Actors, Studios Back at the Negotiating Table
But mapping out a timeline for the talks is a tricky business
With SAG-AFTRA and the Hollywood studios back in the negotiating room today, the main question I’ve been fielding is: This is going to be over quick, right?
I mean… maybe? The achievement of a new Writers Guild of America contract (that most writers seem pretty happy with) was nothing to sneeze at, but it came after a protracted work stoppage that ultimately lasted 148 days. That strike took us straight from springtime all the way into pumpkin spice season. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which reps the major studios and streamers, is now only just officially turning its attention back over to the performers guild, which is on Day 81 of its own strike.
While writers and performers have different demands, there’s perhaps merit to the idea that the WGA deal could set a philosophical precedent for the SAG-AFTRA talks. If the studios were ultimately willing to engage on issues such as viewership-based streaming bonuses for writers, could this mean they might be more open to discussing a revenue-sharing model with casts of streaming shows — a topic that initially garnered a great deal of resistance? The studios reportedly weren’t eager to set any kind of regulations over A.I. for writers, but ultimately agreed to language to prevent software like ChatGPT from writing and rewriting material; what does that mean for the companies’ willingness to more deeply discuss A.I. provisions with actors? (Recall: The AMPTP, prior to the actors strike, had been willing to address some of the performers’ concerns regarding consent and compensation around digital replicas and digital alterations, but SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland called out the offer for being insufficient.)
Still, as WGA negotiating committee member Adam Conover noted on our special Strikegeist edition of the pod last week, you can’t really copy and paste the language of a writers contract over to the actors deal, even on similar issues such as A.I. And you’ll recall that SAG-AFTRA represents a much more disparate group of artists (singers, dancers, stunt coordinators, background actors, et al.) than writers (film, TV), with a membership of more than 160,000 performers — about 15 times the size of the WGA.
And performers, months into a work stoppage that has resulted in success for the writers, appear willing to remain on the picket lines for a good stretch further. After all, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher had said at the outset of the strike in mid-July that the guild would essentially be willing to strike until 2024 if it had to.
In any case, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP just sent out a joint statement that says they’re done meeting for the day and will meet again on Wednesday. So we’ll be in wait-and-see mode once again for the foreseeable future.
Actors, singers, dancers, stuntpeople: How are you feeling? Talk to me: elaine@theankler.com.
ICYMI in Strike News
We took a little breather at the end of last week, so here’s some of the latest strike-related news you might have missed.
John Oliver and Bill Maher returned to their respective HBO talk shows over the weekend. Both commended the end of the writers strike, though Oliver expressed a lingering bone to pick. “While I’m happy they eventually got a fair deal and immensely proud of what our union accomplished, I’m also furious that it took the studios 148 days to achieve a deal that they could have offered on day fucking one,” said Oliver. “I hope that SAG-AFTRA and IATSE, which represents crews, will be able to take what the writers achieved and leverage it to win fair contracts too. Because the truth is it takes many people working really hard to make film and TV, all of whom deserve a piece of the pie.” (Vanity Fair)
Another group of writers that have felt severe effects from the strikes: entertainment journalists, who, in the absence of project-promoting stars, have resorted to interviews with directors, crew members, and some actors — but only about their side hustles. “Even on a good day freelance entertainment journalism is a tricky thing to navigate,” journalist Valentina Valentini said. “My income has definitely gone down, and I really hope for everybody’s sake the resolution comes quickly.” (The Washington Post)
The focus for Hollywood straight out the gate of the production restart: IP-driven or returning TV shows and films. “The priorities seem to be things that were all but greenlit but stopped because of the strike,” says Elsa Ramo, managing partner at Ramo Law. “They need to figure out how they finish what they started.” HBO, for instance, is reportedly focusing on The White Lotus, Euphoria, and The Last of Us, as opposed to new series. (Variety)
For those wondering about the mega-producers of the industry, such as Greg Berlanti, Chuck Lorre and J.J. Abrams: Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, and Paramount are in the process of or have already unpaused the overall deals they suspended because of the strike. (The Wrap)
Additional reporting for ICYMI in Strike News by Matthew Frank.
Disclosure: Elaine Low is an inactive member of SAG-AFTRA.
I wonder how happy everyone will be with the new contract in the light of a 50% cutback in production. There's the fact that the studios have notified nearly all of the writers who had big deals with them that the deals are not going to be extended 148 days, and are likely not to be renewed, in the face of the "economics" of streaming (George H.W. Bush's term "voodoo economics" comes to mind), which will, as they say, "have a major effect."
I'll be very happy to be proven wrong, but I remember how the "win" in 1988 was lost within six months when they changed the rules of the game to use things not even thought of, let alone negotiated,(The Screenwriter's Spec Script Sweepstakes being most obvious) during the strike, changes that negated the whole deal and led to the way things are today.