Results are due July 8. The guild has said the AFTRA deal left many areas for improvement, including on residual payments for DVD sales, in the area of advertising weaved into scripts and on compensation for Internet content.
That position suggested SAG would turn down the producers' final offer, said Jonathan Handel, a former lawyer for the Writers Guild of America.
"SAG says it's reviewing the offer, but in fact what we can expect is a thorough rejection," Handel said. "This really is a situation where we're looking at a bit of a stalemate." AFTRA declined to comment.
The dispute has split actors who have taken sides between the warring unions. Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey and others have urged support of the AFTRA deal, arguing that doing otherwise could result in a painful repeat of the writers strike, which ended in February and is estimated to have caused more than $2 billion in economic damage. Jack Nicholson, Josh Brolin, Holly Hunter and others support SAG's tactics, saying AFTRA should return to the bargaining table to get a better deal. "I hope that cool heads prevail and that people get a chance to work," actor Ron Perlman told Associated Press Television at the weekend premiere of his "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." "I'm hoping and praying that they find some middle ground." Will Ferrell told AP Television last week that a strike would be unfortunate. "I don't think anyone wants to have to deal with a strike or go on strike, but if that's what has to be done, that's what has to be done," he said.
In its statement Monday, the producers alliance warned of the damage of another walkout, saying a work stoppage would cost SAG members $2.5 million in wages every day.
Other labor groups in the industry would lose $13.5 million, while the California economy would take a daily $23 million hit, it said. "With each passing day after June 30, there will be less work for those whose livelihoods depend on our industry," the statement said.