- Your Profile
- In the News
- Box Office
- Development
- Production
- Job Market
- Calendar
|
 |
AFTRA, SAG HURL ACCUSATIONS AT EACH OTHER Monday, March 31 2008 
Solidarity
between
the
two
principal
actors'
unions
appeared
irreparably
fractured
Saturday
as
the
American
Federation
of
Television
and
Radio
Artists
voted
to
break
off
its
27-year
joint
bargaining
agreement
with
the
Screen
Actors
Guild.
The
decision
allows
AFTRA
to
begin
early
separate
negotiations
for
a
new
contract
with
the
major
networks
and
studios.
Until
this
latest
rift,
AFTRA
was
believed
to
be
exercising
a
moderating
influence
over
the
hard-line
stance
of
some
SAG
leaders,
and
(more)SAG, AMPTP HAVE TALKS ABOUT TALKS Thursday, March 13 2008 In an apparent effort to bring a degree of normalcy back to the movie and TV businesses, which are still operating in crisis mode in anticipation of a possible strike by the Screen Actors Guild, the industry's chief negotiator has proposed that contract negotiations with SAG begin on March 31. Nick Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, reportedly made the offer to begin early negotiations -- the contract with the (more) |
|
|
Under intense pressure to begin negotiations early with movie studios and television studios in order to avoid a strike that could shut down the industry for a second time this year, the Screen Actors Guild has agreed to open talks on April 15 with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The union's contract expires on June 30. While its agreement to open talks early was generally welcomed by all sides, it comes days after the SAG board voted on a package of proposals that are almost certain to be rejected by the AMPTP when the talks begin. They include demands for higher residual payments for new media and DVD than are spelled out in the recently negotiated contracts with the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America. (SAG's current leaders were bitterly critical of the contract negotiated in 2005 by their predecessors.) If several or all of these proposals are rejected as nonstarters by the AMPTP -- as were the writers' demands for jurisdiction over reality shows and animated films -- it could set the stage for the AMPTP to walk away from the talks and open separate negotiations with the other actors' union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. 
