• by Fern Siegel , May 8, 2008

First it was the writers, now it's the actors. And the operative word is "strike."

Despite weeks of negotiations, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said late Tuesday that talks with Screen Actors Guild have broken off. The hot button is new media pay; the actors want fees from DVD sales and the Internet.

The SAG contract expires June 30.

In a statement, SAG National President Alan Rosenberg said the halt was "unfortunate and deeply troubling." Rosenberg said the actors remain "committed to preserving rights that have been in place for decades and not giving the studios the right to use excerpts of our work in new media without our consent and negotiation."

The actors may believe they can stop production immediately, unlike the writers, who took a few weeks to shut shooting down. However, a SAG strike would probably hit feature films harder, since some TV shows hit rerun mode during the summer months.

The Screen Actors Guild represents 120,000 actors who perform in movies and prime-time comedies and dramas. The AMPTP will also negotiate with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which has 70,000 members. AFTRA covers talk shows, daytime soap operas and a few prime-time scripted programs. An estimated 40,000 actors hold membership in both unions.