SAG, AMPTP Resume Talks

LOS
ANGELES, November 21: The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) returned to negotiations
with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) for the
first time in four months yesterday, with the assistance of a federal mediator.

The
groups are still at odds over new terms for a contract that would include
payments for Internet videos and other new media. The studios halted negotiations with
SAG back in June when they presented the guild with a "final" offer
just hours before the expiration of their old contract covering 120,000 union
workers. The two sides last met face to face on July 16 for a two-hour session
that yielded no discernible progress.

The new talks
come on the heels of an agreement reached between the studios and the
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, a union of 35,000
theater, film and TV workers, who on Wednesday struck a tentative deal on a new
three-year contract.

The guild and
the studios had no comment on the renewed talks.

—By
Kristin Brzoznowski