Studios

Near the end of another article about the problems of the American TV business (well, lots of American businesses have problems these days), the creator of Scrubs, Bill Lawrence, has this to say:

The studios have come to a deal with AFTRA, the “other” actors’ union (the less powerful one) for the terms of a three-year contract. The terms on online content are essentially the same as in the deals the studios made with the directors’ guild and the writers’ guild earlier this year. The studios’ strategy is also familiar: the idea is to break off talks with the more powerful union (WGA, SAG), turn their full attention to a deal with the union that’s more pliable (DGA, AFTRA) and then use that as the basis for a deal with the bigger union. And while a SAG strike has not necessarily been avoided, this deal certainly seems to make it less likely.