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This blog post was contributed by Max Willens, ZIO's Music Channel Assistant.

In the bleakest future, with the world shuddering in the silence of a nuclear winter, only the barest shreds of life and evidence of its previous abundance will remain:

Cockroaches are a lock.

Twinkies will probably make it.

This blog was contributed by ZIO editorial assistant, Frances Cirenza.

This blog was contributed by Film & TV Channel assistant Kristen Berke.

Last Thursday, Emmy Award-winner Ken Howard was elected president of the tumultuous Screen Actors Guild, along with colleague Amy Aquino as the new Secretary-Treasurer.  The election marks the beginning of a Unite For Strength (UFS) majority in the national board, ostensibly overhauling the Membership First (MF) manifesto to rectify the two-year deal.  However, the inner workings of SAG are not always as they seem.  When looking at the bigger picture, one has to wonder whether the national majority matters as much as one would think, seeing as the Hollywood division seems to hold more sway than any of the regional boards.

This blog was contributed by Max Willens, Zoom In's newest Music Channel Assistant.

This blog was contributed by Emily Katz, Co-writer for the music blog Kickin' The Peanuts.

12:01 last night marked a victorious moment for the Screen Actors Guild, who have been disgruntled with their contracts for several years now and have been working under expired contracts since June of 2008.  The new two-year agreement will supply more than $105 million in wages, larger pensions, and a template for SAG coverage of new media formats.  It will apply to actors in new media formats, as well as those in film and digital television programs, and those in motion pictures.

SAG interim National Executive Director David White has said that he won't be making any decisions in regards to the guild's internal struggles about a strike-authorization vote until after their joint commercials negotiations with AFTRA have wrapped up.  After several weeks of negotiations, it seems as though these negotiations are heading down the same path SAG's film/TV negotiations are headed: absolutely nowhere.  Though industry statements have claimed the talks had been going reasonably well, the talks seemed to have stalled and a leaked draft letter from both SAG and AFTRA seems to ask the unions for yet another strike authorization.

SAG faction MembershipFirst wants to push through a strike-authorization vote in order to work out a better deal with the AMPTP.  Rival faction Unite for Strength wants to accept the studios' last, best and final offer now and re-negotiate a better one later.  Needless to say, neither faction has been able to successfully push their agenda on the Screen Actors Guild National Board.  For the past 8 months, this has resulted in an essential negotiation stalemate between the studios and the guild costing actors roughly $59 million in wage increases.  But with national board elections likely coming up in September and neither faction gaining a foothold with their agendas, The Hollywood Reporter speculates that SAG may be content to take no action whatsoever until the elections are decided, further dragging on the limbo.

As expected, SAG and the AMPTP have agreed to commence negotiations on a new film and TV contract on February 17.  New SAG chief negotiator John McGuire and interim National Executive Director David White will get their first big chances to make a mark as the newly established leaders after the ousting of Doug Allen.  This will be the first time the two groups have sat down since November and members of SAG have been working under expired contracts since June 30.
 
As we all remember, SAG’s fellow entertainment guild the WGA did go on strike for four months in 2007-2008.  One year later, Variety recaps the still lingering effects that strike had on the entertainment industry.

At this point, you have probably read something about the Obama "Hope" poster controversy (background here and here). This week has brought some startling new developments.