Industry & Labor

EXCLUSIVE: The pace of initial unemployment claims for Californians previously working in the state’s arts, entertainment and recreation sector has slowed dramatically in recent weeks, falling for three consecutive weeks to the lowest levels since the coronavirus pandemic shut down venues across the state and the country in mid-March.

The second season of “Rebooting the Entertainment Industry,” sponsored by PwC and Ad Council, will begin its five-episode run on Sept. 15. “Rebooting the Entertainment Industry” is a weekly series in the Variety Streaming Room exploring how the entertainment industry is refocusing and redefining business during significant COVID-19 disruptions.

Hollywood’s unions and management’s Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are “very close to an agreed upon framework for a safe return to work,” an industry source tells Deadline.

It started with a hashtag. This summer as nationwide calls for racial and social justice hit a fever pitch, Thuc Nguyen, founder of The Bitch Pack, and Cheryl L. Bedford, founder of Women of Color Unite, teamed on a new mentorship concept to help pump Hollywood’s diversity pipeline.

Dolores Huerta and Angélique Kidjo have close to a century of experience between them raising their voices to demand human rights.

Following Tuesday night’s historic sports strike — which started with the Milwaukee Bucks boycotting their playoff game in solidarity with police shooting victim Jacob Blake — Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors is making a call for similar action in Hollywood.

One of the first things you learn about how movies are put together is that everything is on screen for a reason. Even if a cat wandered into the background, it’s there because someone decided to keep it. Usually it’s there because of a cinematographer.

BATON ROUGE - A few production crews are starting to roll again after the COVID-19 pandemic put a screeching halt to Louisiana’s film industry.

SAG-AFTRA, The Recording Academy and 10 additional entertainment industry organizations on Tuesday sent a letter to President Trump asking for his administration’s help to reform the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program in regards to mixed earner workers, saying that the situation is having "tragic" consequences.

The murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and countless others at the hands of U.S. police have sparked a wave of protests around the world, forcing corporations to take a stand against racial injustice and evaluate how – and to what degree – they perpetuate systemic racism.

It took April Chaney nine years working as a makeup artist before her union would accept her.

Film and television production “is finally getting ready to start back up,” IATSE Grips Local 80 business manager Thom Davis said in his latest update on the industry’s efforts for a safe return to work.