Laid Off Ugly Betty Crew Blame California Government

Tom — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:41:32 +0000

Most of the crew of Ugly Betty, losing their jobs by the show’s relocation to New York, are placing a full-page ad in Variety, asking state and Los Angeles officials to take action to ensure more productions are filmed locally. According to Nikki Finke at DeadlineHollywood.com, not only are the crew buying the ad, but also several dozen vendors to the show.

This is exactly where the blame should lie, IMHO. As I said in the comments here yesterday, there is now little difference between the entertainment industry and the sports world in this regard. Cities and states are played against each other to extract the absolute highest perks for producers/owners. And cities can complain all they want, but the hard,cold truth is that if localities don’t play the game, another city or state will.

Los Angeles used to be at an extreme advantage because it had the infrastructure for TV/Movie production. But New York was never really far behind, and every locality in the country seems to have a film commission now. It’s a new world, and CA cannot arrogantly sit back and say, “We’re California!” and think that’s enough anymore.

Text of the full-page ad after the jump:

To Whom it Should Concern
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Members of the State Senate and State Assembly, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the Los Angeles City Council, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors:

We are writing to you because we just lost our jobs. We are the 300 plus members of the crew of the television show Ugly Betty. We were informed this Tuesday that the production of our show is moving to New York primarily because of the 35% tax incentives being offered by the state of New York. Instead of making good wages and paying our fair share of California state income tax, we will all be collecting Unemployment Benefits. In addition, we will certainly be cutting our spending back to the bone, which will not only cut back our sales tax contributions substantially, but it could end up costing the jobs of the people who provide services and products to us. Not only are these crew positions being lost; all of our local vendors are losing our business.

Our production buys: lumber, paint, wallpaper, cabinets, other building materials, office products, fabric, art supplies, computer equipment, food, beverages, flowers, film, makeup & hair products, wigs, insurance, jewelry, clothing, etc.

Our production rents: lighting equipment, sound equipment, video playback equipment, heavy machinery, office equipment, backdrops, costumes, furniture, scenery, props, soundstages, offices, parking facilities, cars, trucks, storage facilities, computers, camera equipment, grip equipment, editing equipment, drafting equipment, cell phones, computers, toilets, dumpsters, live plants, production trailers, tools, hardware, artwork, walkie talkies, etc.

Our production also uses the services of: dry cleaners, printers, location companies, Special Effects companies, utilities, caterers, payroll services, restaurants, security, Post Production Services, Clearance Houses, etc.

When we shoot on locations around Los Angeles we pay for permits; we pay homeowners & businesses for the use of their property, we hire police and fire department personnel, we pay for facility engineers, etc.

So, while the loss of our individual positions may be insignificant, the loss of this production is staggering. Now multiply this by all the other productions going to New York, New Mexico, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina and other states with incentives, not to mention Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Eastern Europe, etc. and the cost to the California state economy is monumental. We implore you to do everything in your power to level the playing field and bring our jobs back to California by enacting meaningful incentives to keep film and television production in our state.

Sincerely yours
The Crew of Ugly Betty

Image: Newscom

Post from: Ugly Betty News

Ugly Betty and Me: Survivors!

Tom — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:07:47 +0000

Those of us who are Ugly Betty fans know that one of Betty’s charms is that she is a survivor; she has been through quite a lot in the past two years, yet she still retains her “heart”.

Well, if you’ll pardon the autobiographical pause, I want to take a minute to brag on Ugly Betty News. Those of you who were reading here in February probably know that the Entertainment Channel at b5Media held its own Survivor contest. It started out with 36 – count em – 36 participating sites, divided into two teams.

Over the last two months, we were given some pretty tough writing/blogging challenges , many times, two in the same week. If you ever came here and saw a post, wondering, “Where the heck did that come from?”, it was probably something for the contest. (Go here to get the play by play of the entire contest) I figured I’d just have fun while it lasted; 90% of the contestants have more experience and are better, more prolific writers than I.

But, I’ll be doggonned if we didn’t go and win the whole thing…

I mean “we” quite literally.

The turning point, I think, came in the Who’s Hotter post. Our challenge was to get as many comments as possible, and the only posts at UBN that had previously gotten many comments were Benry/Getty/Detty posts, so I went there again. I got the comments I wanted (not NEAR as many as others, though), but something else happened.

I realized that Ugly Betty News has some of the most intelligent, well spoken readers/commenters around. Believe me, I’m going to be contacting some of you about guest posting. Shoot, some of your comments could be their own posts.

Anyway, congratulate yourselves – because you are just as much a part of this win as I am. I believe we’re building something special here.

As a very famous lady from my hometown once said, I’m just so proud to be here!

Post from: Ugly Betty News

Ugly Betty News » entertainment

Laid Off Ugly Betty Crew Blame California Government

Ugly Betty and Me: Survivors!