Global Courant
Actors represented by the Hollywood union SAG-AFTRA voted Monday night to approve a strike if they fail to agree a new contract with major studios, streamers and production companies by June 30.
The strike authorization was approved by an overwhelming majority – nearly 98% of the 65,000 members who voted.
The guild, which represents more than 160,000 film actors, broadcast journalists, announcers, hosts and stunt performers, will begin negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Wednesday, more than a month after the Writers Guild of America went on strike over its own dispute. with AMPTP. If the actors’ union eventually goes ahead with the strike, it would be limited to television and film productions; news and broadcasting would not be directly affected.
At stake is a higher base compensation, which actors say has been undermined by inflation and the streaming ecosystem, the threat of unregulated use of artificial intelligence, benefit schemes and the burden of “self-recorded auditions” – the cost of which used to be the top responsibility for casting and production.
“We are approaching these negotiations with the goal of reaching a new agreement that will be beneficial to SAG-AFTRA members and the industry at large,” the AMPTP said in a statement Monday.
The strike authorization, a tool at the negotiating table, comes at a critical time for the industry as 11,500 writers enter their sixth week of strikes and the directors guild recently reached tentative agreement with studios on issues such as wages, streaming residuals and artificial intelligence. If the actors went on strike, the industry already hampered by the writers’ strike would come to a near standstill, from production to promoting completed projects.
The WGA, DGA and SAG-AFTRA have shown solidarity with each other since the writers began walking the picket lines on May 2. Many in Hollywood were concerned about the very real possibility of all three guilds striking at the same time, as both directors and the actors’ contracts were about to expire as well.
That scenario changed Sunday night when the directors guild, which represents 19,000 film, television and commercial directors, announced they had reached a “truly historic” tentative deal with studios. The terms, which have not been disclosed in detail to the press or the other guilds, will be submitted to the DGA board for approval on Tuesday and then to members for ratification.
Representatives from both the Writers’ Guild and the Actor’s Guild congratulated the Directors’ group on reaching a tentative deal, though neither commented on specific points of the DGA terms. The WGA also said its negotiating positions remain the same.
The DGA deal did not sit well with some individual WGA members, some of whom recalled that the directors negotiated their own contracts while the writers went on strike in 2007-2008. That deal from 15 years ago, some believed, set a precedent that forced the writers to abide by the terms agreed upon by the DGA and end the strike.
“Zero surprise. The AMPTP continues to use their tired old playbook. And the DGA, sadly, remains on the phone, knowing that they can capitalize on the WGA’s decision to strike for a truly historic deal. Disappointing, but not surprising,” tweeted veteran television writer Steven DeKnight, who also wrote and directed “Pacific Rim: Uprising.”
Seemingly anticipating a repeat, the WGA negotiating committee released a letter last week warning that the studios would once again follow a “divide and conquer” strategy, pitting the guilds against each other.
“Our position is clear: to resolve the strike, the companies will have to negotiate our entire agenda with the WGA,” the WGA letter said. “We will keep marching until the companies negotiate fairly with us.”
While the unions seem more united this time around, their goals are also different in many arenas. For the directors, securing international streaming residues responsible for subscriber growth was a key component, as were wages, safety (such as banning live ammunition on set), diversity and inclusion, and the addition of Juneteenth as a paid holiday .
The WGA agenda includes wage increases, better residual flows and minimal staffing. An important area of overlap between everything is artificial intelligence. The DGA said they had reached a “groundbreaking agreement that confirms that AI is not a person and generative AI cannot replace members’ duties.”
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, claims the needs of the guild’s actor members are unique. Hollywood actors have not gone on strike against AMPTP since 1980, when there was a 95-day strike over pay TV and VHS tape conditions.
“Our negotiating strategy has never been based on or dependent on the outcome or status of another union’s negotiations, nor do we subscribe to the philosophy that the terms of deals with other unions bind us,” Crabtree-Ireland said on Sunday.
On Monday, he added that the vote was a “clear statement that it’s time for an evolution in this contract.”
