Casting Directors vs Studios

Have ya' heard?

Word has on the streets that many network pilots are hanging in the balance because casting directors need assistants and the networks aren't paying for them.

Me smells a strike a comin'. 

I hear the studios are still not budging. ABC Studios, which has received a number of early pilot orders over the past 2 weeks, has begun to cast them internally. Other studios are preparing to do the same. Over the past 48 hours, we also had the first deal with a casting director that closed without the assistant provision. Casting agency La Padura & Hart Casting, whose credits include the High School Musical franchise and such NBC series as Heroes and The Event, has signed on to work on the 20th Century Fox TV-produced NBC drama pilot Playboy. There are reportedly a number of deals with other casting directors on pilots that are closed but not signed by the casting directors since they don't include assistant pay coverage.

Originally, I had heard that, because the film and TV casting directors are unionized under the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the teamsters are getting involved in the conflict. A casting director well plugged into the situation now tells me that "this is not an union issue, it's an individual issue, it's an individual negotiation between casting directors and studios in order for the casting directors to get the staff they need to meet the demands of studios and networks. Every other department gets adequate staffing to do the job they were hired to do with the exception of the casting department."

In the past, studios have paid for assistants "when deemed necessary," the source continued. With growing casts and increasing competition,  "It has now become necessary on every pilot."Since it's not an union issue but an individual choice for each casting director, there is no mandate for the casting directors to stick together. "But I think the casting directors are going to hold strong," the source said.

Wowza, I love pilots.  Some of my favorite TV moments come from them and I really hate it when a show I like doesn't get picked up.  Cross those fingers everyone, strikes are good for nothing!

[Source]