It looks like the Screen Actors Guild has little understanding of the new digital realities, as they want to continue doing business as usual on the Internet.
The existing SAG contract is based on agreements from 50 years ago, where every clip with a performer in it must receive a minimum of $759, no matter what its length. This of course worked well in a non-digital world, but now it would become a nightmare if it continued on that way. This is the major issue facing the Guild and the major studios.
It centers around what actors will be paid of Internet clips, as well as whether they must be contacted for consent before they're diplayed online.
How that practically works out, is the studios want to be able to post clips onine without the permission of the actors by having them pay a flat fee, rather than continue the way of doing business in the past, where studios had to make individual deals with each performer.
The Screen Actors Guild opposes the flat fee; the reason why talks were broken off last week.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers rightly point out that the administration of the old way of doing things in the digital age is an extraordinary burden, and that the black market of video clips will continue to thrive - with or without a deal in place.
In other words, the only way actors will get anything from digital video is through the AMPTP. Doing it under the old rules make it almost impossible to administrate.
As the AMPTP says, the work of the actors is already being exploited on the Internet, so attempting to do things the old way don't make sense. The actors say they have concerns over losing control over their images, but as is pointed out: that has already happened. So it makes no sense at all to continue on with old, stale agreements meant for a different age.
The talks between SAG and the studios will probably resume at the end of May, as the existing contract will expire on June 30.
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