Stalemate in US actors' pay talks

Actors are working under a contract which expired last month

Hollywood studios and the Screen Actors Guild have failed to reach an agreement in their latest meeting over a proposed new pay deal.

Neither side made any comment after they met for two hours in Los Angeles.

The studios want union leaders to allow actors to vote on a new package they say is worth $250m (�126m) in additional payments over three years.

But the guild, which wants more money for actors from DVDs, says the $250m estimate is "highly inflated".

The Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP) offer would boost the minimum wages of members by 3.5% in the first year of the contract, 3% in the second and 3.5% in the third.

But SAG, which has 120,000 members, has claimed the proposed rises would not benefit the higher-paid actors.

We made it clear our final is our final and that we're not interested in further counterproposals AMPTP

Last week, SAG said that, as well as greater compensation for members when their work is released on DVD, it also wanted a greater say in product placement deals.

But AMPTP spokesman replied: "We made it clear our final is our final and that we're not interested in further counterproposals."

In the absence of a new contract, SAG and the AMPTP have agreed to continue working to the terms of their old deal, which expired on 30 June.

But Hollywood has slipped into a "de facto strike", with major studios halting most of their film production to avoid the possibility of costly labour disruptions.

A separate prime-time TV contract was agreed by the AMPTP and smaller acting union the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists early last week.

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