SAG And AMPTP Head Back To Negotiate With A Mediator

November 20, 2008 1:22 p.m. EST

Los Angeles, CA (CNS) - The Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers are going back to the negotiating table on Thursday with a federal mediator.

Mediator Juan Carlos Gonzales has already met with each side separately; he met with the AMPTP two weeks after their first encounter, while he met with SAG on Wednesday.

The meeting on Thursday will include SAG's chief negotiator, Doug Allen, and AMPTP's lead bargainer, J. Nicholas Counter III.

AMPTP, the film producers' group, said it was excessive for the actors' group to demand a better deal than what the writers, directors, and other actors' union accepted earlier this year. The Guild is seeking union coverage of all Internet-only productions among other concerns.

A possible SAG strike, which would require authorization vote of 75 percent of its members, is looming once the mediation fails.