Audio Video News

A threatened strike against the entertainment industry by actors will probably be avoided. Negotiators for film studios and television networks, and for two actors' unions, worked late Saturday, June 30 and resumed work Sunday morning in an effort to avoid a strike. The situation is a replay of one enacted two months ago by writers and producers, who arrived at an agreement May 4.

The actors' contract expired at midnight, but members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and its sister organization, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), agreed to continue working while talks progressed, according to the most recent reports from the Los Angeles Times. No one wants to see a work stoppage, which would cost the city of Los Angeles millions of dollars if it lasted an appreciable length of time. Both sides said that they were "committed to reaching an agreement," the Times reported. "We want to achieve a contract. We want to keep everyone employed," said Pamm Fair, spokeswoman for AFTRA. The contact negotiations—said to be "low key"—were underway at the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers headquarters in Encino, CA.

A six-month strike by commercial actors last year sent almost a billion dollars in work overseas. A potential work stoppage by members of the Writers Guild of America was avoided recently when contract negotiations ran overtime. WGA members eventually won many of the concessions they were seeking, including royalties for works issued on DVD, a format that was only beginning to enter the market when the previous contract was signed. The writers signed a new deal May 4, five days after their old one expired. Anticipating simultaneous strikes by both actors and writers, film studios put many productions in "hurry-up mode," and television networks boosted their output of "reality" shows, which require minimal scripting and no professional actors.

Among points being promoted by the actors are issues over payment for cable TV appearances, minimums for guest spots on TV shows, and residuals for programs shown in foreign markets. SAG and AFTRA together represent about 135,000 actors; a primary goal in the negotiations is a better deal for the 98% of their members who make less than $100,000 annually. Approximately 75,000 of them earn between $30,000 and $70,000 annually, according to the Wall Street Journal. As the writers' previous contract neared its end, LA Mayor Richard Riordan commissioned a study that predicted a potential loss of 81,900 jobs and $6.9 billion in income for Southern California should a prolonged strike by both writers and actors take place.