The Screen Actors Guild and major Hollywood studios have announced they agreed to extend their negotiations concerning a new three-year agreement.

SAG has been in talks with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers since April 15, trying to set up a new collective agreement to replace the contract that would expire June 30.

But after eight days of talks, the actors’ union and the AMPTP issued a joint statement confirming their agreement to extend negotiations by one week, until May 2.

"We believe we can best serve our members' interests by briefly postponing our negotiations," the statement said.

"At this time there remain significant gaps between the two parties, and we hope to use the extra time to narrow these gaps," an AMPTP statement referring to the postponement added.

The actors demand a greater share of revenues for entertainment delivered over the Internet, as well as higher “residual” fees for films and TV shows distributed on DVD, which is a request that screenwriters also made. However, they had to drop it, after the studios continually declined it. In the actors’ case, talks are less rancorous than the ones with writers, out of fear that an actors’ walkout that would shut down movie and television production would be much more costly.

Even though many differences occurred at the bargaining table, the agreement to extend negotiations and the decision to adhere to a strict media blackout during talks, indicate that both parts are willing to reach a deal without embitterment.

SAG’s current contract includes around 120,000 film and television actors.

SAG and the AMPTP announced they would resume negotiations Thursday at 10 a.m.