The AMPTP has posted on its website what its spinmeisters are saying is a fabulous offer for the Screen Actors Guild…and the last they're ever going to get. This is how the game is played. They make Absolutely Final Offers and act like some force of science makes it humanly impossible for the terms to be any better.
How is this offer? Entertainment lawyer Jonathan Handel doesn't think much of it. Neither does my friend Bob Elisberg. As I've been saying here for some time, the studios got AFTRA (the other actors' union) to take a mediocre deal and now they're insisting that this year's labor negotiations are a settled matter and SAG has to fall in line and take it.
Obviously, SAG doesn't. Just because one union takes a lousy deal — or in some cases, a deal that's acceptable for them but wouldn't be for you — that doesn't mean you have to take it. The AMPTP is especially skilled at structuring an offer that is good for Union A and bad for Union B. The Directors Guild has made most of its gains over the last few decades by being Union A in that situation.
Obviously, SAG might. The solidarity a union needs to mount an effective strike does not seem to be there. Rumors abound that various ***Big Stars*** oppose a strike and those rumors are not causing that solidarity to appear. One of the wise things the Writers Guild did before it hit the bricks was to do an outreach to "A" list screenwriters and TV Show Runners and to get most of them on board. Presumably, SAG leadership is currently attempting something comparable and I wish them well. It really is a crummy offer.