Hollywood actors deny having turned down studios' offer

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Hollywood's top actors' union denied Friday it had rejected the latest offer by the studios group and said that they were still intent on negotiating a new labor contract.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on Thursday accused the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) of making unreasonable demands in talks on its proposed replacement of the old contract which expired on June 30.

"The refusal of SAG's Hollywood leadership to accept this offer," an AMPTP statement said at the time, "in our opinion, puts labor peace at risk."

After meeting Friday behind closed doors, SAG issued a statement of denial.

"Our national negotiating committee did not, as has been erroneously reported, reject the AMPTP's offer. Instead, we made a comprehensive counter proposal that adopted some of their proposals and ...