Hollywood Writers and Television He was on strike For the past month — and now, the actors have indicated they’re ready to join the picket lines in their own fight.
On Monday, members of SAG-AFTRA, which represents film and television actors, voted overwhelmingly to allow the strike if they don’t reach a deal with major entertainment studios by June 30. Sage-Aphtra said. Union and studios begin negotiations on Wednesday.
“As we enter into what may be one of the most significant negotiations in the Federation’s history, inflation and the dwindling tailings of streaming and generative AI all threaten the actors’ ability to earn a living if our contracts are not adapted to reflect new realities,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, Principal The National Executive of SAG-AFTRA, in a statement.“This permission to strike means that we are entering our negotiations from a position of strength, so that we can offer our members the deal that they want and deserve.”
the Book strikeThat many actors joining the ranks of the WGA and expressing support for the book, said Steve Ross, a USC history professor who has written several books on working in Hollywood, likely emboldened the performers.
“This is really unique,” Ross told CBS MoneyWatch, adding that “if SAG-AFTRA allowed a strike and came out with sympathy, it could completely change the nature of the negotiation.”
Strikes in Hollywood are rare — the WGA last pulled out in 2007, while the Screen Actors Guild last struck in 2000, before the union merged with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to become SAG-AFTRA. (The current WGA strike is targeting studios including Paramount Global, which owns CBS News and Paramount+.)
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, and a number of prominent representatives came out in support of the voting strike. Kim Cattrall, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kumail Nanjiani, Kerry Washington And many others have appeared in videos urging fellow actors to authorize the strike.
SAG-AFTRA says actors are seeking higher salaries in light of lower residual payments for streaming content, as well as more generous studio contributions to union benefit plans. The union is also seeking restrictions on self-recorded auditions for actors, which the union says have become “a heavy, daily, uncompensated burden on the performers’ lives.”
Like the Writers Guild, SAG-AFTRA also seeks to place restrictions on The so-called generative artificial intelligence Used to replace analog work.
“You need actors.”
With TV and film writers on strike for a month, the prospect of Hollywood actors pulling out could lead to an industry-wide shutdown ending most productions.
“Studios can now make movies without writers. They’re like, ‘We already have a stock of material, we can easily get through the fall, we don’t need anyone,’” Ross said. “Well, you need actors. Even if you had scripts and you had directors, who would star?
SAG-AFTRA has about 160,000 members, compared to 11,000 in the WGA.
He added that in the event of a strike, smaller, independent productions using non-union talent could continue, but most work would stop. According to SAG-AFTRA, the strike will not affect filming of commercials, news broadcasts, or unscripted content such as talk shows. (Several late-night talk shows have already been shut down due to the writers’ strike.)
Creators vs. Studios
Writers and performers share many of the same concerns, Ross said, including smaller residual payments for work done for on-demand services like Netflix and Hulu. The streaming service’s much shorter seasons — six to 10 episodes instead of 22 to 24 — can leave performers and writers scrambling to collect enough paychecks to make a living.
“For them, I would argue, it opened up more opportunities,” Ross said, as well as raising the profile of television acting, which had long been seen as less popular than film. However, these increased opportunities come with shorter seasons and lower wages.
This creates a conflict between the performers and writers on the one hand and the studios and broadcast services on the other. Networks and studios, which have put money in the influx for years, are now pointing to investor pressure as reasons to cut jobs and other expenses.
“That’s the crux of the strike – what’s there in terms of sharing the revenue stream, what’s there in terms of sharing the burden of reduced costs,” Ross said.
He added, “If streaming services don’t make money, how do we share that burden? When you show me your head makes $50 million, $100 million a year, it’s hard for me to take you seriously when you’re standing up for poverty.”
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