SAG Urges Strike Vote

Another strike in the entertainment industry could be on the horizon.  The Screen Actors Guild has urged its 120,000 members to authorize a walkout, reports USA Today.  The vote on whether or not to stage a walkout will come on January 23.

A strike by the actors would have an immediate impact on the production of television series and movies.  Last year’s writer strike allowed actors to complete scripts before shutting down production.  A strike by SAG members would lead to immediate walk-out and shut-down.  Such a move would postpone production on feature films and lead to an immediate stop the current television production cycle.   It would affect most scripted television series.  (Most cable and some network series are represented by AFTRA, a separate union that already has signed a new contract.)

The walk-out would have to be approved by 75% of the SAG members in order to happen.  Should it occur, members would protest the upcoming Acadamy Awards ceremony and telecast, according to reports.

Producers aren’t panicking — yet. Though several movies were stalled by strike fears, studios are tentatively forging ahead with new projects, though not at typical levels. And TV networks have yet to fashion contingency programming plans, a marked change from the early and frantic maneuvering that preceded last year’s strike.

Actors are split on the strike authorization, which SAG says it’s seeking to improve its bargaining position. The union wants better royalty payments for DVDs and content streamed on the Internet. An alliance of studios and networks insists its most recent offer, made when contracts expired June 30, is final.

Considering the weak economy and “the embryonic state of the new-media market, the offer is not only fair but generous and is the best deal achievable,” the alliance says in a statement. Studios argue that writers and directors ultimately accepted similar deals.

But SAG president Alan Rosenberg  warned members that studios “hope to use the economic uncertainty of 2008 to scare you into making a deal you will regret.”

And he signaled the timing wouldn’t be accidental. SAG hopes to pressure the studios by disrupting awards shows, the year’s most high-profile marketing events.

The strike-vote tally, due Jan. 23, would come too late to hurt the Golden Globes. SAG’s own awards, with nominees due Thursday, will go on as planned Jan. 25.