Hollywood Producers Deliver “Last, Best, Final” Offer to SAG

LOS ANGELES: Contract renewal talks between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have broken down, again, while the producers have given the union 60 days to respond to their "last, best and final offer."

Following board changes and the ousting of SAG’s former chief negotiator, Doug Allen, the union’s leaders agreed to resume talks with the Hollywood producers this week. Those negotiations broke down yesterday and there has been no word yet as to when discussions will begin again. Although the two groups reportedly made headway on key issues like new-media residuals, they are said to have clashed over the start date of the new contract.

The AMPTP said in a statement that it had made "six additional concessions to sweeten the [previous] final offer," which the group maintains already represented a "$250 million increase over SAG’s now-expired contract."

The AMPTP continued: "The terms in the offer are the best we can or will offer in light of the five other major industry labor deals negotiated over the past year and the extraordinary economic crisis gripping the world economy."

The offer is on the table for 60 days, the AMPTP says, "at which point we reserve the right to modify or withdraw the terms of the offer. We urge SAG members to review the offer for themselves and consider not only the enhancements but the significant gains in wages, benefits, new media residuals and jurisdiction."

With its contract having expired at the end of June, no resolution in sight and a continued internal battle between hard-liners who want a strike and moderates who are eager to accept the current offer, SAG is said to be losing ground to the smaller actors’ union, AFTRA. The studios have reportedly been heading to AFTRA as they produce pilots for the upcoming TV season.