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Guild Keeps Hollywood on Edge

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 July 2008, 09:00 CDT

By Brooks Barnes

The Screen Actors Guild, embroiled in negotiations with film and television producers over a new contract, has made the plight of the middle-income actor the centerpiece of its campaign for more lucrative terms. The guild is seeking increases for everything from reimbursement rates for car mileage to continuing payments called residuals. Guild leaders say the economic situation is so severe that they have no choice but to take a militant stance at the negotiating table.

The guild's contract, which covers about 122,000 actor members, was to expire at midnight Monday. Because the two sides remain far apart on most issues, Hollywood has been on edge about a strike, taking care, for instance, to wrap production on films so costly location shoots are not drawn out. But no strike can take place until about Aug. 1 at the earliest.

Guild leaders have yet to call for a strike authorization vote, which must be put before the entire membership and approved by 75 percent of voters. Carrie White, a spokeswoman for the Screen Actors Guild, said Friday that the process would take up to three weeks.

The guild has indicated that it will not consider calling for a strike vote until July 8, when the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists releases the results of a ratification vote on its new contract. That union reached an accord with studios and networks in May and shares some members with the guild.

Source: International Herald Tribune

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