Short answer: Nobody knows.
Long answer: SAG’s leaders just sent a missive over to the studio reps, asking them to return to the bargaining table despite their “final offer.”
SAG national executive director Doug Allen and president Alan Rosenberg wrote to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ Nick Counter, Fox president Peter Chernin and Disney president Bob Iger: “We believe it is clear that our members would fail to ratify your proposal of June 30, 2008.
“It would serve no productive purpose, therefore, to send our membership a proposal that SAG’s National Negotiating Committee and National Board have rejected and that our membership would not ratify.”
The AMPTP responded:
“We do not believe that it would be productive to resume negotiations at this time,” Counter said, “given SAG’s continued insistence on terms which the companies have repeatedly rejected.”
Sounds like a strike is in the wings.
The AMPTP is even going all mafia on them, implying that their original offer will only stand for a limited amount of time. And if the financial situation of the industry changes drastically, then it will almost certainly be withdrawn or completely overhauled – they insist it would behoove the actors to accept this deal without delay.
When the AMPTP’s deal was put to a vote, 87% of voting SAG members insisted that they should go back to the bargaining table. But that voting group was only 10% of the members, all of whom were mailed ballots. The AMPTP has called the poll a “farce” and insists that the questions were loaded.
Who knew that executives could be so catty?
The first rumors of this strike began during the WGA ugliness, at which time the WGA pointed out that all the creative types were getting the short end of the stick. According to their math, if they gave the WGA and the SAG everything they wanted, it would still cost less than the yearly salary of one of their executives.
I’m not sure if that’s true, but boy, does it make for a good soundbite.
I’m inclined to side with the SAG, since the contracts haven’t been updated in a million years and I’m sure they’re getting the short shrift. But right now might not be a good time to demand more money.
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