The AMPTP has told SAG that the pay increases offered in the deal would be retroactive to July 1 as long as the guild can get the deal ratified by its 120,000 members on or before Aug. 15.

News of the incentive emerged Wednesday with the majors prepping contingency plans for declaring the sides to be at an "impasse" should SAG remain unmoved. At that point, if there's no strike, the majors can implement the terms of the "last, best and final" offer that it handed the guild on June 30, as dictated by labor law.

SAG bosses are still expected to reject the offer, smelling blood even as a strike vote is still expected to fall short. Wake us when there's progress.

• Studios sweeten SAG offer [Variety]

"I do not think it is a good time to strike now. The issues could be resolved over the next couple of years (without strike action)," De Niro said.

He contrasted calls by SAG to strike with the deal done by the DGA on the same issues, suggesting that directors had "done their homework" to get a decent deal.

"I do not think the actors have done that," he said. "I do not know if it is the right time to be doing this at all with the economy the way it is."

Nowhere is the economy worse than De Niro's vocabulary, where contractions are going for a record $140 per barrel but which powers along nevertheless on self-effacing candor and embittering agency-hopping. And while his point of view hardly seems to embrace the AFTRA contract on which members will vote this week, he isn't to be classified in the "neutral Clooneyesque pansy" category, either, thus requiring a whole new segment of the Turf War Map for "Part-Time Directors Who'd Rather Not See The DGA Contract Rendered Worthless Three Months Into its Term." We'll get to work on a redesign straightaway.

• Article Name [Source]

For starters: "The threat of a SAG [NOUN] reached near-[ADJECTIVE] levels this week as the actor's union [PAST-TENSE VERB] continued its acrimonious stand-off with the [PLURAL NOUN] at the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers." Follow the jump for more — the fun (almost) never ends!

The week began with the latest [NOUN] between SAG and its former [GERUND] partners at AFTRA, whose recent prime-time [NOUN] with the studios was the target of a [ADJECTIVE] SAG rally on Monday. "Instead of using every day it has this [NOUN] to aggressively and [ADVERB] negotiate for its members, the SAG committee spends days in internal [NOUN], planning the 'Vote No!' campaign, staging [PLURAL NOUN], putting staff on the marching line and spending our [ADJECTIVE] money trying to defeat it," AFTRA negotiating committee chairman Matt Kimbrough said in a [NOUN].

A day later, SAG executive director Alan Rosenberg told Variety that contract negotiations had been [ADJECTIVE] since AFTRA made its own [NOUN] with the majors. A deal seems unlikely by [PROPER NOUN] 30, he added. Among the continuing [ADJECTIVE] points: new-media jurisdiction, product placement, force majeure and DVD residuals.

Meanwhile, the AMPTP is standing by its [NOUN] that SAG won't get a [ADJECTIVE] deal than AFTRA. The latest reports have the studios [GERUND] the news [NOUN] to accuse SAG of stalling negotiations until July 7, after the results of AFTRA's own vote are [PAST-TENSE VERB]. "We hope that Rosenberg's [NOUN] does not signal the intention of SAG's Hollywood leaders to bring our industry to a [NOUN]. We remain committed to [GERUND] as hard as we can to reach our fifth [ADJECTIVE] agreement of 2008 by June 30," the studios announced in a statement.

Meanwhile, SAG has yet to seek a [ADJECTIVE] authorization from its 120,000 [PLURAL NOUN]. Follow up with us again next week if/when any progress is [PAST-TENSE VERB]!

• Studios accuse SAG of stalling talks [Variety]

The AMPTP apparently relented on the issue of establishing an online clip library, which, as of last weekend, remained one of the negotiations' primary sticking points. AFTRA's members (who still need to ratify the contract) will retain consent over the usage of their work on the Web, though Variety reports that the new deal "calls for [AFTRA] and the companies to 'develop a mechanism' by which performers can provide or withhold consent for non-promotional use of clips from TV libraries."

AFTRA currently represents about a dozen prime-time shows including Curb Your Enthusiasm and 'Til Death, but that number could climb if SAG takes to the picket line this summer. And it's certainly possible: When SAG's previous negotiations broke down earlier this month, leaders cried they were within a few hours of a deal. That was later discovered to be untrue. Listen for more saber-rattling as the parties reconvene in the month ahead.

• AFTRA, majors agree deal [Variety]
• Biz watches AFTRA-studio cliffhanger [THR]

We are confronting a number of challenging issues, and a resolution may not be quick or easy. ... AFTRA members and the Industry should be able, given appropriate safeguards, to satisfy and profit from the consumers' desire to access content through legitimate New Media sources, as opposed to the unlawful and uncompensated piracy that threatens the entire entertainment industry.

There are no easy solutions, which means that our Negotiating Committee must be both innovative and pragmatic, and the Industry must also embrace a realistic approach.

This all comes mere days after one of the new-media sticking points was revealed to be an online "clip library" of SAG/AFTRA members. In what they're calling an effort to curb said piracy, the studios want to make the actors' likenesses available online on a pay-per-use basis. The unions, which maintain they've had the right over that usage for decades, refuse to cede it now.

Leslie Simmons first noted the impasse last week, suggesting SAG's skittishness over AFTRA acquiescing to the producers' demands. Reardon's e-mail implies otherwise, but SAG's national executive director Dave Allen wasn't taking any chances today anyway, complaining in a SAG video quoted on Variety, "We think that's a real problem, and we suspect that the membership will agree with us."

Additionally, the actors are negotiating for the right of refusal with regard to product placement; if Robert Downey Jr. decides around the time of the next Iron Man that he hates Audis or abhors Vanity Fair, then they're as good as gone. We'd like to think that's one for the next contract (SAG returns to the bargaining table May 28), but if they really do plan to dynamite the industry, they might as well get their money's worth.

• AFTRA Negotiations With AMPTP [DHD]
• SAG hip to clip issue [Variety]

"I think it's insanity that we're not able to finish our negotiations and that the unions are being pitted against each other," [Allen] told Daily Variety. "We ought to be able to figure out a way to do this together, particularly since we've done so much of the heavy lifting. It's in the best interests of the memberships." ...

Allen warned the majors at the end of Tuesday's talks that it would become more difficult to make a deal with SAG if the guild were pushed aside in favor of AFTRA. "We'll lose the momentum we have at negotiations, and members' positions will become more entrenched," he explained Wednesday.

Dragging your cross from the prop department to the conference room isn't quite what we'd call "heavy lifting," but we admire Allen's dramatic protestations nonetheless. Especially when Fox chief Peter Chernin was on his first-quarter earnings call across town, spinning himself into a lather over the "de facto actors strike" such SAG uncertainty implies:

"It is difficult for anyone to start a movie now," because a formal strike would interrupt it, he said on his company's earnings call following improved fiscal third-quarter earnings driven by strong TV results. "It's a really bad thing for the industry," especially after an "extremely devastating" writers strike, Chernin said.

Asked about producers' strategy in their AFTRA talks compared with SAG talks, he said they are not looking for quick deals with anyone group over another. Instead, "we seek fair deals for everyone," he added.

And failing that? Get ready for American Idol: The Movie, we guess.

• AFTRA nixes SAG request for delay [Variety]

Although the guild hasn't set a strike authorization vote for the 120,000 SAG members yet, the industry continues to fret about a work stoppage. The majors have remained unwilling to commit to starting new feature productions until a SAG deal is in hand — a situation that some in the biz are calling a de facto strike.

After two weeks, the guild's been unwilling to back down from two of its initial demands — that the companies increase DVD residuals and offer a shorter period of free usage for promotional purposes for streamed content than the 17- and 24-day windows in the DGA and WGA deals. The majors have insisted they won't give in to either demand.

So what now? What else? Our money's on the vaunted SAG leadership to bitterly walk away from the table at the end of the week without a deal, prompting yet another labor cliffhanger to which union boss Alan Rosenberg will again invoke his "social justice" creds while the studio production calendar goes into lockdown. And why wouldn't he? He's an actor, for Christ's sake; the next two months of drama will be the best role he's had in years.

• SAG's Week to Decide [Variety]

They write, "By publicly naming names and encouraging people who have the power to hire writers to keep them 'at arm's length,' and saying they must be 'judged accountable, it is clear the WGA leadership is seeking to deny employment to these writers in the future. That is a direct violation of federal labor law, and as the employers of those writers, we have a responsibility to defend them and the rule of law in this case." The WGA quickly responded, saying the charges are "baseless and represent an intrusion by the studios into an internal union matter." We fear this matter will only continue to escalate, leading eventually to ugly and violent protests as the Fi-Core 28 are bussed onto studio lots to enact their basic, soap-writer's right to pen crappy dialogue involving serial-killing transexuals and the cancer-battling half-sisters who love them.

• WGA, studios return to corners [Variety]

We remain committed to ensuring that the rewards of our success are distributed fairly among all of our industry's talent, so that we all have appropriate and meaningful stakes in the outcome of our work.

Fortunately, the three labor agreements already reached — with the DGA, the WGA, and the AFTRA Network Code — provide the new framework for our industry's economic future. We hope that our negotiations with SAG and AFTRA will bolster this new economic framework, enabling all of us to share equitably in the success of new media and to respond with creativity and swiftness to market changes. If our industry relies on this new framework, we can all avoid more harmful and unnecessary strikes.

We obviously take great joy in observing such dick-swinging, gun-pointing swagger in advance of the unions' April 15 talks — particularly the addition of "fortunately," which is the only word left from the original letter draft obtained by Defamer: "Fortunately, because we have an 11 o'clock tee time and plan to screw you anyway, we have attached 'sign-here' stickies where you should just throw your names. We've included a self-addressed, stamped envelope for your convenience. In case you happen to read the contract, please call our lawyers with any questions or impotent, thinly veiled strike threats. We've got a whole season of The Moment of Truth ready to go just in case. See you on the set! xo, AMPTP."

• Open Letter from the AMPTP [AMPTP via Variety]

· USA buys the cable rights to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (as well as those of the first three Indy installments) in a deal that could cost $40 million, depending on how much Crystal Skull earns in theaters. [Variety]
· The AMPTP says it's ready to start bargaining with SAG on a new contract, but reserves the right to walk away from negotiations in bad faith should they decide at any point that doing would be a good PR move that makes the actors seem "greedy" and "unreasonable." [Variety]

• Previously: The Strike Is Over! On Wednesday! Let There Be Rejoicing! But Not Too Much! [Defamer]

Those who don't want to kick their gloom habit cold-turkey can feel free to fret about the June 30th expiration of SAG's contract with the studios and the possible (if increasingly unlikely) walkout that could follow, or spend some time perusing today's "Was the strike worth it?" piece in Variety, which attempts to throw a sobering bucket of cold water upon those still drunk on this weekend's good news by making them consider the "here and now" losses incurred while achieving "victories in new media that may pay big dividends in the future." (Example: Did you know that some of the aforementioned showrunners may have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of dollars during the stoppage to help save writers' livelihoods in the internet age? They must be crazy!) In the interest of preserving the first days of positive feelings the industry has experienced in about fourteen weeks, can't we all go back to swigging champagne and not picking though the wreckage of the post-strike landscape, at least for the next 48 hours or so? No one wants his Monday morning hangover exascerbated by the tsk-tsking pal who insists you move the car you've parked on his lawn before your headache begins to subside.

• Showrunners back to work Monday [Variety]
• Dealmakers spurred by fear, loathing [Variety]
• TV's new developments [Variety]

Time is of the essence in getting the board to sign off on a deal with the upcoming television pilot season, and the Feb. 24 Academy Awards show, hanging in the balance.

While the negotiating committee, headed by John Bowman, is expected to recommend the pending contract, approval by the board is not necessarily a slam-dunk because it is composed of several hard-liners who may be tougher to win over.

Furthermore, any approval would come only after a formal accord is drawn up by lawyers on both sides.

Attorneys are putting in writing what guild negotiators and studio representatives verbally agreed to Friday when they bridged key differences over how much writers should earn for work distributed over the Internet.

To help thousands of still-fragile WGA members survive the emotionally harrowing week to come, United Hollywood urges writers to take a deep breath, head back to the picket lines, and hope for the best; after all, Friday's reported gains could easily be lawyered out of existence if the Guild allows itself to be distracted by premature dreams of the strike's end—or, in a far more distressing scenario, if AMPTP bogeyman Nick Counter, enraged by the speedy undoing of months of his hard work in negotiations-avoidance, somehow chews through his restraints in time to scuttle the seemingly imminent deal.

• Guild board favors deal, with caution [LAT]
• Previously: The Strike Is Over! Or Over In A Week! Or Everyone's Being Set Up For Another Crushing Letdown! [Defamer]

But despite the widespread, media-blackout-defying leaks (and mogul-supplied proclamations issued from a luxury suite at the big game in Arizona) indicating that a deal could be reached sometime this week (huzzah!), the Guild quickly cautioned its members not to blow the remainder of their strike funds on lavish going-back-to-work parties based on "rumors about either the existence of an agreement or its terms" (muted huzzah!). So until WGA leadership issues its official announcement of a new contract (to be accompanied by a photo of president Patric Verrone hugging a weeping trio of Les Moonves, Peter Chernin, and Bob Iger), everyone should resume their still-important picketing responsibilities, resisting the impulse to indulge in the occasional high-five recognizing that the end might be in sight.

• Progress Toward Ending Writers' Strike [NY TImes]
• Contract outlined in Hollywood writers strike [LAT]
• Strike: An end in sight? [Variety
• [THR]

To Our Fellow Members, We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period, we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period. In order to make absolutely clear our commitment to bringing a speedy conclusion to negotiations, we have decided to withdraw our proposals on reality and animation. Our organizing efforts to achieve Guild representation in these genres for writers will continue. You will hear more about this in the next two weeks. On another issue, the Writers Guild, West Board of Directors has voted not to picket the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Members of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) face many of the same issues concerning compensation in new media that we do. In the interest of advancing our goal of achieving a fair contract, the WGAW Board felt that this gesture should be made on behalf our brothers and sisters in AFM and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). Best, Patric M. Verrone President, WGAW Michael Winship President, WGAE

· Notes of cautious optimism™ have been struck by polled showrunners, though at least one quoted admits that writers may not know if the deal's new media provisions will prove fair until the buggering is already in progress: "'I can't look at that and go, "I'm being fucked"' or "That's good," " he said. 'I don't know what the landscape is going to be a year from now or five years from now. To me, the issue I always thought was the unknown. Maybe they could screw us royally, but we won't know that until it happens.'" [Variety]
· Variety analyzes the deal: "All in all, the master contract agreement...provides substantial gains in new media that will put more coin in the pockets of film and TV helmers." For a slightly different take from those whose livelihoods are at stake, here's United Hollywood's "first glance" at the deal summary. [Variety].
· We're sure that wherever he is, Orson Welles is thrilled that his name graces the title of a Zac Efron project. [THR]
· The networks, desperate for anything they can slap onto their strike-crippled schedules, are going batshit insane for celebrity circus shows! NBC's "closing a deal" for international hit Celebrity Circus, ABC wants to revive Circus of the Stars, and CBS and Fox are fighting to the death to win the rights to A Baldwin Brother To Be Named Rides An Elephant In Circles While Andy Dick Dangles From A Trapeze Above Him. [Variety]

· Everyone is Hollywood is "on edge" (about as big an understatement as we've ever read—how about "doubled over due to gut-splitting tension"?) as they wonder: Where the hell is this imminent DGA deal with the studios that will either a) contain terms just good enough to lead the way to a new contract with the WGA or b) be so unfavorable to writers that the current labor war will continue until the Earth hurtles into the sun? Relief in the form of an official deal announcement may or may not come by the end of the week. [Variety]
· Moving to cement her typecasting as a cheerleader, indestructible Heroes pom-pom girl Hayden Panettiere is in negotiations to star in an adaptation of the novel I Love You, Beth Cooper as a teenage spirit-squadder. [THR]
· Fulfilling its promise to lighten up on staff during the strike, Warner Brothers lays off about three dozen facilities employees. They are, however "very sorry for the impact this has on our nonstriking work force." [THR]

· Having quietly completed two days of negotiations over the weekend, everyone in Hollywood will be watching the DGA and AMPTP for signs that they're about to announce a deal. (Especially members of the WGA, who are praying the directors don't reach an unfavorable agreement that makes their own contract-talk suffering any worse.) [THR]
· The Producers Guild nominates The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood for its feature film award, jilting both of last night's Globes winners, Atonement and Sweeney Todd.[Variety]