The issue between the Screen Actors Guild and Hollywood studios has been going on for months now and it seems that another roadblock has been met. Negotiations were due to begin today, Tuesday. However, late yesterday Alan Rosenberg (current president of the SAG) and Anne-Marie Johnson (vice-president of the SAG) informed the guild that they would be challenging the ouster of Doug Allen, the now ex-chief contract negotiator.
Their plan of action was to file a lawsuit which aims to put Doug Allen back in his “rightful” place. A restraining order was also requested that would have resulted in stalling the negotiations until their lawsuit was settled. However, Judge Chalfant denied their request on a technicality. Still, the result of this motion is that the talks have been delayed and as of this writing, no new date for the start of the talks has been determined.
The SAG contracts expired on June 30 of last year and since then, members of the guild have had no contracts in film and TV. On the part of the studios, they have given what they call their best and final offer. However, the SAG deems this offer as inadequate, labeling it as “not the best” that they can give. Talks about a strike have been looming for months now but there has not been a vote as of yet and the SAG is looking to the Los Angeles court for intervention.
As usual, it is some sort of waiting game that is being played. For us viewers, we can only sit back and watch the drama unfold.
Originally posted on February 4, 2009 @ 2:31 am