Sometimes getting a deal made isn’t the last word. Yesterday, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced that its members had approved the deal it had struck with producers. The margin was fairly healthy–62 percent–but not as large as previous contract votes. But, to get to the contract deal, AFTRA had to create an unnecessary, in my opinion, rift with the Screen Actors Guild–a rift that may be hard to heal and may have much longer-term implications.

   It also makes it tough for SAG to get better terms:

A campaign by the Screen Actors Guild to persuade members of a smaller rival union to vote down a new contract has foundered, an outcome that could weaken SAG’s leverage in its negotiations with the Hollywood studios.

Members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on Tuesday approved a new three-year, prime-time TV contract, dealing a blow to SAG leaders who had gambled heavily on defeating a contract they blasted as bad for actors.

The AFTRA vote — widely viewed as a barometer of support for SAG negotiators — doesn’t eliminate the prospect of a strike, but it leaves the guild with fewer alternatives. The protracted negotiations are causing uncertainty throughout Hollywood, holding up feature film productions and casting a pall over the upcoming fall TV season.

"It’s hard to not see this as a setback because they invested so much in this and drew a line in the sand," said David Smith, a labor economist at Pepperdine University. "It’s probably going to limit their ability to negotiate for what they want."

    AFTRA’s president, Roberta Reardon, called the campaign by SAG against the AFTRA contract "an unprecedented disinformation campaign". Well, I would say that the larger question is: what did the unnecessary posturing and rift-causing do for the future of creators’ power in the industry? As I wrote some time ago, I think that AFTRA and SAG both fueled the tension, in different ways, that lead up to spilt between them. Someone is going to have to act like a grown-up and stop worrying about turf and ego.