The Region - News from June 29, 1987

Contract negotiators for the Directors Guild of America resumed talks with movie and television producers seeking to avert a threatened strike that would mark the first walkout in the guild’s 51-year history. “We’re preparing for a strike and continuing to negotiate,” guild spokesman Chuck Warn said. The Directors Guild has been negotiating since April 15 with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which includes Walt Disney Studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros. The guild contract covering 8,500 directors, assistant directors, production assistants and technical directors expires at midnight Tuesday, and the union has threatened to strike if a new accord is not reached. The main dispute has centered on the producers’ demand to eliminate residual payments to directors for repeated showings of movies on cable and network television.