Hollywood Producers Agree to Mediated Talks

LOS ANGELES, October 24:
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) has agreed to
meet with a federal mediator in the hopes of reaching a deal with the Screen
Actors Guild (SAG).

Talks between the
organizations have stalled, primarily over new-media issues. SAG earlier this
week sought a federal mediator to break the stonewall. The union also said it
would seek a strike authorization vote from its 120,000 members.

An AMPTP statement noted:
“We are, of course, willing to meet with a federal mediator in the hopes of
achieving our fifth guild agreement this year. But we are also realistic: It
will be very difficult to reach an agreement if SAG continues to insist
unreasonably that it deserves a better deal than the ones achieved by the other
entertainment guilds during far better economic times.”

—By Mansha Daswani