SAG seeks to reopen talks, on day stock market plummets

UPDATE: The studios late Monday finally responded. In a statement, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, rebuffed the offer. "We do not believe it would be productive to resume negotiations at this time given SAG's continued insistence in terms which the companies have repeatedly rejected."

Screen Actors Guild to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers: Let's talk

In an effort to jump-start stalled contract negotiations with the studios, SAG President Alan Rosenberg and Executive Director Doug Allen called on News Corp. President Peter Chernin and Walt Disney Co. President Bob Iger to revive formal bargaining.

It came on the same day that the stock market plummeted as the House of Representatives turned down the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout plan.

In their letter, which was also addressed to the studios' chief negotiator, J. Nicholas Counter III, the union leaders said it was futile to send the studios' "final offer" to members, and they alluded to a poll in which fewer than 10,000 members urged their leaders to reject the proposed contract and instead "fight" for a better deal.   

"It is our fervent hope that this news will encourage you and your colleagues to reengage in formal bargaining, with the exchange of proposals and compromise by both sides necessary to reach agreement."

They added: "We owe it to our constituencies and the thousands of others in this industry that depend on a productive, stable and uninterrupted relationship between the Screen Actors Guild and the networks and the studios. ... What do you say; when can our committees meet face-to-face?"

Actors have been without a contract since June 30. The two sides are sharply at odds over how actors are paid when their work is distributed over the Internet.

Although expressing a willingness to compromise, the SAG leaders also warned that "if your intransigence continues, however, our choices become harder and fewer."

There was no immediate response from the studio executives or the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.  Don't hold your breath. The AMPTP dismissed results of SAG's recent poll as unrepresentative because of the low response rate, and it has also accused guild leaders of misleading their members into thinking they were engaged in informal negotiations with the studios. The studios have shown little willingness to improve on a contract modeled on a similar deals already negotiated by writers, directors and the smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Comments

[M Ridgway]

Looks like the Unite for Strength folks have had enough of Allen's antics. If he can't come to terms with the studios soon we should toss him and get a UFS rep in there to complete a deal that is long overdue.

[observer]

So many people that were working the film industry are suffering because that the actors that are already OVERPAID CAN GET MORE MONEY, while the people that make them look good are out of work because of those greedy spoiled actors and their union reps. How long is this joke of a strike going to be going on? Longer than it takes to form a state budget????? Let's get a move on people and close the damn deal, this has been going on for over two months longer than it should.

[observer]

Why is it taking longer to get this contract straightened out than the state budget? Those greedy over paid actors and their union rep are ridiculous! They are holding up thousand of families in a time of financial crisis like never before and they do not give a damn. This has been going on past the deadline for a least two months. What is the hold up? There has been nothing in the papers and radio about this topic for along time until today. The people that make the actors look good are being slammed. STOP THE INSANITY !!!!!! Get the contract signed!!!!! The actors have money to live on for long periods of time, we do not !!!!!

[Rocco]

Allen and Rosenberg must go. They've botched the negotiations, now let them suffer the consequences of their incompetence.

[Dave Maddux]

In a economy where even Steven Spielberg has a hard time finding money for a film, it seems
idiotic that you people are not talking. I don't know if Arnold has his blinders on or what? but
if he could see the industry thru my eyes, he would see many,many small companies on the verge of failure! Why wont he get involved to help the industry that made him a millionaire?
Talk about TERMINATION!

[Mimi]

Oh brother here we go again. More Arrogance! Why do actors believe that they deserve a better deal than writers and directors? And now they are proposing to strike in these horrid economic times? What support do the actors think that they will get? SAG will just take down the Los Angeles economy with them. This is just unconscionable. I think that actors actually deserve a reduction. They are just egotistical parrots. They emote and read the lines that they are given,not exactly brain science.