Richard Lightstone, CAS Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 SAG, AMPTP reach tentative deal Guild's national board to review this Sunday By DAVE MCNARY SAG and the congloms have reached a tentative agreement on the feature-primetime contract -- nearly 10 months after the previous deal expired. Both the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers made the announcement early Friday afternoon. SAG's national board is expected to approve the terms of the pact at its meeting this weekened -- triggering the mailing of ratification ballots to its 120,000 members. The deal comes following two months of back-channels talks between SAG toppers and moguls such as Disney's Robert Iger and News Corp.'s Peter Chernin. The last key points to be settled centered on SAG insisting on an expiration date in June 2011 in order to stay in synch with the WGA, DGA and AFTRA expirations. The back-channel talks also focused on settling claims for force majeure payments to actors from TV series that went dark during the writers strike. Deal comes three months after the moderate majority on SAG's board ousted Doug Allen as SAG national exec director for allegedly botching the negotiations. Allen was replaced by David White as interim national exec director and by John McGuire as chief negotiator. The hardline Memebership First faction, which lost its board majority last fall, has vowed it will urge members to vote down the deal -- on grounds that it falls short in on on multitude of areas, particularly new media. The AMPTP has contended that its offer -- first made last summer -- is in line with those deals accepted by the other guilds last year and remains generous amid the declining economy. RL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 Everyone... Quit lollygagging and get back to work! JB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPSharman Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 What I have never understood about the AMPTP language, both with our negotiation (chuckle) and that with SAG, is the phrase - "generous amid the declining economy". Our industry is showing record profits, so what they are basically saying is, "Even though we are making shitloads of cash, which we could share with you, you are lucky we didn't *F* you much harder, considering the declining economy and the growing middle-class workforce who are waiting to take you jobs for even less money than we're already paying you." I am pleased, however, that this seems to be over - for now - maybe - again? Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisboom Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 So......Did they (SAG) even get what they wanted? ....I know these meetings are "give a little.... take a little"....but is it another situtaion where (like the WGA strike ) everybody seems so tired of the talks one side just gives in? .....In the long run was it worth it ? .....Holding out this long for a contract ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Nelson, CAS Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 Well, now we'll find out how much of the current production logjam has been due to this lingering unsettled labor situation, how much is due to the lingering unsettled economic situation, and how much is due to the lingering unsettled mental condition of our employers. I'm looking for a glimmer of hope wherever I can - which means I'm trying not to look at the new you tube deal and how that'll fit so very nicely, as if on cue, with our new contract. A good weekend to you all, ---steve nelson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 " In the long run was it worth it ? " probably not, but a definite 'maybe'... put it another way: in the long run, was the IA deal worth it ?? yeah, basically, SAG finally caved in, and now they will try to somehow save face when all they got was ka-ka doo-doo!! OTOH, what did the IA get by making a deal so early and so easily?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPSharman Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 I think one of the biggest issues will be that studios will recognize that they can make fewer movies and still make record profits. This will be a greater loss to actors (and crew) in the short and long term. The same thing happened after the WGA strike. there was a re-structuring of how the television industry worked, and it resulted in less work for everyone, especially development teams. The whole thing was a total disaster and should have been avoided at all cost. Let's see who survives. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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