Federal mediators will host negotiators from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the commercial producers' Joint Policy Committee (JPC) on Sept. 13 at the World Trade Center in Manhattan. SAG's commercial strike against producers is now 128 days long, making it the longest in the union's history, now ranking alongside the protracted 22-week writer's strike of 1988. Though both sides had acknowledged an impasse, with talks stalled for the past several weeks, a SAG source said the union had pushed for discussions to begin again as early as Aug. 31. The JPC apparently held off for a few weeks, creating the Sept. 13 start date.

As reported earlier, actors seek to up the rates for cable residuals, which were negotiated prior to the advent of modern cable television, which has grown to represent a large share of the industry. Moreover, having learned from making early concessions to the cable television industry, the actors also seek to establish a residual schedule for commercials for the internet.

-- By Murdoch McBride