ACTORS' UNION TALKS GO PAST DEADLINE; STRIKE POSSIBLE.

Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer

Negotiators for producers and actors continued talking past their deadline Thursday evening with the goal of avoiding the first strike by actors in 18 years.

Both sides were maintaining a news blackout as talks passed a self-imposed 6 p.m. deadline to agree on a new contract. A spokeswoman for the Screen Actors Guild said the union would likely release a statement today.

Many insiders believe the talks to replace the current contract, which will expire June 30, have been difficult and contentious. The two sides have been characterized as far apart on the issue of residuals, which provides for how much performers are paid when TV shows are re-run.

Even though both sides have nearly three months before the contract runs out, failure to reach an agreement by Thursday's deadline signals the growing possibility of a strike. Should a work stoppage occur, it would have a far-ranging impact on the entertainment industry, which generates well over $20 billion in annual revenues to Southern California.

Short of a strike, many projects are likely to be put on hold even if negotiations continue. And should a strike occur in July, when much of the production for next TV season would start, the fall TV schedule could be thrown into chaos.

``What happens if there's no contract agreement is that movies will stop going into production because they don't want to be shut down after June 30,'' said producer Tom Pollock, former head of Universal Pictures. ``People have been talking about it and making plans for it.''

A few projects have seen production start dates moved up, but there are no reports yet of studios ditching specific projects due to start in the next three months.

The last strike by actors took place in July 1980 and caused a massive disruption of the subsequent fall TV schedule. Hollywood's last major strike came in 1988 when the Writers Guild of America walked out for 22 weeks.

Since then, the entertainment industry has seen an unprecedented expansion and replaced aerospace as the leading industry of Southern California. The growth is due in significant part to the explosion of demand from cable and foreign markets - factors that are crucial in the negotiations.

SAG and its negotiating partner, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, have asked for a doubling of the current residual rate for shows airing on foreign TV and a portion of the distributors' foreign revenues. They also are seeking a substantial increase in the fees for domestic cable airing from the current 6 percent level.

The producers, represented through the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, have asked for reductions in the domestic residuals for reruns, a lower salary structure for movies with budgets under $15 million and lowering the ceiling on pension and health contributions.

Essentially, the actors are contending that they are entitled to a bigger portion of the markets that have expanded, while producers have countered by arguing that cable's inroads into broadcast TV mean that actors' fees should be cut.

Despite the potential complexity of these issues, several observers have said a strike is unlikely because of the potentially massive economic losses it would represent to both sides.