Jun 30, 2008 10:30 pm US/Eastern
Hollywood Producers Make Final Offer To Actors
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
Hollywood producers said they made a final offer to the Screen Actors Guild on Monday, hours before their current labor contract was to expire, but the guild responded by saying the offer fell short in some key areas.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said the offer was worth more than $250 million in additional compensation to members of the guild over the three years of the proposed contract.
The current pact was to expire at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, but both sides said they would continue to work under the old contract after the deadline passes.
"In short, our final offer to SAG represents a final hope for avoiding further work stoppages and getting everyone back to work," the alliance said in a statement. The alliance said film production was "virtually shut down" because of uncertainty about a deal.
The AMPTP will meet with guild representatives Wednesday afternoon to explain the offer but will not entertain counterproposals, spokesman Jesse Hiestand said.
The guild said it would prepare a formal response once it analyzes the 43-page offer, but SAG's chief negotiator, executive director Doug Allen, immediately criticized it.
"This offer does not appear to address some key issues important to actors," he said in a statement.
For example, residual payments to actors for reruns of productions that were made only for the Internet were "incalculable," he said, adding it would "mean the beginning of the end of residuals."
The offer, made less than five months after the 100-day writers strike, was in line with deals cut with directors and writers guilds, as well as the tentative deal reached in May with the smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, both sides said.
The results of a ratification vote for the AFTRA deal are expected July 8.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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