SAG-AFTRA members joined the writers’ picket line at Netflix headquarters in LA on Tuesday. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Metropolis Desk-
A union that represents roughly 160,000 Hollywood actors is preparing to walk out after unsuccessful negotiations with major studios and streaming providers.
After a last day of talks on Wednesday ended without a deal, it will be the first time its members have halted film and television production since 1980. The studio management’s offerings, according to SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, are “insulting and disrespectful.”
She claimed that “the companies have refused to engage meaningfully on some topics and have completely stonewalled us on others.” We cannot start to negotiate an agreement unless they do so in good faith.
The union announced that the unanimous recommendation of its bargaining committee to strike will be put to a vote by the organization’s governing board later on Thursday morning. At noon PDT, a news conference will be held at the union’s headquarters in Los Angeles to reveal the results of the vote and, potentially, the official beginning of the strike.
The majority of the union’s rank-and-file members—98%—had already voted to authorize a strike. The organization that represents studios and streaming services expressed its “deep disappointment” with the strike decision, noting that it has provided “historic” wage hikes.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) released a statement in which it said that SAG-AFTRA had “put us on a course that will deepen the financial hardship for thousands who depend on the industry for their livelihoods” instead of continuing to bargain.
After a two-week extension of the union’s contract expired, word of the impending strike action broke.
On the last day of negotiations, a federal mediator was present at management’s request and with the union’s consent.
SAG-AFTRA members will now join the more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike against the same studios since the start of May. That strike had already halted the production of most movies and scripted television programs. There has been no apparent progress in ending the action.
Now, there are concerns that with actors joining the writers on strike, the shutdowns could stretch through the summer and perhaps even persist through the end of the year. The actors’ strike is expected to bring most of the remaining productions to a halt, except for some independent films not associated with major studios.
Since 1960, when former US President Ronald Reagan, who was then a performer, served as president of SAG, the organization that would later become SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood’s performers and writers haven’t been on strike at the same time.
Since the previous actors’ strike against studios in 1980, when the majority of television programs were on just three broadcast networks and movies were initially released in theaters, the industry has undergone significant upheaval.
The lead negotiator for the union, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, claimed that “the studios and streamers have implemented massive unilateral changes in our industry’s business model while at the same time insisting on keeping our contracts frozen in amber.”
“What has gotten us to this point is their failure to seriously engage with our key suggestions and the underlying disdain exhibited by our members. The studios and streamers are about to completely realize how strong-willed our members are. Many individuals worry that it will be challenging to rapidly agree on a contract due to the difficulty in developing contract language to address the age of streaming services and artificial intelligence (AI).
“This is a sea-change negotiation,” declared David Mumpower, co-host of the podcast “Streaming into the Void,” chief content officer of Mickeyblog, which covers Disney news.
And if they make a mistake today, they will continue to do so for years.
The strikes occur at a time when major media and IT corporations that have entered the realm of streaming services are more concerned with increasing profitability and reducing costs than they are with increasing subscriber numbers.
Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), CBS (VIAC), Disney (DIS), NBC Universal, Netflix (NFLX), Paramount Global, Sony (SNE), and CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery are among the studios represented in the negotiations by the AMPTP.
In the past year, many of these businesses have experienced decreases in their stock prices, which have forced them to make cost reductions that involve layoffs. Earlier, it appeared that the actors’ strike could have been stopped.
Drescher recorded a video message to members saying the union was having “extremely productive negotiations” with AMPTP.
But immediately after her message, a letter signed by hundreds of high-profile performers — including Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Jennifer Lawrence, Bob Odenkirk, Mark Ruffalo, Quinta Brunson, and Rami Malek — urged the union to take a hard line.
The actors said they were prepared to go on strike for the contract that members needed.
“A strike brings incredible hardships to so many, and no one wants it,” the letter said.
But if it comes to it, we’re ready to strike. Additionally, the notion that SAG-AFTRA members would be willing to make concessions while leadership is not worried us. We hope our message has reached you. What could have been a terrific bargain in any other year is just not enough at this unheard-of pivot point in our industry.
The letter was initially signed by more than 300 actors. Since then, the number of signatures has increased to over 1,000, according to the trade publication Deadline.
Concerns exist over AI’s emergence as well.
“Everyone agrees that AI will be deployed. Tom Nunan, a lecturer at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, noted that we are unsure of its intended usage just yet.
The AMPTP claimed that its presentation to the union contained “a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses.” Increased pay as well as advancement on residuals, particularly on streaming platforms, were issues at the center of the actors’ strike.
Source- CNN Business
