The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers has walked out of negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild citing the actors' "unreasonable demands" over fees from DVD sales and online content. Producers said on Tuesday that the Screen Actors Guild did not want to negotiate terms similar to those reached with the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America.

The current contract of the SAG actors is set to expire on June 30 and SAG hopes to reach an agreement until then just as the Directors Guild recently agreed to a new three-year deal. The actors’ guild consists of approximately 120,000 members.

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), which has negotiated jointly with the guild over the past 27 years, decided to break the alliance in late March and negotiate on its own the new contract. AFTRA shares more than half of its 70,000 members with SAG.

"With SAG's continued adherence to unreasonable demands in both new and traditional media, continuing negotiations at this time does not make sense," the producers said in a statement.

Last month, the Screen Actor Guild’s directors have rejected a petition signed by more than 1,500 actors, aiming to limit who can vote in future contract negotiations. The petitioners desire that only guild members who work at least one day a year to have the right to vote in contract talks.

SAG president Alan Rosenberg condemned the petitioners’ decision, considering it elitist. He also blamed the actors who signed the petition of dividing the guild, which needs to keep the members united. The group of petitioners includes Ben Affleck, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ethan Hawk, Charlie Sheen, Kevin Bacon and Glenn Close. Rosenberg claims that the Hollywood studios support the petition, because the move would weaken the guild.

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents a smaller number of actors, is also set to negotiate with producers.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was founded in 1933 as a successor of the Masquers Club. It was founded by six people: Berton Churchill, Charles Miller, Grant Mitchell, Ralph Morgan, Alden Gay, and Kenneth Thomson.