By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The smaller of Hollywood's two
performers unions entered a final day of contract talks with
studios on Tuesday before the larger, more militant Screen
Actors Guild was due to renew its own labor negotiations.
The 70,000-member American Federation of Television and
Radio Artists, or AFTRA, opened talks with the studios on May
7, a day after separate negotiations between the studios and
SAG, which represents 120,000 actors, hit a stalemate.
The contracts for both unions expire June 30, and Hollywood
is nervous that the actors might go on strike, paralyzing the
entertainment industry much as a 100-day walkout by
screenwriters did earlier this year.
The industry already is in de facto strike mode, with
studios starting to stockpile TV episodes and unwilling to
launch work on movies that could be affected by a walkout.
The studios have rankled SAG and AFTRA alike by seeking new
rules allowing TV and movie clips to be played on the Internet
without prior consent from actors who appear in them. The
unions, which share about 44,000 members, have singled out the
clips dispute as the biggest stumbling block in their contract
talks.
In a message to members on Sunday, AFTRA president Roberta
Reardon said her union was looking for "a creative solution"
that "will protect our members' images" while permitting a new
legitimate market in online clips to flourish.
Regardless of the outcome, Reardon said her union would
"brief SAG on our talks" before SAG and studios resume their
negotiations.
SAG and the studios have agreed to return to the bargaining
table by this Wednesday at the latest, giving the parties a
little more than four weeks to reach a settlement before the
existing labor pacts for both unions run out.
