Hollywood producers said Thursday they are willing to meet with a federal mediator to try to break a long-running stalemate in their talks with the Screen Actors Guild.
The move by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers came after the guild’s national board voted Sunday to formally request a federal mediator join the negotiations.
“We are also realistic,” the alliance said in a prepared statement about the nonbinding talks.
“It will be very difficult to reach an agreement if SAG continues to insist unreasonably that it deserves a better deal than the ones achieved by the other entertainment guilds during far better economic times,” the statement said.
Doug Allen, chief negotiator for SAG, said the union looked forward to meeting with the federal mediator and the AMPTP committee as soon as possible.
Actors in prime-time television shows and movies have been working under the terms of a contract that expired June 30, with the hope of avoiding a repeat of the 100-day writers strike that ended in February.
That strike cost the Los Angeles area economy an estimated $2.5 billion.
The actors guild wants union coverage of all shows made for the Internet, and residual payments for Internet shows that are rerun online.
The alliance has stuck by its final offer, which it said mirrored deals accepted by writers, directors and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Slideshow 26 photos
Celebrity Sightings
SAG and the alliance held 44 days of formal negotiations and failed to come to an agreement.
During its meeting on Sunday, the guild’s national board also considered whether to ask members if they want to authorize a strike. If 75 percent of SAG’s 120,000 members vote in favor of a labor action, it would then be left to the board to call the strike if it deems it necessary.
Producers said they have demonstrated their willingness to bargain reasonably while reaching deals with other unions.
It has said its last offer included more than $250 million in economic gains and groundbreaking new media rights.