The union representing Hollywood actors said this on Thursday Difficult negotiations with studios to avoid a major industry shutdown ended without a deal, paving the way for a vote on the first actors’ strike in more than four decades.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), which represents 160,000 performers, including A-list stars, said last-minute talks have failed to resolve grievances about falling wages and the threat of artificial intelligence (AI).
Union representatives at the negotiations unanimously recommended a strike to the national committee. The decision to go ahead with the strike will be made this Thursday in Los Angeles.
A “double strike” of actors and writers, the latter currently underway, which has not happened in Hollywood since the 1960s, would bring nearly all American film and television production to a halt.
Series returning to television this year would face long delays. And if the strikes continue, future major productions will also be postponed.
Actors demand better pay and protection against future use of AI in the television and film industry.
“We are deeply disappointed with SAG-AFTRA’s decision to pull out of the negotiations. This is the choice of the Union, not ours,” said the Film and Television Producers Alliance (AMPTP), the organization representing major studios and platforms of Hollywood, in a statement. rack.
Hollywood studios enlisted federal mediators to help resolve the deadlock – a last-minute move described by SAG-AFTRA as a “cynical ploy”.
SAG-AFTRA represents A-list stars like Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Glenn Close. On June 6, 97.91% of members voted to allow them to strike after the end of the current contract with the AMPTP if a deal was not close.
premieres
A strike would immediately prevent Hollywood stars from promoting some of the year’s biggest releases.
In London, the Wednesday night premiere of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” was brought forward an hour so that the cast, including Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, could attend without breaking union rules, according to Variety.
But a strike would disrupt the film’s US premiere, scheduled for Monday in New York, as well as the launch of “Haunted Mansion” at Disneyland, which could be reduced to a “private event for fans.”
Comic-Con’s annual pop culture gathering in San Diego, scheduled for next week, is in danger of running out of Hollywood stars.
Until the Emmy ceremony, the televised version of the Oscars, scheduled for September 18, could even be pushed back to November or next year.
“We look forward to the ongoing union negotiations reaching a fair and prompt resolution,” Television Academy president Frank Scherma said when the Emmy nominations were announced Wednesday.
If the writers’ strike has already drastically reduced the number of films and shows in production, an actors’ strike would jeopardize almost all productions.
On Wednesday, Hollywood unions representing directors, backstage workers and screenwriters issued a statement of “unwavering support and solidarity” for the actors.
“While studios have an astronomical collective value, many billion viewers worldwide and skyrocketing profits, this battle is not about actors versus studios,” they said.
Workers “of all trades and departments” are coming together “to prevent big corporations from eroding the conditions we’ve fought for decades,” they noted.
Artificial intelligence
Like the screenwriters, who have already spent 11 weeks on strike pickets, the actors are demanding higher wages to fight inflation.
In addition to salaries when they’re on the job, actors get paid when a movie or production they’ve participated in is shown — especially useful when performers are in between projects.
Today, however, streaming platforms such as Netflix and Disney+ do not disclose the ratings of their shows and offer the same flat fee for everything in their catalog, regardless of their popularity.
To make matters worse, there is the issue of artificial intelligence. Both actors and screenwriters want guarantees to regulate its use in the future, but studios have so far refused to budge.
Source: DN
