The TV Zone

The long national nightmare of the possible actors' strike is now over.

For at least two years anyway:

" Screen Actors Guild announced today that members have voted overwhelmingly to approve its TV/Theatrical contracts by a vote of 78 percent to 22 percent.

The two-year successor agreement covers film and digital television programs, motion pictures and new media productions. The pact becomes effective at 12:01 a.m. June 10, 2009 and expires June 30, 2011.

The contracts provide more than $105 million in wages, increased pension contributions, and other gains and establishes a template for SAG coverage of new media formats."

Missed last night's Screen Actors Guild Awards show?

Then...read on for our 4-second recap* (*TV portion only...)

Recap: Sure looks an awful lot like the winner's circle of the Golden Globes, with exceptions...

Actor in a television movie or miniseries
Paul Giamatti - "John Adams"

Actress in a television movie or miniseries
Laura Linney - "John Adams"

Actor in a drama series
Hugh Laurie - "House"

Actress in a drama series
Sally Field - "Brothers & Sisters"

Actor in a comedy series
Alec Baldwin - "30 Rock"

Actress in a comedy series
Tina Fey - "30 Rock"

Ensemble in a drama series
"Mad Men"

Ensemble in a comedy series
"30 Rock"

If you take a quick gander at the post just below this one - TV viewing on the Internet - you'll start to get an inkling of why Federal mediation between the Screen Actors guild and the producers' negotiating arm (AMPTP) flopped so dramatically on Saturday.

SAG now says it's gonna send out ballots to get the 75 percent vote needed from its 120,000-strong member base for a stoppage. No word, though, on when they'll actually send those ballots out, which seems kind of diffident and non-commital...

But the fact is, it's gotten ugly, and there is no end in sight. Reason? As mentioned, more people than ever are watching TV on the Internet, while that figure is growing so rapidly that it's had a dramatic impact on many shows' over-the-air ratings, not to mention time-delayed viewing. People are watching Internet TV 27 hours a month, and so SAG and everyone else wants a piece 'o that. SAG's in part worried that the producers have reneged on their promise to pay new media residuals to the writers, so they think they'll get a raw deal even IF the AMMPTP gives them the same new media terms.

In other words, this all sounds very very bad. At least AFTRA's made a deal with the producers...

But will nearly 100,000 actors call for a strike during the worst economic downturn in nearly 70 years?

SAG's release is on the jump...

Continue reading "Actors: A Strike...? " »

Okay, I know this morning I put a fork in the potential strike - that an actors strike is absolutely outta the question now that AFTRA passed its own deal last night. But let's just say that was my bravado might have just possibly been based on nothing more than the conventional wisdom now coursing through the business. Right now, I'm not so sure... Here's why: SAG could dig in its heels, fight even harder,. tell the studios where to get off, and rally the rank and file, and maybe even get a strike vote. This is possible, absolutely possible, though I still think only remotely possible. I bring this up because a friend with very close ties to the business tells me this is possible... Very close ties, and someone with no ax to grind. My final point: This isn't over by a long shot. Ignore my earlier post on this...

Let's just go ahead and stick a fork in this morning so I don't have to keep rattling on about it in the TVzone blog: There will be no actors' strike. Ain't gonna happen. No way. Not now. Not for a few years anyway. As you know, AFTRA last night voted overwhelming in favor of the new contract with the studios - after a concerted and possibly ill-advised effort by SAG to scuttle it. I say it was ill-advised by SAG because if SAG lost - as it did - then its options would suddenly be limited at the bargaining table. And suddenly they are. SAG and studios broke off talks pending (no doubt) the outcome of yesterday's vote. What's SAG gonna say when they go back to the table now? SAG's bigger, more powerful and more prestigious - but both unions also share members. If the AFTRA folks, who are also SAG members, approved the new deal, then how will SAG ever get a strike authorization? Answer: It won't. The whole TV industry breathed a big sigh of relief this morning, and I did too, because with actors still at work, that means that the likelihood of a reality show starring the one-and-only Ashley Dupre - see below - has now diminished. Although only slightly.

(Pix? A classic one - from the 1919 actors strike.)

Will "House" be shut? Will "Lost" get lost? Will the lights dim on "FNL?"

Gulp. What's a "de facto strike?" Is it like being half pregnant, or halfway to being half pregnant, or WHAT?

In any event, the negotiating arm of the studios - the AMPTP - last night released this statement, saying the industry was now in this half-way strike, just as the contract for SAG came to an end at midnight. It also said it had given the actors ifs final and best offer - which, interestingly and hardly surprisingly, was probably identical to the one the writers got last winter.

De Facto strike? This is what I think it means: That until actors agree to a deal, production will slowly and inexorably wind down, like some sort of giant clock, until... In other words, the AMPTP said last night - in effect - that no new production will take place until they've got a deal. This is a heck of a lot better than a studio lock-out, which was a remote possibility, but still chilling.

Also: While this is probably bad for movie production, it's less problematic for TV because series have remained in production since the writers' strike ended. They've done this not simply to fill the empty vault but in the possibility (likelihood) that this day would come. In other words, they can complete their orders, which means a full season of serial television in 2008-09.

Here's part of the statement: "Our industry is now in a de facto strike, with film production virtually shut down and television production now seriously threatened. In an effort to put everyone back to work, the AMPTP today presented SAG our final offer - a comprehensive proposal worth more than $250 million in additional compensation to SAG members, with significant economic gains and groundbreaking new media rights for all performers.

"Our $250 million offer is consistent with the four other labor agreements already reached this year with DGA, WGA, AFTRA Network Code and AFTRA Prime-Time Exhibit A. In addition, our offer addresses issues that SAG identified as being of utmost concern to its members, including tailoring our new media framework for SAG in areas such as feature films and significant gains for working actors."

Here's a bit of what SAG had to say:

"The AMPTP today delivered a last-minute, 43-page offer that upon initial examination appears to be generally consistent with the AFTRA deal, particularly in its provisions relating to new media. The union is reviewing the complex package and will prepare a response to management once that analysis is complete."

In other words, lets keep talking.

So, will there be a deal? Will there be an actors' strike? Yes, to the first question, no to the second. Again, SAG is waiting for results of the AFTRA vote, due early next week. If that deal passes - expected - then SAG will probably eventually accept this one too.

The Screen Actors Guild contract is up, oh, just about twelve hours from now, and to many in Hollywood and beyond, that moment represents - or has represented - D Minute, when thousands of SAG-repped thesps storm the Studio's bastille and, by so doing, halt the production of hundreds of shows from sea to sea. And following weeks of a standoff - not to mention an internecine battle now underway between SAG and AFTRA - a strike seemed closer to a certainty than not just last week.

But suddenly, all's looking well, for the moment at least. In a statement to the press yesterday, SAG boss said a strike isn't going to happen right now. This may have been an attempt to take the PR high-ground from the studios which could - theoretically - lock out the actors tomorrow morning. The theory is that a hardball move like this would force actors to take a contract, but a lockout also seems inconceivable because that shuts down the industry once again, just months after the crippling writers' action ended. For producers, that's called cutting off your nose to spite your face.

“We have taken no steps to initiate a strike-authorization vote by the members of Screen Actors Guild,” said Alan Rosenberg, who's been waging a rear-guard action against AFTRA to sink its proposed contract. “Any talk about a strike or a management lockout at this point is simply a distraction. The Screen Actors Guild national negotiating committee is coming to the bargaining table every day in good faith to negotiate a fair contract for actors.”

What happens next? Everyone waits til next Monday to see if AFTRA members support or reject their new contract. If the smaller union rejects - unlikely but one never knows - then that gives SAG more power at the bargaining table, but also gives the studios another reason for a lock-out.

What do I think will happen? Glad you asked. AFTRA passes, SAG ultimately gets a new deal, and everyone lives happily ever after, or for two years, after which point everyone - writers AND actors - go on strike together and force some genuinely meaningful concessions from the studios.

(Photo: Genaro Molina of the Los Angeles Times. Are we about to see repeats like this one already?!)

Don't look now, but an actor's strike could now be looming, with both sides -- actors and the major studios -- saying that they've effectively reached an impasse.

That's right -- possibly another, long, crippling strike. Help!

"Possibly." But not necessarily "probably." Let's keep our heads on.

Here are a couple of interesting things you may (or may not) know: First, there are a significant number of writers (I've no idea how many) who think the recently inked WGA/studio pact was and is a lousy one. I talked to one prominent producer-writer not too long ago -- who shall remain nameless -- who even predicted ANOTHER writers' strike a couple of years from now when this one lapses.

Some are flat-out angry about their deal, even thinking that for all the agony Hollywood went through that they basically ended up with pittance. I'm also told the actors don't want to make the same mistake.

And here's another thing: Many major productions, like "CSI," are wrapping their seasons very shortly, and barely taking a minute before they start work on their new season; many shows want to get four or five episodes in the can by July 1, just in case actors -- whose deal wraps June 30 -- decide to walk. This way, the networks can at least launch the fall season with some fresh stuff that could carry them through November sweeps.

It's hard to say how bad the breach is between the Screen Actors Guild and the AMPTP (studios), but it's not good.

Here's what AMPTP wrote (in part) members yesterday:

"When we requested an extra week for the SAG negotiations, we told you that there were 'significant gaps' between the parties.

Candidly, we must offer the same assessment of the negotiations today, with just over two days to go. Although both parties have spent considerable time in the negotiating room, we are not yet close to an agreement."

It then said "SAG initially rejected the framework for new media that was established through the DGA [directors], WGA and AFTRA Network Code negotiation," then cited "SAG’s willingness to work with the existing new media framework (albeit with more than 70 changes) was conditioned on AMPTP addressing SAG’s demands in traditional media areas. Unfortunately, these demands – including a doubling of the existing DVD formula and huge increases in compensation and benefits – would result in enormous cost increases that we are not willing to accept."

SAG responded: "we are prepared to bargain continuously, for as long as it takes. The AMPTP knows we did not state that they had to agree to all of our non-new media proposals. We expect the AMPTP to negotiate in good faith and we will do the same."