Management sends SAG a not too subtle message to follow the lead of directors and writers if there is to be labor peace in Hollywood

By Alex Ben Block

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 4/7/08 – Seeking to send a message to the Screen Actors Guild activist leadership on the eve of contract negotiations, the AMPTP, which acts on behalf of the major studios and broadcast networks, says it expects the actors to fall in line with the contracts already finished with the directors, writers and the AFTRA network code contract. “If our industry relies on this new framework, we can all avoid more harmful and unnecessary strikes,” says the AMPTP statement.

Talks with SAG are scheduled to begin April 15 and with AFTRA at the end of the month. It is SAG that has posed a question mark by insisting that it will not settle for the gains made by the other guilds in home video or new media, but will demand more. What the following memo really says is that management isn’t going to give more, at least not at this point. The SAG and AFTRA contracts expire at the end of June.

At that point, in theory, SAG could strike (it is unthinkable that AFTRA would strike). This would rock the industry which has still not recovered form the 100 day long writer’s guild strike that played havoc with the 2007/2008 television season and the movie production schedule. Now movie producers are refusing to start any production that might go beyond June 30 and be subject to a shut down by another strike. That alone is damaging to efforts to revamp the town production back up.

Here is the letter from management.

OPEN LETTER FROM THE AMPTP
April 7, 2008
Our upcoming negotiations — starting with SAG on April 15th and AFTRA
on April 28th — will be guided by the same principles that helped us
reach groundbreaking agreements with the DGA and the WGA:
Ø First, we are committed to creating a genuine economic partnership with
the talented men and women who help us create entertainment. That means
that we should all share fairly in the revenues we generate — including
new revenue from the emerging areas of new media.
Ø Second, our new economic partnership must give all of us the flexibility
we need to adapt to rapidly changing markets and technologies. Too many
industries have failed to respond quickly enough to these changes, and we
are determined to position our businesses — and the employees and
shareholders who rely on them — to succeed and grow in this challenging
environment.
Ø Third, actors, directors, writers, and the people who work
behind-the-scenes on entertainment productions are all vitally important
to our mutual business endeavors. We remain committed to ensuring that
the rewards of our success are distributed fairly among all of our
industry’s talent, so that we all have appropriate and meaningful stakes
in the outcome of our work.
Ø Fourth, we will continue to work as hard as we can — and to make the
reasonable compromises that are necessary — to avoid any additional,
needless work stoppages.
Fortunately, the three labor agreements already reached — with the DGA, the
WGA, and the AFTRA Network Code — provide the new framework for our industry’s
economic future. We hope that our negotiations with SAG and AFTRA will bolster
this new economic framework, enabling all of us to share equitably in the
success of new media and to respond with creativity and swiftness to market
changes. If our industry relies on this new framework, we can all avoid more
harmful and unnecessary strikes.