Last Friday, the membership of the Screen Actors Guild voted down what would have been a historic agreement with the Association of Talent Agents in a vote that showed the deep divided within the union over the issues involved (see WIT for Feb. 25, 2002). The agreement called for the end of a sixty-three year old ban on outside investment in talent agencies---intended to prevent the conflicts of interest that would arise if talent agencies were partially or wholly owned by companies that they contracted with for advertisements---in exchange for support of the union?s efforts to end runaway productions (see WITs for Dec. 5 and 12, 2001). Although the failure to reach an agreement means that there is a potential for a major showdown between the two sides, talent agencies have indicated that while they are not interested in signing a new agreement on the old terms, for the time being they will adhere to the now expired agreement.
See JAMES BATES, Los Angeles Times, April 21, 2002