SAG's famously fragmented national board took a unified stance Saturday, passing a resolution that urges its negotiating committee to focus the stalled contract talks with the Hollywood studios on issues involving new media.

Jurisdiction and fair compensation for new media is a "core principle" of the guild, according to the resolution, approved by a 68-0 margin. The nature and timing of the board resolution -- establishing new media as a bargaining priority despite the fact that the talks have broken down -- also sends that signal that it is unlikely that the studios' final offer will be brought before SAG's membership anytime soon.

Resolving is one thing, however, and achieving it at the bargaining table is another; SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers have been locked in a de facto impasse ever since the production companies and studios made their final offer to the union on June 30. The two sides haven't spoken in more than two weeks.

After the meeting Saturday, SAG chief negotiator and national executive director Doug Allen indicated that he was in for the long haul.

"We aren't happy about the delay, but we have to be careful," he said. "The problem is they're asking us to accept a deal that doesn't have the minimum standards necessary to protect actors and has negative consequences that could last for decades and really affect the professional actor in maintaining their lives and families without having a second or third job."

Allen believes that more talks will come, probably on a smaller scale. The WGA held several smaller sessions with key AMPTP reps before ending its 100-day strike.

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