SAG Turns Down film and primetime TV producers “final offer”

By Jeffrey Jolson

Another Hollywood strike in the air?

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 2/22/09 — Mingling at the Academy Awards and post-Oscar parties could be awkward tonight as the Screen Actors Guild rejected the producers “final offer” to prevent a strike.
SAG said 73 percent of its national board turned down the Alliance of Motion Pictures & Television Producers ultimatum two days ago (see related HT story from search box above).
The deal broke down ostensibly over the length of the deal – whether it starts now or retroactive to when the SAG contract expired in June 2001. The producers want a new deal to end up years later in March 2012 – an eternity given today’s uber-speed of conventional and Internet distribution.
While the timing is the being given as the reason for the breakdown in talks, insiders are noting that there is still a lot of friction over when and how much actors will be paid for Internet, HD and other new media showings of their work.
Plus, SAG would be in the unhappy position of being in their next negotiation about a year later than the writers, directors and AFTRA in 2011 — severely hampering potential bargaining position. Some workers believe this to be a “divide and conquer” ploy by producers to break the guild and union strength in the industry.
“We entered this round of negotiations sending an unmistakably clear message that we were ready to make a deal,” SAG’s statement said. “In an effort to put the town back to work, our negotiator agreed to modify the Guild’s bargaining position to bring the Guild in line with the deals made by our sister unions. The AMPTPs last-minute, surprise demand for a new term of agreement extending to 2012 is regressive and damaging and clearly signals the employers’ unwillingness to agree to the deal they established with other entertainment unions.”

The studio moguls also said they could withdraw the offer anytime in the next 60 days.
“What management presented as a compromise is, in fact, an attempt to separate Screen Actors Guild from other industry unions,” SAG said Saturday. “By attempting to extend our contract expiration one year beyond the other entertainment unions, the AMPTP intends to deleverage our bargaining position from this point forward.”