Actors fight to keep a grip on clips

Few things are more precious to actors than control over their images.

A stark reminder of that came last week when the studios suspended contract talks with the Screen Actors Guild after three weeks of negotiations.

A cause for the logjam: Actors balked at a studio proposal that would allow the studios to sell or license excerpts of TV shows and movies for use on the Internet, cellphones and other new-media devices -- without the actors' consent.

"As an actor you want to control how your image is used and how studios get to exploit it," SAG President Alan Rosenberg said. "We can't erase 50 years of protections that we've had for our members."

Studios counter that the decades-old consent requirement -- which gives actors a say over whether their images can be reused in a clip on another television show or film -- would tie their hands as they seek new ways to exploit their vast libraries on the Web and tap into a growing appetite among younger consumers for short-form entertainment.

"The existing rules, and the enormous administrative burden created by those rules, prevents the entire industry from developing a lawful clips market," said the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates for the studios. "Carrying over the existing bargaining terms . . . would not be practical or feasible."

The fight over Web clips is one of several issues that have kept actors and studios from reaching a new three-year contract, heightening anxiety that actors may stage a walkout once their contract expires June 30. It could also be a contentious matter in current negotiations with the smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Actors have long been sensitive to how their images are used. The guild joined Fred Astaire's widow in 1999 to push successfully for a California state law to protect the images of deceased celebrities after a commercial featured Astaire dancing with a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner. Then last year, California passed a more comprehensive protection law after Marilyn Monroe's face began appearing in unauthorized products, including "Marilyn Monroe hipster panties" sold on the Internet.