AFTRA needs more time to mull Brooks offer

Brooks, who produced 2008's "Sordid Lives," gave AFTRA until Friday afternoon to accept his estimated half-million-dollar offer or he would instruct his attorneys to file for the bankruptcy of two of his companies, Once Upon A Time Films and Sordid Lives LLC, The Hollywood Reporter said.

But AFTRA told Brooks it needed more time to consider the offer, and Brooks agreed to wait until Sunday for an answer.

"This last offer is nearly double what has been on the table in the past," Brooks wrote in a letter to AFTRA. "I've asked my family for assistance once again, to try one last time to find an equitable solution."

Brooks says his financial problems sprang from the bankruptcy of Axium payroll service during the filming of "Sordid Lives," a development he said cost him $700,000.

He said he paid all salaries and production costs at the time and that the funds he still owes cover residuals and certain late-payment penalties.

"AFTRA has informed Mr. Brooks's attorneys that we require more time to review the latest settlement offer with our members," Chris de Haan, a publicist for AFTRA, said in a statement.

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