SAG Contract Negotiations to Start April 15

LOS ANGELES,
April 2: As the U.S. networks begin to return scripted shows to their schedules
following the 100-day-long Writers Guild strike, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
has announced that it will begin negotiating a new contract with the Alliance
of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on April 15.

The discussions
begin more than two months before SAG’s current contract is due to expire June
30. According to published reports, SAG’s 120,000-strong membership is lobbying
for a bigger cut of new-media and home-entertainment revenues. SAG is going at
the negotiations without the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
(AFTRA), after the two unions suspended joint bargaining with the AMPTP over
the weekend. Announcing the parting of ways, Roberta Reardon, AFTRA’s national
president, noted: “AFTRA's leadership believes that our union must devote its
energies first and foremost to working on behalf of performers, and not waste
any more time assessing whether our partner is being honest with us.”

It is not clear
when AFTRA, which has more than 70,000 members, will begin its negotiations.

—By
Mansha Daswani