SAG & CONGLOMS MOVING TOWARD TENTATIVE AGREEMENT

SAG explores back-channel moves
Guild, congloms look for a compromise
By DAVE MCNARY




The Screen Actors Guild and the congloms have begun moving toward a tentative agreement on the long-stalled feature-primetime contract with a 2011 expiration.
SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers had no comment Sunday. But members of SAG's negotiating task force have been summoned to meet Tuesday for an update on recent informal talks with the companies -- a step indicating that recent back-channel talks have likely led to a compromise that's acceptable to both sides.

It's not yet clear whether Tuesday's meeting will lead to the announcement of a tentative agreement with the AMPTP or a final round of negotiations. SAG's board would have to vote to send out the deal for ratification by its 120,000 members -- a process that would require about three weeks to complete.

SAG's feature-primetime contract expired on June 30 with the guild spurning the AMPTP's offer, estimated by the companies as being worth an additional $250 million in pay over three years. SAG members have worked since then under terms and conditions of the expired deal.

SAG and the AMPTP have not met since Feb. 19, when three days of talks collapsed over the issue of the contract expiration date, although the two sides had reached agreement on all other issues. SAG wants the expiration to stay in synch with the DGA and AFTRA expirations on June 30, 2011, while the AMPTP had insisted earlier on a full three-year deal that would expire in 2012.

The advancement on the feature-primetime deal comes on the heels of SAG and AFTRA reaching a tentative deal last week on a commercials contract. A coalition of SAG's moderate leaders took over control of the national board last fall and ousted Doug Allen as national exec director in January, mostly out of frustration that he could not close the feature-primetime deal.

Allen was replaced by David White as interim national director and by John McGuire as chief negotiator. According to people close to the situation, White has been in talks over the past weeks during breaks in the commercials talks to meet with moguls and hammer out a compromise on the feature-theatrical contract.

White told members on March 17 that negotiators were "active behind the scenes" in trying to resolve the stalemate. That message came in the wake of informal moves by Tom Hanks and other high-profile thesps to persuade the congloms to make a deal with SAG.

Arlin Miller, who operates the SAG Watchdog website, reported Sunday that a "reliable source" had said McGuire will report that he has reached an agreement with the AMPTP in which they have agreed to a two year term.

SAG hardliners, who lost their board majority last fall, have promised to oppose the deal as falling short in a wide variety of areas, particularly in new-media. Hollywood-based Membership First has been staging weekly rallies to blast the deal, usually drawing about 100 supporters, and will stage this week's event outside AMPTP's headquarters in Encino on Thursday.

SAG spokeswoman Pamela Greenwalt said that the guild hasn't reached any agreement yet.

"Any report of a tentative agreement on any aspect of our TV/Theatrical negotiations is premature. SAG's leadership remains engaged in ongoing efforts to secure a fair deal for SAG members."