Cinematographers Blast SAG

The president of the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG) chastised the Screen Actors Guild's (SAG) recent maneuverings toward a strike in an announcement released on Friday.

Stephen Poster, the ICG president, said, "SAG has not brought anything new or promising to the bargaining table and a factional riff within SAG's membership is threatening to not only damage the union itself, but the industry as a whole."

In the statement, Poster referred to the "sad state" of SAG's negotiations and to "dysfunctional" guild leadership.

The denouncement by ICG follows SAG's recent urging of 44,000 members who also belong to the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (AFTRA) to vote down the prime-time deal with AFTRA. SAG's position is that the deal lacks advances for DVD residuals and falls short in gains in new media and salaries.