Performers' unions reach contract agreement.

SAG, AFTRA and producers beat pact deadline

The Hollywood community let out a collective sigh of relief last week on news that the two performers unions had reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for a new three-year contract.

The Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists - collectively representing some 110,000 members nationwide - began negotiating with the producers' group for a new contract on Feb. 7. The AMPTP represents the major studios and production companies in all their union contract negotiations.

The contract, which covers most film and television productions, was not set to expire until June 30. But the parties involved began talks early in hopes of avoiding the deadline-pressured high tensions and production slowdowns often associated with such talks.

The tentative agreement now goes to the unions' boards of directors for approval. Then it would go to the full memberships of both unions for a vote.

Network talks ahead

At issue is union members' basic wages and working conditions. Terms of the tentative agreement will not be made public until both unions' boards have had a chance to examine them.

Still to be negotiated is a similar contract the unions have with the three major networks - CBS, NBC and ABC - and their production arms. That contract also expires June 30.

The AMPTP contract is seen as the bigger of the two to be negotiated this year, and the agreement comes as good news to the thousands in Los Angeles who make their living in the entertainment industry, production companies themselves and vendors that work for the studios.

Production companies - fearing a strike could mess up production schedules - had up to 50 projects on hold pending an agreement, said Nick Counter, president and chief negotiator of the AMPTP.

"Now those productions can go on as scheduled, and that means a lot of jobs for everybody," he said.

Though the early talks were designed to give both parties plenty of time to reach an agreement, tensions around Hollywood rose dramatically when the producers group recently announced that its members would stop all production if an agreement was not in hand by March 23 - well before the June 30 contract expiration date.

Playing cautious

The idea was to ensure that productions were not caught in mid-shooting in the event of a strike, though union officials asserted it was just this sort of deadline and production slowdown that the early negotiations were designed to avoid. But the parties continued talks through the night on March 23, and announced the next morning a tentative agreement had been reached.

"I am very pleased that the majority of the issues were resolved in time to reach an agreement prior to the theatrical film shutdown that occurs several months before the contract's expiration date," said Ken Orsatti, SAG national executive director and head negotiator.