Contract negotiation between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP last night did not result in a new contract deal, consequently the guild’s national board will meet today to formally approve the launch of a strike.
Picketing is set to begin Friday morning. Not only will the SAG-AFTRA strike be the first actors strike against the film and television industry since 1980, it will also be the first dual strike (WGA & SAG-AFTRA) since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild.
SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee voted unanimously to recommend a strike of the Producers-SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical/Streaming Contracts which expired July 12, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. PT. The union will hold a press conference today, at 12 noon PT at SAG-AFTRA Plaza in Los Angeles, following the conclusion of the National Board vote.
This follows four weeks of bargaining, in which the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), who represent major studios/streamers (such as Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros. Discovery), has been unable to offer a satisfactory new deal that meets the key issues that SAG-AFTRA members are addressing.
“SAG-AFTRA negotiated in good faith and was eager to reach a deal that sufficiently addressed performer needs, but the AMPTP’s responses to the union’s most important proposals have been insulting and disrespectful of our massive contributions to this industry,” said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher. “The companies have refused to meaningfully engage on some topics and on others completely stonewalled us. Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reach a deal. We have no choice but to move forward in unity, and on behalf of our membership, with a strike recommendation to our National Board. The board will discuss the issue this morning and will make its decision.”
“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,” added National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. “That’s not how you treat a valued, respected partner and essential contributor. Their refusal to meaningfully engage with our key proposals and the fundamental disrespect shown to our members is what has brought us to this point. The studios and streamers have underestimated our members’ resolve, as they are about to fully discover.”
The guild’s contract had originally been set to expire on June 30 but was extended until July 12 to allow bargaining to continue.
This strike will halt film and scripted TV productions that employ SAG-AFTRA members, Under the guild’s Global Rule One: “No member shall render any services or make an agreement to perform services for any employer who has not executed a basic minimum agreement with the union, which is in full force and effect, in any jurisdiction in which there is a SAG-AFTRA national collective bargaining agreement in place. This provision applies worldwide.”
Therefore, this also affects productions happening outside of the United States that employ SAG-AFTRA members. Soap operas are exempt as they fall under a separate contract.
As previously reported by IFTN, a strike will affect the press tours of any films in which SAG-AFTRA members were employed. For the duration of the strike, guild members will not be giving red carpet interviews or attending electronic press junkets.
Commenting on the AMPTP’s offer to bring in federal mediation in the final 24 hours before the deadline to reach a new contract deal, SAG-AFTRA issued a statement saying “the AMPTP has abused our trust and damaged the respect we have for them in this process. We will not be manipulated by this cynical ploy to engineer an extension when the companies have had more than enough time to make a fair deal."
On June 7, SAG-AFTRA laid out some of their key bargaining issues. These include “economic fairness, residuals, regulating the use of artificial intelligence and alleviating the burdens of the industry-wide shift to self-taping”.
SAG-AFTRA on economic fairness:
“Outdated contract terms, coupled with the evolution of the media business, including shorter season orders and longer hiatuses between seasons makes it increasingly difficult for our members to achieve and maintain a middle-class lifestyle working as a performer. In sharp contrast to the diminishing compensation paid to our members, the studios are posting immense profits with a bullish outlook as demonstrated by lavish corporate executive compensation."
“SAG-AFTRA is committed to ensuring our members are able to make a living performing in scripted dramatic live action entertainment. This means ensuring increased compensation when our members work, shoring up the funding of our Health, Retirement, and Pension Plans, and providing our members a meaningful share of the economic value created by their performances.”
SAG-AFTRA on residuals:
“While new business models mean that more and more SAG-AFTRA content is monetized around the globe, residuals payments are failing to reflect the economic value of this exhibition. SAG-AFTRA is committed to ensuring residual payments both reflect the economic value of our members’ contribution and serve as a meaningful source of performer earnings.”
SAG-AFTRA on AI:
“Artificial intelligence has already proven to be a real and immediate threat to the work of our members and can mimic members’ voices, likenesses and performances. We must get agreement around acceptable uses, bargain protections against misuse, and ensure consent and fair compensation for the use of your work to train AI systems and create new performances. In their public statements and policy work, the companies have not shown a desire to take our members’ basic rights to our own voices and likenesses seriously.”
SAG-AFTRA on self-taping:
The guild has described self-taping practices as “unregulated and out of control.”
“Too many pages, too little time and unreasonable requirements have made self-taping auditions a massive, daily, uncompensated burden on the lives of performers. Reasonable rules and limitations, and access to other casting formats, are sorely needed to ensure fair access to work opportunities and protect performers against exploitation.”
The Galway Film Fleadh could be one of the first film festivals affected by the strike, pending the outcome of SAG-AFTRA’s National Board formally approving the launch of a strike.
Responding to the news, Galway Film Fleadh CEO Miriam Allen said:
"Whilst we are very supportive of both the actors and the writers in their efforts to strike a fair deal with the major studios and streamers, we believe it’s important to continue our programme of events and films. The fleadh is the first film festival in the world to be effected by the upcoming strike action and we believe there is no better way to show our solidarity with both SAG and the WGA than showing the wonderful work of their members on the screen".
