Actors guild divided over sister union's studio pact

[Boyd Ostroff]

From today's Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/public/article...s_hs_coll_left

Note: this link may expire and only take you to a "teaser" version of the article. If so, try doing a Google search for "wall st journal actors guild" or something similar...

The major Hollywood studios are expected to make the actors a final offer by midnight on Monday, when the SAG contract expires.

But resolution isn't expected until more than a week later because of an escalating intramural fight among actors and their unions. A second actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, reached a tentative deal with the studios in late May, and the results of the ratification vote by members, going on now, will arrive July 8. The deal was the first time in 27 years that the two unions have negotiated separately.

Meanwhile, work in Hollywood already has ground nearly to a halt as film and TV producers wait to see if there will be another long work stoppage. By next week, there will be almost no films in production. At major studios, more than two dozen television shows for next season are already shooting, but if a strike appears imminent, plans for the balance of next season's TV series could be scrapped in as little as a few days, according to people close to the studios.

[Charles Papert]

It's pretty freakin' bleak out there in the studio world at the moment, folks. I have many colleagues who are already out of work thanks to the slowdown. I've been fortunate enough to pick up a few pilots and will actually be starting one that has a subsequent 12-episode pickup on July 1st--that is, assuming that the strike will not get called the night before!

Everyone is walking around saying "what have you heard? do you think it will happen"? But the reality is, there's as much misinformation out there as there is useable information and it's virtually anyone's guess at this point.

[Matt Newcomb]

It kind of sucks for everyone since the actors haven't begun the strike process they don't have that leverage, but studios are still stopping production, just in case it does happen. So you have non-striking members out of work basically.

[Frank Granovski]

Does this mean there might not be Lost and Star Trek next year?