There is currently an effective stalemate in negotiating the new contract between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, as neither side wants to back down from its position. The latter has made a surprise "final" offer on July 1 for actors within the Screen Actors Guild. The contract between the two entities expired a day before, on June 30, but SAG members have continued to work.

Studios said this is the producers' final offer meant to end the stalemate which threatens again the multi-billion-dollar industry. A strike is, however, improbable, as it needs more than three quarters of SAG members to authorize it, which doesn't seem doable right now.

Three weeks have now passed since the past contract expired. The only pressure from either side was different forms of publicity. SAG leaders organized over the weekend a meeting attended by an estimated 700 people, which Variety claims was met with enthusiasm by members.

On the other side, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers paid for an ad which appeared today in the Los Angeles Times, and it is titled "The Deal: Let's Keep Working." The pro-deal advertisement includes comments made by leaders of the unions which already struck a deal about their agreements reached earlier this year.

SAG'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 other four employees' unions got a raise.