Labor dispute sends producers guild to new locale

A labor dispute at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City left Hollywood producers scrambling to find other venues to stage their annual black-tie awards shows.

The Producers Guild of America, which had scheduled its show at the hotel for Jan. 22, managed to find a last-minute reprieve when the new owners of Culver Studios, that grande dame of film studios that looks like a Southern plantation in Culver City, offered one of its large sound stages for the producers’ dinner as well as its historic New York street on the back lot for guests to mingle and drink cocktails before and after the show.

Vance Van Petten, executive director of the 2,000-member producers guild, said the hotel workers union had been “pushing us to stand with them and support their efforts in trying to come to a resolution in their labor dispute” with the Century Plaza and other hotels in several cities around the country.

“We have a very good relationship with the Century Plaza,” Van Petten said. “It was not a very easy phone call for us to make at all. The service [at the Century Plaza] has always been supportive. But this is in direct response to the union’s plea to us to please support their issue by not having our event there. Our board voted unanimously in the last several days in support of the hotel workers and to move our event to Culver Studios.”

Hilda Delgado, communications director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and spokeswoman for Unite Here, the hotel and restaurant employees union in Los Angeles, said, “We called all the unions in Los Angeles.... We declared a boycott last Sept. 11. We sent letters to all the unions in Los Angeles urging them to sign a boycott pledge. As a result, we found favorable answers, including with the producers guild pulling their annual event. For the first time, they are moving it out due to a labor dispute.”

She said they also asked the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America to pull out of any events, meetings or productions at any of the nine hotels in the labor dispute. The WGA and DGA have awards shows scheduled at the Century Plaza.

Hotel workers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington are seeking two-year contracts. Delgado said the union considers wages, healthcare and pensions the major issues along with aligning their contracts in 10 major cities across North America. The union represents 2,800 members who are involved in the labor dispute in L.A.

Although the producers guild is not a collective bargaining unit, it is a guild and does stand with other labor organizations, Van Petten said.

Van Petten said the guild was forced to hurriedly search for another venue after the labor issue arose.

The guild has already booked numerous celebrities for its black-tie event, including Will Smith, who will give an award to DreamWorks partner and producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Clint Eastwood, who will present Terry Semel, chairman of Yahoo and former Warner Bros. studio co-chief, with another award. The show will have comedian Wayne Brady as host.

“Culver Studios came to us and said, ‘We have a very viable option for you,’ ” Van Petten added. “It’s not really a Plan B. It’s really an opportunity and a challenge ... to make the show bigger and broader.”

Six months ago, the partnership of Pacifica Ventures and Lehman Brothers purchased historic Culver Studios from the Sony Corp. for more than $125 million. The producers guild event will provide the new owners with a chance to showcase their lot when hundreds of filmmakers, celebrities and paparazzi descend for the PGA awards dinner.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the WGA, which plans to hold its banquet at the Century Plaza on Feb. 19, said the guild is “looking for other venues” but has not made a final decision.

The DGA, which on its website states that its awards dinner will be held Jan. 29 at the Century Plaza, had no immediate comment Tuesday.