The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has made a surprise last-minute offer on July 1 for actors within the Screen Actors Guild. The contract expired a a day before, June 30, but actors have continued to work today pending the analysis of the 43-page offer. Studios said this is the producers' final offer meant to end the stalemate which threatens again the multi-billion-dollar industry.

However, SAG leaders declined the final offer late Thursday, which in turn prompted producers to demand that members themselves are allowed to vote on the proposal, as their leaders don't seem eager to reach a compromise. Unfortunately, Alan Rosenberg, the guild’s president, rejected the call for a unionwide vote.

The Screen Actors Guild's leaders are apparently not happy that producers did not want to meet a specific demand, which is increase in DVD residuals, an issue which was a problem for all other four unions who already finished negotiations. None of these four got a raise.

While the Screen Actors Guild is close to pondering a strike, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) chose to accept the producers' deal, as its members, who were called to ratify the deal reached by the AFTRA negotiators with industry producers, voted 62.4 percent in favor of the prospective deal.

The issue has however divided actors within both unions. For example, Tom Hanks supports AFTRA’s deal Jack Nicholson backs SAG. George Clooney made an appeal to the two largest actor unions at Hollywood to start working together for the good of its members. Clooney suggested that the two unions should stop fighting against each other and should make a panel of 10 well paid actors that the studios don’t usually refuse, which should annually represent the actor’s interests in front of the film companies.

It's unclear that the next step will be. The AMPTP said in a statement that the refusal of SAG's Hollywood leadership to accept their latest and, apparently, final offer is the latest in a series of actions by SAG leaders that "puts labor peace at risk."

A strike is, however, improbable, as it needs more than three quarters of SAG members to authorize it. Which doesn't seem possible right now. Screen Actors Guild leaders, although they have made an unprecedented request that members who are also in the AFTRA to vote against the deal, in order to allow for more pressure on the studios during negotiations, have previously said that they are not eager to start a strike.