Hollywood's unfolding labor drama was on the verge of ending late Saturday as studios and actors closed in on a new three-year deal that would quash strike threats that have consumed the industry for a year.
Weary negotiators recessed for the night about 9 p.m., letting their current contract expire at midnight. They will reconvene at 10 a.m. today.
Both sides said the adjournment wasn't a sign of impasse and that they were committed to reaching an agreement.
"We want to achieve a contract. We want to keep everyone employed," said Pamm Fair, spokeswoman for the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, one of the two actors unions.
Several sources late Saturday said an agreement could come as early as today.
"The planets are lining up," said one source involved in the talks.
"I would be shocked if it's not done" Sunday, said another. "We're very close."
A potential breakthrough involved revamping the way actors are paid when their work is shown on cable TV. Negotiators believed they found a way to put more money in actors' pockets but still let studios pay them the same percentage rate they do now, according to sources in the negotiations.
Other concessions that actors are expected to get include increased minimum payments for TV performers and a special bump for guest stars in shows, better residuals for Fox network programs and added payments in some cases when shows air on foreign stations.
Saturday night's talks were decidedly low key at the industry's Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers headquarters in Encino, even including one birthday celebration.
During a dinner break, some Screen Actors Guild officials threw a football in the courtyard. Earlier in the day, SAG President William Daniels left the talks to attend his 50th wedding anniversary celebration in Santa Barbara after giving SAG officials a pep talk.
For studios and actors, a new labor deal would accomplish something that as little as three months ago was thought near impossible--keeping Hollywood on the job. But odds of a strike dramatically eased May 4 when writers agreed to a new contract valued at $41 million.
Before that, the industry was staring at possible simultaneous strikes by writers and actors that would have darkened sound stages and could have devastated the Southern California economy. A study commissioned by outgoing Mayor Richard Riordan estimated a potential loss of 81,900 jobs and $6.9 billion in income for the Southland if the two groups walked out.
