Screen Actors Guild

The gritty, globe-trotting drama "Babel" continued to be an award-season standout Thursday, picking up three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's critically acclaimed film weaving together four seemingly disconnected story lines earned a nod for its ensemble cast, which includes Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett as a couple whose trip to Morocco takes a tragic turn.

The 2014 Golden Globe Awards will be held on Sunday, Jan. 12, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. announced Thursday. The broadcast will come four days before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveils its Oscar nominees. Nominations for the 71st annual Golden Globes will be announced on Dec. 12. THE ENVELOPE: The awards insider This year, the Golden Globes telecast was held three days after the Oscar nominations were unveiled -- taking a bit of wind out of the Foreign Press Assn.'s sails.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild voted overwhelmingly to approve increases in dues and initiation fees. The membership voted 68% to 32% in favor of raising dues for the first time since 1999. The increase will raise additional funds to help the union expand its organizing and emerging technology departments. In May base dues will increase by $16 a year for members earning less than $500,000 annually. Actors earning $500,001 to $1 million will pay 0.25% of their earnings.

After seven weeks of negotiations, SAG-AFTRA and a group representing advertisers said they reached a deal on new contracts covering actors and other performers who work in television and radio commercials. But neither group wanted to broadcast the details of the deal. SAG-AFTRA, which has more than 165,000 members, and the Joint Policy Committee representing the advertising industry said Saturday morning they reached an agreement on new tentative contracts, which is subject to approval by the SAG-AFTRA national board later this month.

The top administrator for the Screen Actors Guild is planning to leave his post in April to become a consultant after the ratification this week of a new three-year contract between actors and studios, union sources said. A. Robert Pisano, the union's chief executive and national executive director, has notified SAG President Melissa Gilbert and other officers of his plans.

Annette Bening and Kevin Spacey won top acting honors Sunday from the Screen Actors Guild for their roles as a dysfunctional couple in the suburban satire "American Beauty." The lead acting awards position Bening and Spacey as front-runners for the Oscars, to be awarded on March 26. "American Beauty" also won the guild's ensemble acting award. The movie leads all contenders with eight Oscar nominations.

The Screen Actors Guild, citing its opposition to "blacklisting," has now joined Vanessa Redgrave's appeal against a federal judge's decision in the Boston Symphony Orchestra case. The 48-year-old British actress, who had announced her decision to appeal in a press conference here the morning of the death of her father Sir Michael Redgrave six weeks ago, has already gained the support of other industry unions--Actors Equity and the American Guild of Musical Artists.

The Screen Actors Guild, whose headquarters, at 7750 Sunset Blvd., has been a landmark since 1956, is expected to move by next spring to the old Hollywood Congregational Church at 7065 Hollywood Blvd. "We're committed to it," Joe Ruskin, first vice president of the guild and western regional vice president of Actors Equity, said. "Public signing of the lease is scheduled for Wednesday at 3 p.m." Developer Thomas L.

William Bakewell, 85, a co-founder of the Screen Actors Guild and a character actor who appeared in more than 100 films and 200 television programs. A native of Los Angeles educated at Page Military Academy and Harvard School, Bakewell first appeared in the 1925 silent film "He's a Prince." Among his many roles were a character part in the 1939 classic "Gone With the Wind" and a part in Marlene Dietrich's 1940 "Seven Sinners." In 1933, Bakewell was No.

Mark Ross Locher, 37, national director of communications for the Screen Actors Guild for eight years. A graduate of Occidental College, Locher received his master's degree from Northwestern University. He began working for the guild in 1980 and in 1985 became its youngest national spokesman ever.

Ben Affleck may have been snubbed for directing it, but "Argo" certainly wasn't slighted at the Academy Awards, winning best picture in Sunday night's ceremony. In beating Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" for the top Oscar honor in the 85th annual ceremony, "Argo" became the first movie since 1989's "Driving Miss Daisy" to collect the best picture statuette without its director being nominated for making it. Although "Argo's" win was not a surprise, the introduction of the best picture by First Lady Michelle Obama was unexpected.

"Argo" heads into Sunday's Oscars with the wind at its back, but Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" has the most nominations of any film -- a dozen. Will Ben Affleck's 1970s Iran drama make it a sweep, or are there some surprises in order? The suspense isn't only about who will go home with statuettes, of course. Many will tune in to see how first-time emcee Seth MacFarlane handles the hosting duties, and how the bevy of planned musical numbers -- including by Barbra Streisand and Adele -- come off. (The red carpet begins at 4 p.m. L.A. time, and the show commences on ABC at 5:30 p.m.)

Daniel Day-Lewis won the lead actor Oscar for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" on Sunday night at the 85th Academy Awards. Day-Lewis, 55, becomes the first actor to win three lead Oscars. Katharine Hepburn won four in the lead actress category. Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Ingrid Bergman and Walter Brennan have also won three statuettes in a mix of both the lead and supporting categories. Oscars 2013: Nominee list | Ballot | Trivia | Timeline Day-Lewis' immersive work as America's 16th president in "Lincoln" became one of the Oscar season's most celebrated turns from the moment the movie screened at the New York Film Festival in early October.

The on-screen talent of television and film will turn out for the 19th Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles. For those watching from home, the red carpet begins at 3 p.m. Pacific (6 p.m. Eastern) and the main event will air on TBS and TNT at 5 p.m. Pacific (8 p.m. Eastern). Film and TV stunt ensemble performers will be honored at 3:15 p.m. Pacific (6:15 p.m. Eastern) during the red carpet pre-show webcast on tntdrama.com and tbs.com . There are more than 165,000 members in the recently merged SAG-AFTRA union, but only 2,100 voters get to choose the nominees, who are recognized for their speaking and stunt roles in television and film.

The Screen Actors Guild nominations are set to be unveiled early Wednesday morning at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. Will the actors from "Lincoln," "Zero Dark Thirty," "Argo," "Les Miserables" and "Silver Linings Playbook" be nominated for best ensemble cast, or will another film come in as a bigger surprise? The guild will start the nominations at 6 a.m. Wednesday, preceded by nominations for stunt performers at 5:50 a.m., and will air live on TNT. The SAG nominations come on the heels of Tuesday's nods for the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and one day ahead of the Golden Globe nominations.

Cable dramas and network comedies dominated the nominees for the 19th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. In the drama category, cable favorites such as "Homeland," "Mad Men," "Breaking Bad" and "Boardwalk Empire" picked up multiple nominations, while network series were all but overlooked. On the comedy side, the situation was reversed: Only one cable series, "Nurse Jackie," made the cut in the ensemble category, with SAG favoring network sitcoms like "30 Rock," "Modern Family" and "The Big Bang Theory.

The Department of Labor has upheld the election that swept Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg and his supporters into office last year, the guild announced. Paul Christie, SAG's New York branch chief, and New York Vice President Sam Freed, alleged in a Labor Department complaint that Rosenberg and his backers were trying to "cover up election improprieties," including improperly accessing e-mail addresses and other personal information of more than 17,000 members.

The California Senate unanimously passed a bill today that would provide greater safeguards for child actors in Hollywood, moving the measure one step closer to adoption. The bill would require criminal background checks for talent managers, publicists, photographers and others in the entertainment industry who would have unsupervised access to young performers. It also would prohibit registered sex offenders from representing minors. Following a unanimous roll-call vote on the floor of the Senate, AB 1660 returns to the Assembly to vote on minor amendments made to the proposed legislation dealing with start-up funding.

A California bill seeking to protect child actors in Hollywood has passed a major legislative hurdle. The state Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved measure AB 1660, which would require criminal background checks for talent managers, publicists, photographers and others in the entertainment industry who would have unsupervised access to young performers. It also would prohibit registered sex offenders from representing minors. The bill is similar to a measure proposed  in 2006 that died in the appropriations committee, amid opposition from some in the entertainment industry.