SAG silent as studio talks restart

Guild keeps low profile as deadline approaches

By DAVE MCNARY

Despite actors' penchant for seeking the spotlight, the Screen Actors Guild's keeping a low profile as it returns to the negotiating table.

The Screen Actors Guild issued no comment Thursday as execs met in dual meetings at AMPTP headquarters in Encino -- one with the majors for its second day of talks following a three-week recess and another with reps of AFTRA for a briefing on details of that union's tentative deal. Talks will resume this morning.

SAG may begin grabbing headlines soon, however. With a June 30 contract expiration looming, guild leaders are faced with a fast-approaching deadline if they want to seek a strike authorization from its 120,000 members.

Taking such a step would require several weeks and first require approval of either SAG's national board or its national executive committee -- to say nothing of the fallout from placing Hollywood on red alert about a strike. When the WGA announced on Oct. 1 that it had scheduled a strike authorization vote, it needed an additional 18 days to complete the process (More than 90% of those voting backed an authorization.)

With a 75% support level required for authorization, SAG could be wading into tricky turf: Should the vote not achieve that level, the guild could not threaten to go on strike much less follow up on such a threat, and its leverage would be negated.

On Tuesday, a few hours before AFTRA closed its deal, SAG president Alan Rosenberg made it clear that major gaps remained on several key issues, including online clip consent, force majeure, DVDs, SAG coverage of low-budget productions made for the Internet and product integration. Given that AFTRA needed 18 days to negotiate a deal covering 10 primetime shows, SAG is expected to need several more weeks at least to close its deal -- which covers all features and most of primetime.

As of late Thursday, SAG's leaders had not yet weighed in with an evaluation of the AFTRA primetime deal -- which included pay gains for actors, an advance on low-budget Internet coverage and a complicated resolution on clips. AFTRA agreed to give actors the ability to opt out of clips consent at the time of employment and said it would negotiate a mechanism for consent on library clips once its deal is ratified.

Labor observers expect SAG will be cautious about how it portrays the details of the AFTRA deal. That's partly due to the fractured relationship with its sister union, with the two negotiating apart for the first time in 30 years due to a series of bitter disputes.

On Wednesday, Rosenberg didn't congratulate AFTRA on its deal after complaining the day before that SAG had been left out of the loop during the last week of AFTRA's negotiations.

AFTRA's leaders have portrayed themselves as being more pragmatic than SAG's. AFTRA president Roberta Reardon, in a message to members sent out Thursday, emphasized the "businesslike approach to the talks," then delivered an indirect slap at SAG's more aggressive demeanor.

"Fiery rhetoric has its place, but this victory was a direct result of our willingness to keep focused on our priorities while working hard to find creative solutions to the unforgiving realities of the TV business during this time of rapid change," she said. "This was particularly true when it came to new media. New media is changing everything. And, yes, change can be uncomfortable. But clinging to the old ways is a recipe for disaster; just ask the thousands of AFTRA members in the recording industry. With this in mind, our goal in these negotiations was not to set up barriers to prevent the employers from entering the new-media business but to ensure that our members have a fair share and a protected stake in that business as it develops."

But Reardon then offered a small bouquet to SAG at the end of a thanks to the entire labor community.

"In particular, we are grateful to SAG for its generosity in giving our negotiators the benefit of its earlier experience bargaining with the AMPTP," she said. "This was an extremely helpful favor that we are in the process of returning."