SAG-AFTRA Expected To Negotiate With Studios

Washington DC [US]: Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is expected to hold bargaining sessions with the major studios, as the two sides continue to work toward a deal to end the 106-day strike, reported Variety.

The sessions may be held virtually, rather than in person. “We completed a full and productive day working internally and will continue into the weekend,” the union told members in an email Friday night. “We thank you for the incredible solidarity and support you have shown on the pickets and across the country all week long.”

On Friday, the two sides met for the third time this week at SAG-AFTRA headquarters. However, four studio CEOs who had previously attended the sessions — David Zaslav of Warner Bros. Discovery, Donna Langley of NBCUniversal, Ted Sarandos of Netflix, and Bob Iger of Disney — were not there on Friday, according to a source.

According to Variety, SAG-AFTRA declined to comment, other than to say that it remains focused on negotiating a fair deal. The CEOs offered a new proposal on Tuesday that they hoped will help break the three-month stalemate. The actors’ union countered on Thursday. While some progress has been made, the studios remain frustrated at SAG-AFTRA’s bargaining position.

Nonetheless, rays of hope have begun to permeate throughout the business. Michael Akins, the business agent for IATSE Local 479 in Georgia, told members in an email on Friday afternoon to expect to return to work sometime in November.

“At this time, we have no concrete information from any studio, but the writing is clearly on the wall that the industry shutdown is in its final days,” Akins wrote. “We are confident that our members will be returning to work within the next few weeks.”

According to Akins, several producers have already begun to contact department heads, and production offices could open as soon as next week.

It remains unclear whether that optimism is warranted, as the actor’s union still has a long list of demands. SAG-AFTRA wants a new structure for streaming residuals, which would augment the residuals currently in place. The union also wants protections around the use of artificial intelligence to create “digital doubles.” Among its proposals is a minimum pay rate for digital doubles, as well as union consent. The studios have balked at giving the union a veto over the use of AI, reported Variety.

The CEOs have cautioned that there is little time left to rescue the 2023-24 broadcast season, and they remain concerned that the summer movie season will suffer if the strike is not addressed quickly. Disney revealed on Friday that its live-action “Snow White,” which was scheduled to premiere in March, will be delayed by a full year. This follows similar delays from other studios.

On Friday, the Hollywood unions, including the IATSE and Teamsters, staged a food drive at a church in Santa Clarita, where they distributed boxes of foodstuffs to approximately 2,500 people. Unions have previously conducted similar events, as many below-the-line workers have been out of job for nearly a year.

Meanwhile, thousands of SAG-AFTRA members signed on to an open letter of support for the union’s negotiating committee, saying they would rather remain on strike than take a bad deal. The letter came in response to an effort by George Clooney, Ben Affleck, and other A-listers to put forward an alternative solution, thereby pressuring guild leadership to reach a deal. Kate Bond, a strike captain who has picketed at Warner Bros. and Paramount, drafted the letter, according to Variety.

“We knew there was this prominent group putting pressure on the negotiating committee to take the current deal,” she said in an interview. “We wanted to make sure they knew we still support the original strategy.”

The letter was circulated among strike captains. When it was released on Thursday night, it had about 3,600 signatures. It had received nearly 4,500 signatures by midday on Friday.

“We’re fighting for the actors who don’t have clout,” Bond added. “It’s really hard for more prominent members to understand. They negotiate their own contracts. They don’t work this contract. I understand why George Clooney would look at this and say, ‘I can’t work for six months because someone wants to work for $1050 a day, and not $1000 a day?’ I understand how they would be feeling. But it’s a union, and a union is about all of us or none of us,” reported Variety.