Just heard - NBC have put Alyson Hannigan on unpaid leave over How I Met Your Mother. The SAG are up in arms as it violates everything, apparently. She's still under an exclusivity deal, but isn't being paid.

ETA: [link]

Kevin, I don't think HIMYM is NBC.

I want to say it's CBS, but Tivo has pretty much destroyed my ability to remember what's on which channel.

Doh!

Regardless, the article Kevin linked to says it's the production studio, Sony, not the network.

That's odd because, well, I wouldn't expect an actor to have to be paid if production has been shut down.

Somebody scrape me out of the bowl..

Polter-Cow, SAG have this to say: [link]

From the digitalspy article:

The SAG's agreement gives studios three options in the event of a strike: they may hold onto series regulars and pay them a full salary, suspend them on half-pay for up to five weeks, or terminate them. If terminated, they are guaranteed a re-hire when production resumes. The SAG argues that putting the actors on unpaid leave while keeping them tied exclusively to the studio violates its agreement.

Cute! [link] (Picture of a wee kid with a sign saying "It's Old Media to Me.")

If terminated, they are guaranteed a re-hire when production resumes.

Aha. That's cool.

The SAG argues that putting the actors on unpaid leave while keeping them tied exclusively to the studio violates its agreement.

In that case, yeah, it sort of does violate the contract, eh?