AFTRA sets date

The American Federation of Television & Radio Artists announced that it will begin contract talks with the studios and networks on April 28, less than two weeks after the Screen Actors Guild launches its bargaining. "Our proposed schedule should allow SAG sufficient time to work out a good deal with the studios," said AFTRA president Roberta Reardon in a statement. She must be kidding. The SAG negotiators won't be able to call for takeout in that time, much less work out a new contract. This could mean that AFTRA will quickly wrap up a deal, say sometime in May, and then put the screws on the folks at SAG, who will still be discussing who has the pastrami and why nobody ordered coleslaw. All this started over the weekend when AFTRA officials announced that they would not jointly bargain with SAG, which is believed to have a heavy-duty list of demands. The contract expires on June 30, and you better believe there will be big-time pressure on the SAGies to cut a deal before anyone starts talking strike.