Screen Actors Guild

Gritty, realistic films and television programs dominated as "Nixon," "Dead Man Walking" and "Leaving Las Vegas" topped the film portion of the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations announced Thursday, while "E.R." and "NYPD Blue" led the TV pack.

Hollywood's animal trainers are having a beef with Hollywood these days. It turns out that their stars--the Beethovens, Babes, Normans (remember "City Slickers"?) and Willys of the world--make far, far, far less than the Stallones, Schwarzeneggers and Travoltas. In fact, they aren't even eligible for residuals. "If I bring my African lion on a set and have him perform in a crucial scene, I won't see any residuals from that work if the film makes a profit," trainer Charlie Sammut says.

Screen Actors Guild President Barry Gordon, following several predecessors into politics, plans to run for the 27th Congressional District seat of Carlos Moorhead (R-Glendale). Gordon, a Pasadena Democrat, has said he would give up his union post in November. Gordon has been a Tony Award nominee and appeared on the TV series "Archie Bunker's Place" from 1981 to 1983, playing Archie's lawyer and business manager, Gary Rabinowitz. Gordon could not be reached for comment.

Screen Actors Guild President Barry Gordon, following a handful of predecessors who have gone on to elective politics, plans to run for the 27th Congressional District seat of Republican Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead of Glendale. Gordon, a Democrat who has been nominated for a Tony award and appeared on the TV series "Archie Bunker's Place," has said he will give up his union post in November. The Pasadena resident could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Actors Reach Tentative Agreement With Producers: Representatives of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists reached agreement on a new three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for theatrical and TV movies. Details were not disclosed. The existing contract is scheduled to expire on June 30. Negotiations started on Feb. 7.

SAG-AFTRA Merger Plan Tentatively Approved: A three-day meeting of the boards of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists came to an end with a vote on a blueprint to merge the two unions. The measure, first proposed 50 years ago, passed by a vote of 128 to 8.

Leaving the spotlight and applause behind them, the cast of "No Country for Old Men" ambled down the side stairs of the stage area, exchanging one-liners and cracking jokes, easing the tension of the moment. "I just found out that Tommy Lee Jones was in the movie," actor Josh Brolin offered. "This is the ensemble that never met."

When Alan Rosenberg was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 2005, he vowed to take a hard line against the Hollywood studios. After years of moderation and pragmatism, Rosenberg argued, the union needed a more aggressive leadership to square off against the corporate behemoths that could undercut actors in the new era of digital entertainment.

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has made good on its threat to break ranks with its more powerful sister union, the Screen Actors Guild. AFTRA's board of directors voted Saturday to separately negotiate its upcoming prime-time television contract with the major studios -- without SAG at the bargaining table. The decision effectively ends a 27-year partnership between the two unions under which they had jointly negotiated film and prime-time TV contracts.

With the writers strike ended and Hollywood finally returning to work, pressure is mounting on the Screen Actors Guild from prominent members, and indirectly from the studios, to begin early negotiations for a new contract to avert another costly walkout.