The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the bargaining organization for the studios, calls it a “de facto strike,” but a more accurate description is a virtual lockout. The studios have given SAG what they claim is a final contract offer. Meanwhile, with no contract in place, the studios are cutting risk by winding down production and not starting new projects. That mostly affects moviemaking, but could also impact TV production as well.
AMPTP calls the 43-page proposal “a final hope for avoiding further work stoppages and getting everyone back to work.” And the studios warn that “the economic consequences of a work stoppage would be enormous.”
As usual, the two sides issued dueling statements with very different views of the situation. First, SAG:
Screen Actors Guild Continues to Negotiate; Members Continue to Work Past Contract Expiration
Los Angeles, June 30, 2008 – The Screen Actors Guild national negotiating committee has bargained with the AMPTP for the last 42 days and remains committed to negotiating a fair deal for actors as soon as possible.
The AMPTP today delivered a last-minute, 43-page offer that upon initial examination appears to be generally consistent with the AFTRA deal, particularly in its provisions relating to new media. The union is reviewing the complex package and will prepare a response to management once that analysis is complete.
The parties are scheduled to meet Wednesday, July 2, at 2:00 p.m.
“This offer does not appear to address some key issues important to actors. For example, the impact of foregoing residuals for all made-for-new-media productions is incalculable and would mean the beginning of the end of residuals,” said Screen Actors Guild National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Doug Allen.
The Screen Actors Guild Codified Basic and Television Agreements covering television programs and motion pictures expire tonight at midnight. Work will continue and all SAG members should report to work and to audition for new work past the expiration date until further notice from the Guild.
Other Screen Actors Guild agreements, including the Commercials Contract, Basic Cable Live Action Agreement, Basic Cable Animation Agreement, Television Animation Agreement, Interactive Media Agreement, Internet Agreement, and Industrial Educational Contract are unaffected by the status of these negotiations, and members should continue to audition and work under them as usual.
Now AMPTP:
June 30, 2008
Statement of the AMPTP
Our industry is now in a de facto strike, with film production virtually shut down and television production now seriously threatened. In an effort to put everyone back to work, the AMPTP today presented SAG our final offer – a comprehensive proposal worth more than $250 million in additional compensation to SAG members, with significant economic gains and groundbreaking new media rights for all performers.
Our $250 million offer is consistent with the four other labor agreements already reached this year with DGA, WGA, AFTRA Network Code and AFTRA Prime-Time Exhibit A. In addition, our offer addresses issues that SAG identified as being of utmost concern to its members, including tailoring our new media framework for SAG in areas such as feature films and significant gains for working actors.
In short, our final offer to SAG represents a final hope for avoiding further work stoppages and getting everyone back to work. That is our goal, and we hope it is shared by the members of SAG. The economic consequences of a work stoppage would be enormous. If our industry shuts down because of the unwillingness of SAG’s Hollywood leadership to make a deal, SAG members will lose $2.5 million each and every day in wages. The other guilds and unions would lose $13.5 million each day in wages, and the California economy will be harmed at the rate of $23 million each and every day.
As SAG’s leadership considers our final offer, we will continue for now to work under the terms of the old contract as current productions wind down.
RBR/TVBR observation: Another face-to-face session is scheduled for today, but we’re not holding out much hope for a settlement. SAG’s quick take on the “final offer” from the studios was that fell short of what the union would be willing to accept. It was, the studios said, modeled on the pending AFTRA contract – and the folks at SAG certainly didn’t like that one.
