SAG, Producers Reach Tentative Deal

It is not certain that the long stalemate between SAG and producers is over, but it does appear to be coming to a close. Both SAG and the AMPTP issued a statement Friday afternoon stating that a tentative deal has been reached.

In a news release, the two parties said they would give no details of the settlement "prior to review by the SAG national board of directors this Sunday, April 19, at a previously scheduled board meeting via videoconference in Los Angeles and New York."

However, a guild source who has been close to the negotiations told Strike Watch that SAG achieved its latest demand--that this contract expires at the same time AFTRA's does, June 30, 2011.

In exchange for that, the source added, the two sides reached a compromise over the issue of force majeure--which in this particular case means pay that actors were contractually guaranteed to have received during the writers' strike last season. For more than a year, producers have refused to pay it and the issue went to an arbitrator. The source could not say what the details of that compromise was.

The tentative deal still needs to be approved by the national board and, assuming that happens over the weekend, it would need to be approved by the rank-and-file--a simple majority of members who vote "yes" would ratify the contract, and bring to a close a nearly year-long stalemate that has paralyzed a big chunk of Hollywood and weakened considerably its largest entertainment union.

Since producers and actors first broke off talks last summer, the guild has seen its national board reconfigured in favor of self-described moderates, who in turn fired national executive director Doug Allen in February and replaced him with interim NED David White and chief negotiator John T. McGuire. The negotiating committee for the TV/film contract was dissolved and replaced by a negotiating task force.

In addition, board moderates have stripped national president Alan Rosenberg of much of his power, by issuing a decree that only White or McGuire can officially speak for the guild--an unprecedented move for an office that has included larger-than-life figures such as James Cagney, Ronald Reagan, Charlton Heston, and Ed Asner. 

Beyond that, SAG was virtually shut out of pilot season. According to an article recently in The Hollywood Reporter, AFTRA secured jurisdiction for roughly 65 of 70 television pilots. Because they were uncertain whether SAG would strike--or perhaps because they wanted to punish what they viewed as an obstreperous union--producers signed contracts with the guild's sister union, even though it cost them more money.

SAG and AFTRA used to bargain jointly, but longstanding tensions erupted in March 2009 and the two unions went their separate ways. AFTRA, which has no jurisdiction in feature films, signed its prime-time broadcast television contract in late May, securing pay raises of 3.0-3.5 percent per year for three years. Since July 1, SAG actors have been working off an expired contract and, according to the AMPTP's website, they have collectively lost out on $66 million.

Producers and others in the entertainment industry have paid a heavy price as well. According to statistics compiled by FilmLA, a nonprofit company that handles shooting permits for work in and around Hollywood, off-lot film production has fallen by 56 percent in the first three months of 2008, compared with the same period last year. With 903 permitted production days, Hollywood saw its lowest level since tracking began in 1993. Although FilmLA officials attributed more of the fall-off to runaway production, the contract stalemate clearly did not help. In addition, there have been widespread layoffs throughout the entertainment industry, and California's unemployment rate, now at 11.2 percent, is at a record high, and the fourth-highest currently in the country.

Even if SAG were to get a contract ratified by the end of May, it still has considerable work to do to repair itself. Not only is it lagging behind AFTRA in television production, it is falling behind in the realm of new media as well, according to a SAG insider familiar with the situation. All of Disney's and Sony's new-media productions, for example, are being produced under AFTRA contracts, the source said. The guild is also hampered by the recent departure of Todd Amorde, its director of organizing.

Still, with a settlement, SAG's freefall could finally reach bottom, and the union could soon begin to rebound. All things considered, it has nowhere to go but up.

--Andrew Salomon

Comments

[mheister]

First off, thank you Andrew for noting that the Unite for Strength group is "self-described" as moderates. A more accurate description is corporate appeasers.

While the details have yet to be publicly released, it is easy enough to deduce from various news sources over the past few months that the tentative deal is no different in substance from the "last best final" offer SAG members overwhelmingly rejected some months ago in postcard poll.

Barring HUGE surprises in new media and product placement, and mogul capitulation on force majeure, the corporate appeasers should expect an epic fight. Given the members' expressed opinion of the LBF, nobody should be surprised if this tentative contract is rejected by SAG voters.