ACTORS' CONTRACT BALLOTS IN THE MAIL.

Byline: Daily News

Ballots on a proposed new contract were mailed Monday to members of the two unions representing television and movie actors.

The ballots must be returned by Feb. 28.

Representatives of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists reached an agreement Jan. 20 with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on a three-year contract that would give actors average raises of 3 percent a year but no increased share of studio DVD revenues, according to union officials.

The SAG/AFTRA Joint National Board voted 71.4 percent to 28.6 percent Jan. 29 to approve the agreement and recommend its joint membership adopt it as well.

The joint national board also approved a proposal from SAG President Melissa Gilbert and AFTRA President John Connolly that a statement opposing the proposed agreement be included in the ballots, along with a statement supporting it.

``Ultimately, the members must analyze the package, review the pros and cons and assess the environment in which this deal was made,'' Gilbert and Connolly said in a joint statement. ``That is as it should be, since it is their working lives that are at issue.''

Reached well ahead of the June 1 expiration of a one-year contract, the new agreement is valued at $200 million, the richest in history, according to union officials. The raises for some 140,000 performers would be worth about $145 million, starting Oct. 1.

The contract also would increase contributions to SAG and AFTRA health and pension plans, increase the number of background players required for movies and TV, and assure higher residuals for performers in one-hour shows on UPN and The WB, according to the actors unions.

The actors, in an effort to nurture scripted shows, agreed to allow networks to rerun the first three episodes of a series within 60 days of its debut, without having to pay the regular cast extra, the unions stated.

Though the actors unions did not win a bigger share of DVD revenues, they did get a 25 percent reduction in the number of videos or DVDs that must be sold before residuals kick in for actors in pay-TV dramas.

The proposed contract calls for the number of required background players in movies to increase by five to 50, and the number required for TV to rise three to 20.