Hollywood producers have date with striking actors

At the urging of a federal mediator, motion picture and television producers will meet with representatives of 65,000 striking professional actors Thursday afternoon in an effort resolved the month-old walkout.

Meanwhile, the Screen Actors Guild has begun offering individual producers permanent three-years contracts, pay-TV and home video markets. In the new contracts, the producers must agree not merely to abide by terms resolved at the end of the strike, but to accept the guild's latest bargaining demands -- including an agreement to pay actors 6 percent of gross earnings from the pay-TV and home video markets.