Merger plan defeated, actors' unions prepare to battle over digital territory. (Up Front).

After making nice for six months while they campaigned for consolidation, leaders of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists now appear headed for a showdown on the issue of digital television production.

In the past, film work and prime-time television have belonged to SAG while live television productions, soap operas and videotaped television work fell under the purview of AFTRA. But both entertainers' unions have laid claim to the burgeoning field of digital television production, an area that was left unaddressed in their current three-year pact with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Producers, who have been shifting more and more shows to digital to save on production costs, have asserted that digital is the equivalent of video, and that actors on those shows should be paid on the lower AFTRA scale.

The jurisdictional dispute is likely to add to the strain on the close relationship that developed between the two unions' leadership during their unsuccessful bid to consolidate. It could also be a factor in upcoming elections for the top SAG posts.

The consolidation proposal, which required 60 percent approval in both unions, was overwhelmingly approved by AFTRA members but went down to a narrow defeat earlier this month when just shy of 58 percent of SAG voters favored the plan.

"As much as we are fond of each other and we have worked together, it's a matter of survival. We obviously have to come up with a solution to this," said James Cromwell, a member of the SAG board, of the digital production issue. "Last year, there were eight (television) pilots shot on digital, this year there were 53--and they were shot with videotape rates."

In practical terms, that's a difference of thousands of dollars. The SAG minimum rate for a guest actor on a one-hour show is $7,200, versus $3,200 for an AFTRA production.

"There are two very important differences between film and digital," said AMPTP President Nicholas Counter. 'The cost of film stock is much higher and the other difference is in the editing, which, once we've perfected the technology is much quicker and less costly."

While the evolution of digital production technology is ongoing, Counter said quality has come far enough for most television producers to have confidence in the medium.

Meanwhile, he said digital was more akin to videotape than film, and thus should qualify productions for the lower AFTRA minimums. "No matter how you characterize (digital production), it's not film," he said.

Counter acknowledged that the digital question is likely to remain a thorny issue until SAG and AFTRA jointly negotiate a new agreement with the AMPTP next summer.

"Merger or no merger, eventually we have to address that issue," he said. "Ultimately it will be resolved through bargaining."

Health plan benefits

The two unions are also eager to obtain jurisdiction over digital productions to bolster their health and pension plans, both of which have been hit hard in recent years by spiraling costs and the downturn in the stock markets.

"I don't think we're on opposite sides at this particular point," said AFTRA spokeswoman Jayne Wallace of the digital question. "Both sides have to go back to the drawing board and reevaluate their options given that a majority of members on both sides didn't want us to go to war over this."

That may be. But with consolidation off the table for the time being, a truce on the issue brokered in secret last year that split digital television productions between the guilds "on a case-by-case basis" is considered fragile. Many actors say the lack of a formal agreement has allowed producers. to play one union off the other in trying to negotiate for a lower rate.

"I don't believe that either one of these organizations is spoiling for a fight," said SAG Treasurer Kent McCord, who will square off against incumbent Melissa Gilbert for the guild presidency next month. "But the bottom line should be focusing on the wages and working conditions of actors. The focus should be on obtaining the highest rates available."

McCord, a leading opponent of the failed consolidation plan, believes digital production should be under the purview of SAG. It's one of the few areas in which he in agreement with Gilbert, who stated simply that "the status quo doesn't work" regarding digital production.

SAG spokeswoman Ilyanne Kichaven said that despite the agreement that has allowed lower rates on some digital productions, "we are asserting that we have jurisdiction over digital and that those productions should be done under the terms of SAG contracts."

McCord, a longtime union activist, announced last week that he would challenge Gilbert for the SAG presidency on a slate with "NYPD Blue" star Esai Morales, who is up for the newly created post of secretary-treasurer.

Cromwell, who joined the SAG board less than two years ago, will run with Gilbert.

The mail-in vote is scheduled to begin Aug 26.

Another try

Asserting that "it's hard to look at it as a defeat when the majority of both unions approved it," Gilbert vowed to make the resuscitation of the consolidation campaign a centerpiece of her agenda in a second term.

"Although it didn't pass, it was only a few hundreds vote shy," she said. "I feel like I've been handed a mandate to do something."

In addition to the digital production issue, advocates of consolidation said that a combined union would enhance bargaining leverage with producers and allow the cash-strapped unions to save millions of dollars by combining duplicated functions and services.

Those arguments were roundly dismissed by opponents like McCord, who said the autonomy of the unions were in jeopardy under the terms of the consolidation proposal. Together, SAG and AFTRA spent more than $2 million promoting the merger, a fact that has added fuel to the fire for the upcoming elections.

"They promoted it with millions of dollars and we defeated it with $80,000," said Bonnie Bartlett, a SAG board member who is allied with McCord's Save SAG faction. "I think (Gilbert) is very vulnerable. She's lost two major referendums since becoming president."

Gilbert was a leading advocate of a proposal defeated last year for a new franchise agreement with the Association of Talent Agents. A dispute over agents' desire to expand their business relationships has left the two sides without an agreement for the first time in decades.

The digital production issue, which has the most immediate impact on actors' wallets, is shaping up as the wildcard in the upcoming election.

"I don't know what either (union) is going to do if we lose this money," said Cromwell. "You are talking about substantial losses for actors in terms of their income. Obviously, we have to come up with a solution to this."