SAG actors union goes on strike, joining Hollywood writers

Hollywood actors are officially heading to the picket line.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild, the United Television and Radio Artists of America, will join the more than 11,000 film and television writers who have gone on strike from midnight onwards after being unable to reach an agreement with producers.

“We are victims here,” union president Fran Drescher said at a news conference Thursday. “We are falling victim to a very greedy entity. I am appalled at the way we are being treated by those who do business with us.”

“It’s disgusting,” she said. “They’re a disgrace.”

The failure of negotiations with the Union of Film and Television Producers means that film and television production starring actors will cease immediately, essentially shutting down Hollywood.This will be Hollywood’s first tandem strike since 1960.

The Screen Actors Guild has already approved one extension of the contract, which was due to expire on July 1, and has said it will not allow another extension.

When they entered talks last month, Hollywood actors wanted better wages, working conditions and health and pension benefits, as well as guardrails for the future use of artificial intelligence in TV and film production.

The Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike since May, is seeking higher damages and residual fees, especially for streaming programming, as well as new rules requiring studios to staff a certain number of writers for TV shows at a certain time . specific period. The association is also seeking compensation throughout pre-production, production and post-production. Currently, authors are often required to contribute revisions or produce new material without compensation.

The WGA has similar concerns about the use of AI in screenwriting.

SAG-AFTRA said producers had been reluctant to offer their members a fair deal and had worked hard to delay negotiations.

In remarks ahead of Thursday’s news conference, Drescher called AMPTP’s response to the actor’s proposal “insulting and disrespectful.”

Her comments come amid reports that studio producers plan to implement a tactic against writers in which producers don’t plan to try to negotiate with them for months.According to reports, the producers want the screenwriter Will run out of money and possibly lose their home And was forced to come to the negotiating table.

While AMPTP has denied the reports, studio executives have remained outspoken about what they consider unreasonable contract demands.

“As an industry we have negotiated a very good deal with the Institute of Directors, which reflects the value that directors contribute to this great business,” disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC Thursday morning ahead of SAG-AFTRA’s announcement. “We want to do the same with writers. We want to do the same with actors. They have a level of expectation, but it’s unrealistic. They’re adding to the set of challenges that, frankly, the business already faces. very disruptive challenges.”

Iger noted that the industry has yet to fully recover from the coronavirus pandemic and that these strikes come at “the worst time in the world”.

“It’s going to have a very, very disruptive effect on the whole business,” he said. “Unfortunately, there’s been huge collateral damage to the industry and the people who support the service. I could go on and on. Even, because of the sheer size of the business, it even affects the economies of different regions. It’s a shame.”

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is a member of the Film and Television Producers Union.

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