Timing tricky for SAG contract demand
In expectation of a future online bonanza, the union stands firm on pay for Internet shows even as hard times prompt the studios that produce them cut back.
As Hollywood braces for what could be its second labor walkout in a year, the fundamental contract issue dividing the Screen Actors Guild and the major studios is what the future holds for online entertainment.
But it's what's happening now with online entertainment that could shape the outcome. Companies that make shows to be watched online are scaling back and laying off employees, making it more difficult for actors to make the case that the Internet is Hollywood's new frontier.
For months the sides have clashed over how actors should be paid in the digital era, especially when it comes to their appearances in programs created for the Internet. So few were surprised when last-ditch mediation efforts recently collapsed between SAG and the studios.
Although the Internet has yet to produce the online equivalent of a "CSI," SAG anticipates that one day programs created for the Web could be as big as those created for network television.
As a result, the guild wants actors who are hired on all online shows to work under a union contract, just as they are when they appear in conventional sitcoms or dramas.
Behind the union's hard line is the still-sore memory of how actors left money on the table in the early days of cable TV and home video by negotiating contracts that failed to anticipate the huge surge in growth of those businesses.
The studios, which are just beginning to dabble in so-called digital studio productions, argue that SAG's demands would "price producers out of this new market."
The studios want to limit such contracts to shows that cost $15,000 a minute or more to produce or to shows that feature actors with credits to their name. The majority of today's made-for-Web shows -- mostly short-length series such as "Gaytown" and "Horrible People" -- cost less.
The standoff, which could help trigger a strike next year that would shut down Hollywood's TV and movie industry, reflects widely divergent views about the future of online entertainment.
For the guild, the Internet represents a revolutionary new medium akin to the advent of cable television -- and it wants actors to share in the upside. The studios argue that the Internet is a fledgling medium and that shows created for it don't yet make enough money.
So who's right?
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