Things Not Looking Good Between SAG & AMPTP

It’s beginning to look like a new contract between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) will probably not happen by current contract’s end-date of June 30.

The AMPTP issued a statement late last night that indicated that they are tired, “frustrated and discouraged” in their dealings with SAG’s negotiators. They also indicated that it’s not likely a deal will be forthcoming by the quickly approaching due date.

Will this mean strike? Maybe not. SAG leaders indicated through their director Doug Allen in a statement to the Associated Press that the guild is prepared to continue negotiations into July at this point in hopes of staving-off a work stoppage. This news sounds hopeful in light of the fact that no formal call for a strike authorization has been issued to the guild’s membership.

SAG says that they are willing to continue talking about the main point of contention — new-media compensation — through July and draft some of the proposals approved by the WGA, DGA and AFTRA but other points in this area need to have “many changes to the framework.”

There is also some disagreement within SAG membership itself on how the organization has been treating 40,000 of its members who also hold a card-carrying membership in AFTRA, the other smaller union that represents actors.

So, it appears that the U.S. entertainment industry and all the fans and patrons who pay to watch or earn a living from the products made in Hollywood are once again in a holding pattern waiting to see which way the wind blows next.

Stay tuned!