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Actors, Studios Reach Contract Deal By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The two unions representing 135,000 actors reached a tentative agreement late on Tuesday with major film and TV studios on a new three-year contract, putting to rest months of Hollywood labor tension.
Union leaders hailed the settlement as achieving their principal objective of securing more money for ``working-class'' actors -- the unsung performers who make up the bulk of their membership and earn less than $70,000 a year when employed.
Meanwhile, industry officials said they were relieved that studios could move ahead with productions they put on hold while awaiting the outcome of the talks.
The deal, clinched nearly three days after the actors' old contract expired, follows more than a week of marathon bargaining sessions capping off-again, on-again negotiations that began May 15.
``I was right, there was a deal to be made, and for that I am entirely grateful,'' a jubilant Screen Actors Guild (news - web sites) president William Daniels told reporters at a news conference, repeating his oft-stated mantra that negotiators on both sides should be credited with setting the tone of the talks.
BACKBONE OF INDUSTRY
``Our main goal in these negotiations was to help the middle-income actor -- the actor that you all recognize but sometimes you don't know their names. They are the backbone of this industry. And I think we have helped them,'' said Shelby Scott, president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
The deal, unanimously endorsed by the negotiating teams for SAG and AFTRA, must still be approved by the governing boards of the two unions and ratified by the rank-and-file, a process expected to take a little over a month.
Union leaders said details would be kept confidential until their boards vote on the deal. But they outlined an agreement that includes increases in performers' minimum salary scale and in some key residual payments -- the compensation earned as TV programs and films move into secondary markets like reruns, cable TV and foreign distribution.
The unions also were looking for ways to curb ``runaway production,'' the growing trend of studios to save money by shooting movies and TV shows in Canada and other foreign countries, taking jobs away from domestic talent. But the new pact contains little to address this, SAG officials said.
The settlement of what amounts to the single most important contract in Hollywood ends lingering anxiety over the possibility of labor strife in the film and TV industry this year.
STUDIOS WERE WAITING
Fears that Hollywood was headed for crippling back-to-back strikes by screenwriters and actors all but evaporated in May when the Writers Guild of America settled its contract with studios. But the studios have remained hesitant to launch new productions until the actors' deal was in place.
Nick Counter, president and chief negotiator for the industry's Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said he was eager to get the word out of a deal ``that keeps the town working.''
Counter said dramatic changes in the television industry, including fragmentation of TV audiences by the growing cable TV sector, made negotiation of this contract more difficult than the last labor pact in 1998.
With the actors unions showing little inclination to launch a strike of their own and expectations of a deal running high in recent weeks, the announcement of an accord seemed almost anti-climactic.
In contrast to the militant rhetoric during last year's contract talks between actors and advertisers, leading to a bitter six-month strike, the tone of the SAG/AFTRA negotiations with film and TV studios was restrained.
PAY HIKES FOR THREE YEARS
AFTRA negotiating team co-chairman John Connolly acknowledged that the commercials strike, which ended in October, had a ''daunting effect'' on union members as they faced talks with the film and TV studios.
But SAG chief negotiator Brian Walton insisted that the soft economy ``had no impact on the actors' side of the table.''
SAG spokesman Greg Krizman said the pact provides for a hike in the minimum pay scale in the ballpark of 3 percent to 3.5 percent annually over three years.
Other highlights outlined by the unions include substantial increases in salaries for TV guest stars and stunt performers, as well as in residuals for shows on basic cable TV and industry contributions to SAG's health plan.
Unions also won higher payments for some TV shows sold oversees and for reruns airing on the Fox network, which will achieve parity with CBS, ABC and NBC over three years.
Union officials said Tuesday night the final days of talks were devoted to nailing down the fine points of the agreement rather than overcoming any particular sticking point.
``The last two days were more about getting it right than breaking logjams,'' Walton said. In the end, he added, ``Just about every major area that actors needed to see addressed were addressed.''
The 150-member joint governing boards of SAG and AFTRA will likely meet in New York and Los Angeles next week to vote on the pact, and if approved, the accord will be submitted by mail for ratification, a process that takes about four weeks, SAG spokesman Greg Krizman said.