Screen Actors Guild Will Ask Its 120,000 Members To Authorize Strike

Hollywood, CA (AHN) - Hollywood's largest actor's union, the Screen Actors Guild, said Saturday that it would ask its members to authorize a strike after its first talks with Hollywood studios in four months failed despite help from a federal mediator.

SAG represents more than 120,000 actors in movies, television and other media. Talks between it and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers collapsed without an agreement Saturday after two days of sessions with a mediator.

Union officials plan to begin an education campaign in support of authorizing a strike.

Hollywood was shut for three months after members of the Writers Guild of America walked off their jobs last November and a strike by SAG members would again idle most production at major studios and put thousands of writers and support staff out of work.