turned ugly, with the majors accusing the Writers Guild of America of pushing SAG to strike by "blatantly" sabotaging the guild's last round of negotiations.

In a fiery blast at the Writers Guild, the congloms said Monday that the WGA had deliberately undermined the Nov. 20-21 SAG talks, held under supervision of a federal mediator. The anger is so fierce that any good will that may have lingered between the WGA and the congloms at the end of the writers strike last February has dissipated.

At issue is the WGA's Nov. 19 announcement accusing the companies of not paying new-media residuals and contending that the companies had reneged on the deal terms. The WGA insisted Monday that the timing of its announcement was coincidental and unrelated to the SAG talks -- which cratered after two days -- but the companies aren't buying that.

"The WGA's press release was highly misleading and seems to have been designed to poison the atmosphere for the federal mediation rather than to actually ensure that residual payments are made to working writers," the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers said. "Instead of working cooperatively with the

companies to resolve any outstanding issues, the WGA went public on the eve of the crucial SAG-AMPTP negotiations. This move was blatantly designed to disrupt that mediation and help justify SAG's eventual decision to reject the AMPTP's offer and end the mediation."

The AMPTP also noted that WGA's arbitration claim -- disputing the effective trigger date for applying the new-media formula -- was also designed to provoke a SAG strike.

"WGA filed this arbitration claim to generate the kind of media coverage that would poison the atmosphere just prior to the start of federal mediation," the AMPTP said. "The language at issue in the WGA agreement is exactly the same language that was included in each of the guild and union contracts negotiated this year. No other guild or union has ever questioned the interpretation of the language."

ALSO ON SITE

MOVIE REVIEWS of all the TOP FILMS

Australia dir. Baz Luhrmann Starring Nicole Kidman Hugh Jackman	Quantum of Solace dir. Marc Forster Starring Daniel Craig Judi Dench	Milk dir. Gus Van Sant Starring Sean Penn Emile Hirsch Josh Brolin

The Secret Life of Bees dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood Starring Dakota Fanning Queen Latifah Jennifer Hudson	Transporter 3 dir. Olivier Megaton Starring Jason Statham Natalya Rudakova	City of Ember dir. Gil Kenan Starring Tim Robbins Bill Murray

Four Christmases dir. Seth Gordon Starring Vince Vaughn Reece Witherspoon	Twilight dir. Catherine Hardwicke Starring Kristen Stewart Robert Pattinson	Bolt dir. Byron Howard Chris Williams Voiced by John Travolta Miley Cyrus

Madagascar 2 dir. Eric Darnell Tom McGrath Voices by Ben Stiller Chris Rock	BOX OFFICE RESULTS Daily and Weekend Results at the Domestic Box Office	The Duchess dir. Saul Dibb Starring Keira Knightley Ralph Fiennes

ZOOLANDER SEQUEL CONFIRMED

Hollywood funnyman Ben Stiller has confirmed he is working on a sequel to his 2001 comedy hit Zoolander.

Stiller, who played a dim-witted model in the original movie, is in talks to get production rolling on a follow-up and is currently looking at scripts.

The comedian insists he has always wanted to complete the story and is delighted that Zoolander 2 is finally close to being made.

He says, "I've been trying to get Zoolander 2 together and we've had a few scripts. I feel that is the sequel I really would like to do some day because I like the original and I would make sure it was something new and worthy of it first."

Stiller also recently confirmed he is planning a third installment of his successful Meet The Parents franchise, which will see him reunite with Robert De Niro.

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