SAG, AMPTP to Open Talks April 15; AFTRA Starts Talking April 28

Screen Actors Guild Heads to Bargaining Table with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers Before American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/2/2008 8:10:00 AM

The Screen Actors Guild will be first to the negotiating table when it sits down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers April 15.

The development came just days after the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said it would negotiate with the AMPTP separately from SAG, with AFTRA saying Wednesday it would let SAG go first and not begin its talks until April 28. "[W]e feel it is in all of our interests for SAG to maintain its momentum," said AFTRA in a statement, adding: "[W]e want to give the guild a reasonable opportunity to meet with the AMPTP."

“Now that we have concluded our wages and working conditions process and the SAG national board has approved our proposal package, we look forward to productive negotiations,” SAG national executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen said in a statement.

The AMPTP did not release a statement. The talks with SAG will begin April 15 at 10 a.m. at AMPTP headquarters in Encino, Calif.

The news comes as the television industry is just seeing many of its top shows return to the air following breaks induced by the recent 100-day writers’ strike.

CBS’ Monday-night comedy block has come back strong as many other top shows begin to trickle back onto the air in coming weeks.