Screen Actors Guild contract impasse could lead to strike

In a move that ups the ante in the stalemate between actors and the studios over a new labor contract, the Screen Actors Guild has decided to pursue a strike authorization vote from its 120,000 members.

The decision came early Saturday morning after two days of mediation failed to bridge deep differences between the sides over how actors should be paid for work that is distributed over the Internet. Actors have been working without a contract since June 30.

Although a last-minute breakthrough is still possible, the actors and the studios now look to be inching closer to a costly showdown that would have seemed remote only a month ago.

Despite a rapidly deteriorating economy and the widespread acknowledgment that an actors' strike could cripple Hollywood's production industry, the actors union appears emboldened to put the studios on the defensive.

The coming weeks are a crucial period for the studios as deadlines to decide what big movies to make for 2010 are nearing and Hollywood readies for its all-important promotional event, the Academy Awards. A strike -- or the fear of one -- could wreak havoc on those plans.

Guild leaders are expected to time any walkout to disrupt the Golden Globe Awards and Academy Awards -- in January and February, respectively -- and studio plans to ramp up production on movies scheduled for release in 2010.

Although union members typically grant strike authorizations to give their leaders leverage in bargaining, securing enough votes could be difficult given the sickly economy and strike fatigue after a 100-day walkout earlier this year by the Writers Guild of America.

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SAG has been working without a contract since June and is the only major Hollywood union without a deal. The writers, directors, and daytime soap stars have already hammered out their own agreements with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

"Critical issues unique to actors remain in dispute," according to a union statement. "We have already made difficult decisions and sacrifices in an attempt to reach an agreement. Now it's time for the SAG members to stand united and empower the national negotiating committee to bargain with the strength of a possible work stoppage behind them."