Screen Actors Guild

The gritty, globe-trotting drama "Babel" continued to be an award-season standout Thursday, picking up three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's critically acclaimed film weaving together four seemingly disconnected story lines earned a nod for its ensemble cast, which includes Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett as a couple whose trip to Morocco takes a tragic turn.

Only a few weeks ago Hollywood's biggest actors union appeared dangerously close to sliding into a strike that would shut down movie and TV production and further depress the region's economy. But a boardroom drama this week has drastically dimmed that prospect.

Hollywood's largest actors union strongly endorsed a new film and TV contract, closing the chapter on a yearlong dispute with the major studios. The vote, which was expected to be close, drew a stronger show of support than anticipated from the membership of the Screen Actors Guild, with 78% voting for the deal and 22% opposing it. Turnout was unusually high by SAG standards, with 35% of 110,000 union members casting ballots.

The Screen Actors Guild board of directors has appointed David P. White as the national executive director and chief negotiator for Hollywood's largest union. The appointment of White, who had been serving as interim executive director, was widely anticipated after a group of moderate actors that orchestrated the firing of his predecessor, Doug Allen, installed White in January. The moderates recently solidified their position on the national board when their candidate, veteran character actor Ken Howard, soundly defeated Anne-Marie Johnson, who was backed by the faction that had supported Allen and swept outgoing SAG President Alan Rosenberg into office four years ago. Johnson and Rosenberg filed an unsuccessful lawsuit to block the board's firing of Allen, who led the union during a yearlong contract standoff with the studios.

When Alan Rosenberg was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 2005, he vowed to take a hard line against the Hollywood studios. After years of moderation and pragmatism, Rosenberg argued, the union needed a more aggressive leadership to square off against the corporate behemoths that could undercut actors in the new era of digital entertainment.

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has made good on its threat to break ranks with its more powerful sister union, the Screen Actors Guild. AFTRA's board of directors voted Saturday to separately negotiate its upcoming prime-time television contract with the major studios -- without SAG at the bargaining table. The decision effectively ends a 27-year partnership between the two unions under which they had jointly negotiated film and prime-time TV contracts.

With the writers strike ended and Hollywood finally returning to work, pressure is mounting on the Screen Actors Guild from prominent members, and indirectly from the studios, to begin early negotiations for a new contract to avert another costly walkout.

Two of Hollywood's biggest stars -- George Clooney and Tom Hanks -- dropped in at the home of Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg this week to deliver a message: Start negotiating. With the writers strike fresh in their minds, the high-powered actors want to head off another labor disruption that could paralyze the film and television industry.

Signaling a widening rift within the Screen Actors Guild, members of the union's New York board are demanding that guild leaders begin negotiations by the end of next month. Citing "unnecessary delays" in contract talks with studios, the New York board adopted a resolution Wednesday demanding that talks start no later than March 31. The New York division -- one of three in the guild in addition to Hollywood and the regional branches -- accounts for 14 of 71 seats on the national board.