Studios, Actors Unions Agree on Contract

One of Hollywood's longest and most tense periods of labor unrest ended when negotiators for studios and 135,000 actors reached a tentative agreement on a new film and TV contract.

Both sides praised each other in a celebratory news conference announcing the tentative deal that came six weeks after negotiations began. Members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists are expected to ratify the pact.

The final hurdle was cleared when negotiators agreed on an increase in payments to actors when their work is rerun on cable TV.

The agreement, coming two months after writers settled their contentious negotiations, ended any threat of a devastating strike this summer. But the industry has been operating for a year as though strikes were inevitable, so it could take months for production to return to normal levels.