Hollywood actors join writers on strike
Many famous Oscar and Emmy winners will join writers at picket lines in New York and Los Angeles on Friday as Hollywood’s main labor dispute drags on.
This strike marks one of the industry’s most significant labor conflicts in decades and will result in the closure of the remaining productions that have continued filming since the writers.’ work stoppage.
Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) President Fran Drescher and other actors showed solidarity by joining the writers in picketing.
With the formal inclusion of actors’ branch, which consists of 65,000 members, both guilds will unite in their concerns about contracts keeping pace with inflation, residual payments in the age of streaming, and protecting against using artificial intelligence to replicate their work in film and television.
Instrument of last resort attack
The deadline for Hollywood actors to reach an agreement with major film and television studios expired on Thursday.
Union leadership voted to stop work hours after the contract expired, and negotiations broke down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, executive director of SAG-AFTRA, called the strike “an instrument of last resort”.
He added that they unanimously voted for a strike to start at midnight on Thursday (07:00 GMT on Friday).
Shortly after the strike was announced, scriptwriters began chanting, “Pay your actors!” off Netflix’s Hollywood offices.
‘Expectations are unrealistic’
AMPTP, representing major employers such as Disney, Netflix and Amazon, expressed their disappointment with the strike, highlighting the negative impact it will have on the thousands of workers involved in supporting film and television production.
Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC on Thursday that actors’ and writers’ expectations “were unrealistic”, calling the strike decision “very disturbing”.
Earlier this week, an exclusive report from Deadline.com said that the studios and AMPTP are anticipating that by October most writers will face financial difficulties after spending months picketed without work, forcing them to accept any terms of negotiations. .
actors’ union joins striking writers
This is the first industry-wide shutdown in 63 years, with film and television production at a standstill.
In May, more than 11,000 film and television writers went on strike, halting the production of big-budget films.
SAG-AFTRA’The actor’s walkout leads to a “double whammy” not seen in Hollywood since the 1960s.
SAG-AFTRA members appeared to be taking the strike seriously when the stars of the movie “Oppenheimer” left the London premiere on Thursday, hours before the union officially called the strike.
What to know about negotiations
On Wednesday, there were talks with mediators in a last-ditch effort to avoid a second industry strike.
“After more than four weeks of negotiation, the Film and Television Producers Alliance (AMPTP)…
Meanwhile, AMPTP said it was disappointed with the failure to reach an agreement.
“This is the Union’s choice, not ours. In doing so, it rejected our offer of historic salaries and residual raises, substantially higher limits on pension and health contributions, hearing protections, reduced series option periods, an innovative AI proposition that protects actors’ digital likenesses and more,” AMPTP said in a statement.
A-list stars including Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep voiced their support for the industrial action.
The strike will mean the stars won’t be able to promote new releases or attend industry events such as Comic-Con, which takes place next week.
The union represents some 160,000 television and radio actors and presenters, as well as other media professionals.
What are the actors’ demands?
The union demanded higher compensation from streaming services, as well as higher wages to fight inflation.
In addition to wages when they work, actors earn “residue” every time a production they star in is shown on a network or cable.
However, streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ do not release viewership numbers and pay actors the same flat fee regardless of viewership.
SAG-AFTRA is also calling for the implementation of safeguards around the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Actors want assurances that their digital images will not be used without their permission.
rm, kb, sdi/sms (Reuters, AFP)
Source: DW
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