TV Actors Guild Splits from SAG

In a move that will complicate upcoming negotiations between actors and Hollywood studios, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists split yesterday from the Screen Actors Guild, its sister union for 27 years. AFTRA shares more than half of its members with SAG, but its more moderate contract goals pull it in a different direction, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The split could hurt SAG's negotiating power with studios, but it could also make a SAG strike more likely, as AFTRA will no longer be around to temper hardline contract demands by Screen Actors representatives. AFTRA leadership cites a "relentless campaign of disinformation and disparagement" by SAG in the breakup, which involved plans to seize contract jurisdiction for the soap "The Bold and the Beautiful." (More AFTRA stories.)