Updated Saturday at 12:30 pm:
Hollywood's year-long slowdown may finally be coming to an end.
Nine months after their TV and film contract expired, Hollywood's biggest union, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced Friday that they had reached a tentative deal for a new contract.
And Saturday morning, the guild along with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists unanimously approved new contracts covering conditions for the shooting of commericals, worth about $36 million in additional payments.
The new contract, struck with a joint policy committee for the Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies, adds $21 million to health and pension funds, and provides a new structure for commercials for the Internet and other new media.
That payment structure kicks in only in the third year of the contract.
In a statement AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon and AFTRA Chair of the Joint Negotiating Committee said: “Our new agreement is a major achievement in any economy, but it is especially crucial for union members working to make ends meet in today’s difficult marketplace.
Screen Actors Guild National President Alan Rosenberg said: “I am pleased and gratified to have achieved these gains and to recommend this agreement for ratification. I congratulate all of the parties, and particularly the co-chairs, committee members and staff on the remarkable gains they achieved for actors across the country.”
Meanwhile, SAG and the AMPTP said details of their deal will not be disclosed until members of the guild’s national board review the terms on Sunday during a previously scheduled videoconference in New York and Los Angeles.
It seems likely that the national board will approve the agreement and send it to the membership for ratification.
SAG’s Interim National Executive Director David White solidified the new agreement with individual studio CEOs, including Disney President Bob Iger and Fox President Peter Chernin, while the guild's chief negotiator, John McGuire, headed negotiations for the union’s commercials contract.
A SAG board member close to the negotiations told TheWrap earlier this month that the new deal resolves the issue of whether a new contract will expire in 2011 or 2012 -- the major sticking point that ended the last round of talks in February. At that time, the AMPTP warned SAG that it would revise the terms of its “last, best and final” offer if the union did not accept the offer within 60 days.
“I’m optimistic that that is going to let us ultimately reach a deal that the national board will approve and the members will ratify,” the board member told TheWrap. “But there's stuff that has to play out before then, and the Membership First partisans are going to fight this.”
Although SAG’s rank-and-file members are weary from almost a yearlong stalemate with the AMPTP -- during which 66 of 70 pilots signed with sister union AFTRA -- it's expected that the hardline faction Membership First will attempt to convince its fellow members not to acquiesce to the residuals negotiated by the more moderate arm, Unite for Strength.
