At 3:30 am on Wednesday morning, The American Federation of Television & Radio Arts finally sealed the deal in their negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Variety reports that the good news is this deal has now put pressure on the SAG to finalize a plan with the AMPTP. On the other hand, the deal has perhaps further soured the relationship between the SAG and AFTRA and SAG leaders have insisted that it's unlikely they will accept the terms AFTRA reached in regards to consent for the use of clips online.
Besides consent for online clips, other issues still to be settled between the SAG and the AMPTP include DVD residuals, product integration, force majeure and jurisdiction over low-budget projects for the web. Contrary to what one would expect after the AFTRA deal was struck, SAG prexy Alan Rosenberg neglected congratulating his sister union and instead complained about SAG being left out of the loop during the last week of AFTRA's negotiations. In direct contrast, the DGA, IATSE, and Association of Talent Agents issued statements praising the deal. Despite the tension though, the SAG hasn't taken steps to schedule a strike authorization vote "which would require 75% approval among those voting -- and would, of course, ignite passions on both sides." There's speculation that negotiations will go past the June 30th expiration and may require day-to-day extensions.
The AMPTP issued a statement Wednesday recalling the troubles of all their extensive negotiations - with AFTRA being their fourth labor pact in the last year - but also expressing optimism for the upcoming SAG talks. "'Both AMPTP and AFTRA were challenged during these talks to find a way to fairly and sensibly tailor our industry's new-media framework to meet the needs of actors,' the org said. 'We now look forward to the resumption of talks with SAG, to building on the foundation laid during our first round of SAG talks and to reaching an agreement that will prevent another harmful and unnecessary strike.'"
