The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has made a surprise last-minute offer on Monday for actors within the Screen Actors Guild. The contract expired yesterday, June 30, but actors have continued to work today pending the analysis of the 43-page offer. Studios said this is the producers' final offer meant to end the stalemate which threatens again the multi-billion-dollar industry.

Screen Actors Guild leaders, although they have made an unprecedented request that members who are also in the AFTRA to vote against the deal, in order to allow for more pressure on the studios during negotiations, have previously said that they are not eager to start a strike. A vote on a possible strike has not been yet presented to members.

However, prospects are not good. SAG executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen said the AMPTP "offer does not appear to address some key issues important to actors." While SAG says actors will continue to work under the old contract until a new agreement is reached or an official strike will be called, the studios say a de facto strike is already in effect.

AMPTP said in a statement that the industry "is now in a de facto strike, with film production virtually shut down and television production now seriously threatened."

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. AFTRA managed to reach an agreement with AMPTP and its members are to vote on the deal. The vote count will end on July 8.

The issue has however divided actors within both unions. For example, Tom Hanks supports AFTRA’s deal Jack Nicholson backs SAG. A few days ago, George Clooney made an appeal to the two largest actor unions at Hollywood to start working together for the good of its members. Clooney suggested that the two unions should stop fighting against each other and should make a panel of 10 well paid actors that the studios don’t usually refuse, which should annually represent the actor’s interests in front of the film companies.