With actors working under a contract that expired a day earlier, SAG officials met Wednesday with studio reps for roughly four hours, discussing details of what the studios called their "final offer."

SAG insiders say the guild told the AMPTP that they needed more time to study the offer and that another similar session would be set next week.

The break for the Fourth of July holiday means that before they meet again, both sides likely will know the results of AFTRA's contract-ratification vote, the results of which are to be released Tuesday. The final offer that SAG has received mirrors the tentative pact that AFTRA members are voting on. SAG is urging its members who are also AFTRA members to vote down the deal.

The studios made clear in their final offer that Wednesday's session would be informational and that they would entertain no new proposals. Sources say the union used the time to clarify new language in the contract, focusing on the elements that differed from the AFTRA contract as well as those of the DGA and WGA, who signed off earlier this year.

It's unlikely that SAG officials found much to their liking in the studios' offer.

There still are several issues left out of the studios' offer, including the push to end SAG's 60 years of force majeure protections -- leaving it to the actor to negotiate on his or her own -- as well as DVD residuals and mileage reimbursement.

Still a major sticking point for SAG is the offers made in the area of new media. SAG repeatedly has told the public and its members that AFTRA's primetime/TV deal with the AMPTP is flawed and that it makes no significant gains for actors in new media, both in jurisdictional and residual areas.

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