A bargaining group for Hollywood?s largest movie and television companies on Wednesday told its members, in effect, not to expect a breakthrough in stalled talks with the Screen Actors Guild before their scheduled end on Friday. ?Although both parties have spent considerable time in the negotiating room, we are not yet close to an agreement,? said the message, posted by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on its Web site. The statement and an accompanying critique of positions taken by the guild set the stage for a new and more difficult phase in the showdown between actors and producers over a contract to replace the current deal, which expires June 30.
See "Producers? Group Pessimistic on Labor Talks With Actors", Michael Cieply, The New York Times, April 30, 2008