The next act

The bitter infighting between Hollywood’s two main actors unions came to an anticlimactic end Tuesday when the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced that its members, as expected, had approved a tentative contract with the major studios. Leaders of its larger sibling, the Screen Actors Guild, had campaigned fiercely against the AFTRA deal, arguing that it was bad for actors and would undermine SAG’s ability to extract a better deal from the studios. But even though nearly two-thirds of AFTRA’s members also carry SAG cards, the guild wasn’t able to sway enough of them to defeat the deal. The 62.4% vote in favor isn’t overwhelming, but it’s well above the simple majority needed to win approval. And the results apparently can’t be challenged, so the vote is truly final.

Now SAG finally finds itself with nothing left to distract its leaders from crafting a pact with the studios. And that’s a very good thing. While the guild has been immersed in its futile campaign against the AFTRA contract, producers have scaled back work on new movies and TV series for fear of being interrupted by a strike or lockout after SAG’s last contract expired June 30. It’s incumbent on SAG and the studios to settle their differences quickly so the industry can get back to work in earnest.

Both sides would be wise to concentrate on contract provisions of unique concern to actors, such as product integration and minimum payments for the use of excerpts. As we’ve said before, the studios also have to recognize how their tactics on home video residuals -- refusing to raise the initial, lowball rates for VHS tapes and DVDs -- have led actors to dig in their heels about payments for works used on the Internet. The new deal’s treatment of online work should not provide a road map for circumventing union contracts or dismantling the residual system. And a three-year contract should be just that: a temporary deal that sets neither a floor nor a ceiling for compensation.

SAG leaders have blamed AFTRA for undermining actors’ interests by negotiating a contract that didn’t include enough gains in a variety of areas. The real problem for the guild, however, is that it wants more than the other talent unions eventually settled for, and it’s now the last one at the negotiating table. That’s why SAG should welcome AFTRA’s invitation to revisit the possibility of a merger, and all the guilds should welcome AFTRA’s proposal to prepare a more coordinated approach to the next round of negotiations.