It’s been 70 days since the Writers’ Guild went on strike after failed negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The latter is the group that represents all major studio and streaming services including Apple, Disney, Amazon, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, and Warner Bros. Last July 12, a minute before midnight, the time for negotiations between SAG-AFTRA (Actors’ Union) and the AMPTP was over.
The board of the Actors’ Union has been reunited since early this morning to decide if they are going to launch a strike or abide by the AMPTP settlement. Fran Drescher, president of the Actor’s Guild has just announced that the board has agreed on launching a strike against the studios.
“We had no choice. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. How they plead poverty when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them! They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment. We stand in solidarity in unprecedented unity,” said Drescher in the emotional conference press announcing the strike.
This is the very first actors strike against the industry in over 40 years and the first time actors and writers are on strike at the same time since 1960 when the would-be president Ronald Reagan was leading the Screen Actors Guild. Picketing and manifestations will start as soon as Friday morning.
As of now, the Actors Guild is representing about 160,000 movie and television actors that range from a-list celebrities to voice actors, stunt doubles, commercial actors, audiobooks actors, and even some extras that are enrolled in the Union. The board representing all this talent has been negotiating with the AMPTP for over four weeks with no success. But…
What Do the Actors Want?
The demands are not that different from the ones the Writers’ Guild had. Among several points, the Actors’ Guild wants to have contracts that reflect the changes the industry has had in the past years since their last settlement. That is, they want to ensure better conditions, better wages, and regulation of artificial intelligence. The board claims they have been quite reasonable with their petitions, but the AMPTP representing Hollywood companies, assure that they can’t meet those demands as the industry is going through a hard time.
In addition, SAG-AFTRA has also pointed out the issue of compensation regarding residuals and streaming services. So far, actors don’t really get residuals from views on streaming platforms, which is now the most used service for audiences to consume products. Mr. Crabtree-Ireland, one of the lead negotiators on behalf of the SAG-AFTRA, stated that the union is “fundamentally interested in making sure that our members share in the success of projects that they create.”
The other big issue the Union wants to discuss is the matter of artificial intelligence and the lack of regulations regarding its use. Actors are concerned about how technology can be used to replicate their work without being consulted, agreed on, or even compensated economically. We already have a glimpse of the lengths artificial intelligence can do with sound and even photos.
Fran Drescher added at the aforementioned conference that: “The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI. This is a moment of history and a moment of truth; if we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble; we are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business who cares more about Wall Street than you and your family.”
Movies and Series in Danger?
Today took place the London Premiere of Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited film, Oppenheimer. The event took place at the same time the board was still discussing going on a strike. The cast was asked about the matter during the red carpet, and all of them agreed that as a team and in support of their Guild they would leave the premiere if the strike was called.
Emily Blunt, who plays Kitty Oppenheimer in the film, stated that “if they call it, we’ll be leaving together as a cast in unity with everyone.” Eventually, minutes after the official announcement of the strike was made, most of the cast were seen leaving in solidarity. Although the strike only applies to events and acting gigs in the US, likely, future promotion events in the country for the movie and other projects like Barbie (whose cast has been all over the world promoting) will have to follow suit and cancel future events. Projects like House of the Dragon, who is filming in Europe at the moment, will likely continue working unless the actors decide to stop activities to support their Union.
