Thesp talks trek on
Negotiators 'tired' as both sides call for brief break
The 12:10 a.m. announcement at the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers came 24 hours after the expiration of the actors contract and amid growing expectations that negotiations for a tentative deal would be completed on Sunday. The final agreement remained elusive after more than 12 hours of talks but sources indicated that they expect both sides to finalize talks today.
Reps for the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists said at a brief news conference that fatigue was the key reason for the recess.
"It got late. Everyone got tired. We're tired," said AFTRA spokeswoman Pamm Fair. "We're coming back at 10 and we'll keep going."
The reps also adhered to the ongoing news blackout with no specifics disclosed about the progress, substance of the talks or when they will conclude. "Everything is still on for discussion and we'll see where tomorrow takes us," said SAG spokesman Greg Krizman.
Although the SAG/AFTRA contract expired at midnight Saturday, its terms remain in effect as long as bargaining continues. However, little work was planned for this week since most TV shows are on hiatus and feature films will need several months of pre-production work before starting up.
Sources cautioned that there remained a remote possibility that actors could walk away from the table, but indica-tions were growing that both sides saw an acceptable deal within reach.
The deal is expected to contain some elements of the 2-month-old Writers Guild of America agreement including a 3.5% hike in salary minimums, boosts in residuals for Fox Network and foreign TV and a foothold in production for the Internet. But it will also include unique gains for the actors, highlighted by a significant upward bump in basic cable residuals and a hike in guest star TV fees.
The agreement must be ratified by the 135,000 members of SAG and AFTRA. The deal is likely to be viewed as a moderate advancement for the actors with little opposition expected.
The WGA pact, which provided $41 million of hikes over three years, was ratified by an impressive 92% among members who voted.
A SAG/AFTRA agreement will end more than a year of anxiety and frustration in Hollywood, which had been genuinely fearful at the prospect of writers and actors launching simultaneous strikes. Most of those concerns dissi-pated in the wake of the May 4 settlement by the WGA, but the front-loading of production in order to stockpile has left the town frustrated over being left on hiatus until the actors reach a deal.
The unions came into negotiations facing a souring economy and have cooled the militant rhetoric that dominated the six-month strike against advertisers last year. Their rhetoric focused instead on improving the lot of the middle-income actor with no noticeable preparation for a strike, no significant public relations campaign and no discernible involvement by high-profile stars.
Several substantive issues remained to be finalized but sources said the outlines of a deal had been hammered out over the past several days, including the following:
- A 3.5% hike in minimums, currently at $617 a day and $2,142 per week.
- An increase in the minimum for guest stars on TV shows.
- Fox Network residuals, now at 66% of ABC, CBS and NBC, will be bumped upward to 80% in the first year, 90% in the second and 100% in the third.
- Foreign TV residuals will be uncapped for the first time, with additional payments going to actors once sales targets on programs are met.
- Actors will receive pension and health plan contributions from companies for work performed for distribution on the Internet.
- A significant increase in basic cable residuals will be implemented in the wake of a SAG-AFTRA proposal calling for companies to make their pension and health contributions directly rather than taking them out of the ac-tors' 6% cut of license fees. The revamped system of contributions, which amounts to a 13% increase in cable residuals for actors, is in line with the AMPTP's current agreements with the WGA and the Directors Guild of America.
- SAG will revise its current payout distribution on TV residuals, which is currently weighted toward actors who work regularly because it is based partly on how many days an actor works on a production. The new formula will tweak the payout so that actors who work fewer days on a show receive a bigger slice of the residual money.
The actors were unable to achieve any changes in the video/DVD residual payout, under which companies exclude 80% of revenues as manufacturing costs, and no language promising the companies will take steps to stop runaway production.The companies were unable to get a discounted wage formula for actors who speak less than four lines.
SAG and AFTRA have already said they had no plans to disclose the value of the contract, which paid SAG mem-bers $1.04 billion last year in reported earnings based on pension and health contributions. Since payments over $200,000 are excluded from those contributions, the actual earnings are significantly higher.
The talks began May 15 under a news blackout that was set to remain in effect until the actual announcement of a deal.The AMPTP reps were surprised over the initial aggressiveness of SAG's offer, which asked for well over $120 million in salary hikes.
Bargaining proceeded in a leisurely fashion until accelerating on June 22, with negotiators bargaining into the evening for the first time. SAG and AFTRA had come under considerable pressure from the outside. Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan began warning in April of the economic consequences of a strike on the Los Angeles economy; IATSE president Thomas Short has noted that the current production slowdown has resulted in some below-the-line locals seeing employment drop by as much as 50% from normal levels in recent weeks.
