Actors Union, Studios Meet With Mediator on Contract Stalemate

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a89WHeZeLkKQ&refer=us

By Michael White

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Negotiators for Hollywood studios and the industry's largest actors union met last night for the first time in almost five months.

The meeting, arranged by mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez, was the first between the union and studio representatives since their labor agreement expired on June 30.

The union's board requested mediation last month in an attempt to break the stalemate in contract talks, and said it will seek strike authorization if the effort fails. Negotiations with the studios' bargaining entity, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, broke down after the two sides couldn't agree on pay for use of actors' work on the Internet.

Jesse Hiestand, a spokesman for the alliance, declined to comment after the meeting. Guild spokeswoman Pamela Greenwalt also declined to comment.

The guild is the last of Hollywood's talent unions to negotiate with the studios. The Writers Guild of America reached an accord in February after a three-month strike that halted film and television production at the major studios. The Directors Guild of America and the smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, reached agreements with the studios earlier this year.

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