Screen Actors Guild, Producers Reach Tentative Deal

Whatever our worries are abut Ugly Betty, one thing we can scratch off the list (tentatively) is an actors strike.  It’s been coming for a while, but today the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced they had reached a pact.

The biggest sticking point had been the expiration of the contract; SAG wanted it to expire in 2011, so they could be in sync with the Writers and Directors Guilds, and the “other” actors’ union AFTRA.  It would appear that the actors won that point, because the deal is a two-year deal. 

No details would be disclosed until Sunday following review by SAG’s national board at its previously scheduled meeting.  The panel, however, is expected to approve the pact.  Ratification ballots would then be sent to the union’s 120,000 members.

There is going to be some contention amongst the rank and file, though. SAG president Alan Rosenberg and his allies in the hardline Membership First faction, which lost its board majority to the moderates, has vowed it will urge members to vote down the deal on grounds that it falls short in on on multitude of areas, particularly new media. 

SAG members have worked since the expiration under terms and conditions of the expired deal.

Let’s hope they approve the deal (if it’s a fair enough one), and shows like Ugly Betty can get down to the business of making us laugh and cry!

Image: SplashNewsOnline.com