Hollywood's upcoming labor talks lack both Rancor, unity.

This is no rerun.

When Hollywood's major talent unions staked out their positions in negotiations with producers at this time three years ago, there was already talk of a "shadow strike" disrupting film and television production.

But with those pacts set to expire midyear, the upcoming talks are shaping up far differently. Not only is the rhetorical volume lower, but the actors and writers unions, which presented a unified front last time, appear to be moving independently.

While the Writers Guild of America intends to press for a bigger share of DVD profits, the actors unions will likely focus on the thorny issue of digital production as they enter negotiations with producers on new three-year labor pacts.

Paving the way for the negotiations, select members of SAG and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which bargain jointly with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, are scheduled to meet next week to hammer out a set of negotiating points. Their current contract, which covers minimum pay scales, residual payments, health care benefits and working conditions, expires July 1.

"The goal is to continue to work and not have the negotiations interrupt people's lives," said AFTRA spokeswoman Jayne Wallace. "We don't want to go through what we went through last time, but we won't back down at the expense of the issues."

In November, perhaps as precedent, members of SAG and AFTRA quietly approved a new three-year contract with advertisers for television and radio commercials. Those negotiations yielded a 7 percent gain in minimum session fees and a 1 percent increase in producer contributions to health and pension benefits.

Contentious past

Three years ago, acrimonious talks between the writers and the studios went past the negotiating deadline. Although the actors settled their contract on time, the negotiations led to widespread expectations for a walkout and triggered disruptions in production schedules that reverberated in Hollywood for a year, putting thousands of people temporarily out of work.

So far, there has been no evidence of a rush to complete projects in anticipation of a work stoppage, but that could change if talks among the unions and producers are delayed or start off divisively.

"Last time the disruptions were caused by the fact that (WGA negotiators) sat in that room for six months with no movement by the companies," said Victoria Riskin, president of the WGA. "If we can get an early deal depends on whether the companies want to get serious."

The WGA's 11,000 members are being asked to vote yes or no on a two-page Pattern of Demands compiled by the union last month. Ballots are due next week and the WGA's contract expires May 2.

J. Nicholas Counter, president of the Alliance, which represents Universal, Disney, MGM, Paramount, Fox, Warner Bros. and Sony, told the Los Angeles Times that the WGA's Pattern of Demands was "a disaster waiting to happen." Alliance officials were on vacation last week and unavailable for comment.

Although it emerged from its last negotiation declaring victory--gains were made in residual payments and rates on the Fox television network were adjusted upwards--the WGA didn't get a lot of what it was asking for.

Under terms of the agreement, guild members were required for the first time to pay a premium for their health coverage and budgets on some episodic series were scaled back. In addition, the deal skirted the issue of DVD and video residuals.

DVD revenues for the major studios have increased from $1.4 billion four years ago to $11 billion in 2002, according to the WGA. The studios have long resisted sharing profits in this area, but it appears some sort of compromise will he a key demand of the union.

Health and pension benefits will likely be a sticky issue as well. Spiraling insurance costs have spurred management in just about every industry to ask employees to contribute more for their health care plans, and it's no different in Hollywood where the guilds have offered their members relatively generous benefits packages.

The WGA's list of demands also includes higher minimum wages for film work, as well as network and cable television. Although the union hasn't put out specific monetary requests yet, it will seek higher residuals from the WB and UPN networks and expanded WGA jurisdiction on reality television shows.

A key issue for the actors is the increased use of digital technology in television production. The studios insist such technology is akin to videotape production, which is under the jurisdiction of AFTRA, as opposed to film, which is under the purview of SAG.

With more than 50 pilots shot digitally in 2003--compared to fewer than a dozen the year before--the issue was a major factor in the failed effort to combine the two unions last year.

SAG has been granting waivers to the studios on a case-by-case basis that allows them to shoot digital productions at a lower rate. SAG wants that practice to end while AFTRA is eager to see rates go up, but also wants to assert its jurisdiction over those productions.

SAG officials declined interview requests, saying they preferred to wait tot a formal negotiating proposal. Once the boards approve the proposal, SAG and AFTRA will reach out to the AMPTP to set a date to begin talks.

Discussion Points

Major issues facing writers and actors.

Writers Guild of America

Issues: Share of DVD revenues; higher health and pension contributions; jurisdiction over animation and reality shows; higher writing minimums

Outlook: An aggressive Pattern of Demands foreshadows a tough negotiation with producers

Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Radio and Television Artists

Issues: Higher minimums for digital productions; increased health and pension contributions; boost in appearance minimums for film, broadcast and cable; measures to slow runaway production 

Outlook: SAG and AFTRA appear to be leaning toward a less confrontational stance than WGA