Another AMPTP Blunder: Force Majeure

An analysis by United Hollywood's Jeffrey Berman. -JA.

Two significant developments happened near the end of last week: The AMPTP agreed to come back to the negotiating table, and dozens of actors received letters of suspension due to force majeure, including the casts of 30 Rock, The Office and Rules of Engagement.

These two events couldn�t be more contradictory.

Force majeure literally means "greater force." It�s a clause in a contract that covers natural disasters or other "Acts of God.� Force majeure excuses a party from liability if some unforeseen event prevents it from performing its obligations under the contract.

So if the AMPTP is willing to get back to the table and negotiate, why are Sony and Universal laying off scores of actors? The answer is pretty simple: It�s an attempt to drive a wedge between the Screen Actors Guild and the WGA because SAG members have been extremely vocal in their support of our cause. But once again, the APMTP and its members have just made a major miscalculation. The issues we�re striking over today are the same ones that SAG will fight for seven months from now when their contract expires. The force majeure, which is essentially a "lock out" action by the companies, isn�t going to drive a wedge between our guilds. Instead, it's going to push 120,000 actors into the fray earlier than expected.

So on the one hand, the AMPTP giveth, appeasing the state legislators who have been leaning on them to come back to the bargaining table, while on the other hand they taketh away. In the process they create an even stronger bond between SAG and the WGA.

Makes you wonder where the Directors Guild will stand in all of this.

The upside for those suspended actors is, when we all go back to work -- and we will all go back to work, eventually -- this may be a great opportunity for them to renegotiate better contracts when the strike ends. But for now, I�d look for the picket lines to continue to grow as more actors and actresses find themselves without work and radicalized by the AMPTP's fumbling, hostile gambit.