Hollywood studios give final offer

Hours before their contract with film and TV performers was due to expire, Hollywood studios on Monday capped weeks of stalemated labor talks by presenting the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) a "final offer."

SAG, indicating it was caught off guard by the "last-minute" move, said in a brief statement it would study the industry's 43-page proposal and "prepare a response to management once that analysis is complete".

But little of substance is expected to occur before next week, when SAG leaders learn whether they have succeeded in a bid to scuttle a separate labor deal newly brokered by SAG's smaller sister union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).