Actors demand internet payments

Actors want a deal for internet rights

The internet will be one of the major issues surrounding the upcoming talks between acting unions and film bosses.

The Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) are preparing to enter into joint contract negotiations.

It follows the tentative conclusion of talks between the Writers' Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on 5 May.

It had been feared that movie and television production could be halted for the summer by a writers' and actors' strike.

AMTP's Nick Counter announces the deal

A last minute $41m pay increase settlement was reached, averting planned strike action by scriptwriters.

Now attention is turned to SAG's demands, which are thought to be similar to the WGA's which were for better payments for residuals.

But SAG is playing down the threat of a strike, calling it unnecessary hysteria.

Interactive

The writers' union secured a clause in its contract for provisions to pay writers for work distributed on the internet.

Now SAG is expected to seek monies for work that appears on the internet or through planned interactive services known as video on demand.

The Simpsons co-producer Rob LaZebnick is one of those pioneering film-making for the web with his animation website Icebox.

He said: "It's pretty historic. It's looking at the internet and taking it seriously as a content provider."

As yet the use of the web to distribute films and television programmes is an unknown quantity.

Movie libraries

But the big studios are already planning new ventures offering hit movies and library titles either to computers or to television set-top boxes.

Sony Pictures is due to launch its MovieFly service while Disney plans to offer movies on its Movies.com site.

As part of the agreement with WGA, studios agreed to pay 1.2% of their income from showing films over the internet.

The deal went further by offering extra payment for writers when a programme made for the internet becomes the basis for a big screen release or television show.

Both sides have agreed to continue talks about payments for broadcasts that can be downloaded time and time again.

LaZebnick said: "A lot of the shows can potentially exist forever online.

"You can click on them 100,00 times. I suppose it's comparable to DVDs and videos."

The unions and the AMPTP are expected to agree a timetable for talks soon.