AirLockAlpha.com

Just like they've told the writers and the directors in the past, the production studios are telling the Screen Actors Guild that they need time to "experiment" in new media in areas like the Internet, and when the experiments are over, they can come back to the table and talk better compensation packages.

But to get an idea on how long an experiment lasts, SAG officials say they only have to look at how studios treated home video entertainment.

"How can we believe that management will ever improve these new media terms when they still won't improve the home video residual formula after 22 years," SAG asked on its official site outlining to members why it's asking for a strike authorization vote.

In SAG's latest salvo, actors typically receive only 1 percent of revenue generated through DVD sales based on a formula first agreed to in 1986 "when management needed to 'experiment' with home video."

"In this negotiation, we have asked only that management at least make pension and health contributions on DVD residuals, rather than making us pay them ourselves out of our paltry 1 percent. They have refused even that," SAG said on its Web site.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group collectively representing the studios, fired back Monday saying that agreements that are good for other unions should be good for SAG as well.

"Our industry has worked hard this year to make six major labor agreements," the group said in a letter. "These six agreements were intensely fought and aggressively negotiated by all sides, with major compromises made by everyone involved. Now, with all the other guilds and unions having accomplished so much, SAG is demanding that the entire industry literally throw out all of its hard work because it believes it deserves more than the 230,000 other working people in the industry."

Unlike the Writers Guild of America strike last year, it seems that there isn't as much broad support for a work stoppage from the actors this time around. A lot of the concerns center around the struggling economy, which is now considered to be in recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. Also, there are many who fear that two consecutive work stoppages in as many years could throw the filmmaking industry into a tailspin that could take years, if not decades, to recover from.

But SAG officials say a vote to allow a strike -- which requires a 75 percent approval -- does not necessarily mean there will be a strike.

"A strike authorization is a tool that gives us more leverage in negotiations, and we intend to use it to try to get a fair deal," SAG said.

If SAG were to go on strike -- which many observers say is unlikely -- Hollywood may not shut down as much as it did when the writers walked out. Studios already worked out a deal with a much smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, that tend to cover more of the non-scripted actors used in programs like late-night talk shows and reality shows.

At the same time, scripted programs have been filming in an accelerated production schedule this year in anticipation of a possible SAG strike, so any walkout may have to be lengthy in order to start costing the studios money.

"Yes, the bad economy means that it will require more of a sacrifice from some of our members if, in fact, a strike becomes necessary," SAG said on its official site. "But remember that this union was founded and obtained its first contract during the depths of the Great Depression. Hard times do not mean we stop demanding fair treatment from management."

In the letter signed by the heads of Fox Group, Paramount Pictures Corp., The Walt Disney Co., Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros., CBS Corp., MGM and NBC Universal, AMPTP reiterated its position that it's continuing to offer the same deals made to other unions over the past two years, despite the current state of the economy.

"We are standing firm behind our offer because it represents a pattern of hard-fought agreements of the past year, and its construct is vital to the future of our industry," the letter said. "No single guild or union should be allowed to undermine the hard-won consensus over how our industry can experiment and then prosper in the speedily changing new media marketplace."

Thanks to Raissa for the tip!

Feeling a little horrific? Get your daily dose of horror news straight from The Doll, Rabid Doll that is at www.RabidDoll.com.

Follow Airlock Alpha's headlines as they happen on Twitter! Click here to make it so!

Hear Michael Hinman on SyFy Radio every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SyFyRadio.