Hollywood In ‘De Facto’ Strike: AMPTP
Producers’ Group Says New TV Shows, Movie Production At Standstill Due To Contract Uncertainty
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 6/12/2008 1:15:00 PM
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is firing back at Screen Actors Guild leadership, claiming that Hollywood is in a "de facto strike" because of the inability of the two groups to come to terms on a new actors’ contract.
The AMPTP issued a statement to its members June 12 in response to statements made at a SAG rally June 9 and those made during recent media interviews where SAG leadership expressed doubt that contract talks will be completed by the June 30 deadline.
The producers' group asserts that if the talks go beyond the deadline it will be because SAG declined to enter talks as soon as a pact was forged between the Writers Guild of America and the AMPTP in mid-February. Also, AMPTP members claim the protracted contract talks continue to drag on because SAG is proposing changes to contract language that varies greatly with the standards set already in contracts it has signed with the WGA, directors and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
SAG leadership told its members June 8 that they are seeking deal points—such as the right to consent to, and profit from, product integration and to ban non-union digital media productions—that were not included in the AFTRA or other union pacts.
The industry is already in a "de facto" strike, according to the AMPTP, because executives are not greenlighting movies and TV pilot production has been disrupted due to uncertainty over the ongoing contract talks.
AMPTP said it’s still committed to reaching its fifth labor union deal of the year with SAG by the end of the month.
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