HOLD THE PICKETS DID SOMEBODY SAY UNFAIR? ACTORS UNIONS HOLD PROTEST.

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

STUDIO CITY - About 100 picketing commercial actors brought business to a near halt Monday at a McDonald's restaurant in Studio City in an attempt to bring attention to their unions' 11-week-old strike against the advertising industry.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which together represent 135,000 actors, accuse McDonald's Corp. of producing commercials during the strike with actors who are not union members.

At the McDonald's on Ventura Boulevard near Laurel Canyon Boulevard, picketers wearing white T-shirts marched with signs reading ``Stop union busting'' and ``Corporate Greed: Can you say McDonald's?'' They handed out fliers to customers, many of whom turned away after learning of the strike.

``This is a question of greed,'' said Michael Monks, a union picket captain. ``Actor salaries only account for 1.5 percent of commercial production costs, and that would only go up to 2 percent if they were to give us everything we're asking for.''

The high-profile protest came just 10 days before the actors' unions and ad agencies resume contract negotiations. The ad industry wants to pay actors a flat fee for all production work, while the unions want to expand the pay-per-play provision for each time a commercial is aired.

Picketers targeted a McDonald's directly owned and operated by the corporation. Calls to McDonald's corporate offices in Illinois on Monday were not answered. The restaurant's manager said company policy prohibited him from commenting.

Nancy Jones, a Studio City resident who received a flier from the picketers, said she sympathizes with them.

``From what they say, it sounds unfair,'' she said. ``It doesn't make sense for movie actors to get residuals when commercial actors don't.''

The picket line ran along the sidewalk and in front of the McDonald's entrance. After receiving fliers, many motorists drove away without buying anything, leaving the restaurant without a single person in line during the busy lunch hour.

In December 1952, an 11-week SAG strike resulted in the first commercial contract for actors, including pay-per-play residual payments that continue today on network television.

In negotiating renewal of the three-year contract, which expired in April, the ad industry has proposed doing away with network residuals and extending a flat-fee system for ads on cable television and the Internet.

Ira Sheppard, an ad industry spokesman, said in a written statement that the strike is not affecting production and that the industry is ready to hold out indefinitely on the contract terms it seeks.

But in Los Angeles, where most ads are made, experts estimate that the strike has cost the local economy nearly $200 million and pushed more than 25 percent of ad production out of the area.

The unions today plan to join thousands of workers from other unions across the country to picket in downtown Los Angeles and 30 other cities against AT&T. The communications giant is accused of filming ads during the strike.

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Photo: Members of actors unions picket the McDonald's at 11970 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City over the restaurant chain's use of nonunion actors during a strike. At left, actor William Baldwin carries one of the signs Monday.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer