SAG-AMPTP Deadline Brings Only Posturing
Final day before expiration of contract between Screen Actors Guild, Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers produces little more than posturing from both sides.
B&C Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/1/2008 12:02:00 AM
As expected, the final day before the expiration of the contract between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers produced little more than posturing from both sides.
With the deal expiring at midnight Monday night/Tuesday morning, both sides exchanged public statements but are expected back at the bargaining table Wednesday.
The AMPTP released a statement saying that it put forth a “final offer” to SAG and claiming that the industry is “now in a de facto strike, with film production virtually shut down and television production now seriously threatened.” (Read the full statement here.)
It claimed that its “$250 million offer is consistent with the four other labor agreements already reached this year with DGA [the Directors Guild of America], WGA [the Writers Guild of America], AFTRA [American Federation of Television and Radio Artists] Network Code and AFTRA Prime-Time Exhibit A.”
SAG responded in a press release that the 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.”
Both sides said they would continue to work under the terms of the expired contract for the time being.
