SAG-AFTRA to strike at midnight

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced Thursday they will go on strike beginning at midnight, and hit the picket lines Friday. 

The National  SAG-AFTRA  Board voted on Thursday morning that union members should withhold their labor as the union's contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expired at midnight Thursday and demands were not met.

"Because the AMPTP remains unwilling to offer a fair deal on key issues essential to protecting the livelihood of working actors and performers, SAG-AFTRA's National Board unanimously voted to issue a strike order against the studios and streamers," said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of SAG-AFTRA .

The Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers immediately released a statement in response saying, "The AMPTP presented a deal that offered historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, and a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors' digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members."   

Representatives with SAG-AFTRA said AMPTP's proposals were insulting. "But we had no choice. We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us. I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things," said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher.

The actors will formally join screenwriters on picket lines outside studios and filming locations in a bid to get better terms from studios and streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon. It would be the first time since 1960 that the two guilds were on strike at the same time.

"This union has the unity and the resolve needed to fight for the future of their careers," said Crabtree-Ireland. 

Members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike since early May, slowing production on film and television series on both coasts and in productions centers like Atlanta.

Issues in negotiations include the unregulated use of artificial intelligence and effects on residual pay brought on by the streaming ecosystem that has emerged in recent years. 

Actors, including Drescher, have joined writers on picket lines for weeks in solidarity. The actors strike will prevent certain performers from working on sets or promoting their projects.

"Due to the broad nature of our membership, this strike does not affect all members of all contract areas. Just those working under the 2020 TV/ theatrical contract. Performers working in interactive entertainment, audiobooks, music, commercials, and other contract areas will not be directly impacted," said Crabtree-Ireland.      

Impact of streaming and AI

In a message to union members after the pacts ran out, Dresher said, "Over the past decade, your compensation has been severely eroded by the rise of the streaming ecosystem. Furthermore, artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to creative professions, and all actors and performers deserve contract language that protects them from having their identity and talent exploited without consent and pay."

The studios' Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers issued a statement saying, "We are deeply disappointed that SAG-AFTRA has decided to walk away from negotiations. This is the union's choice, not ours. In doing so, it has dismissed our offer of historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors' digital likenesses, and more."

Whether the cast of Christopher Nolan's film "Oppenheimer" attends Thursday's London premiere hangs in the balance of whether the actors strike.

Damon: "Absolutely unacceptable"

Attending a photo event on Wednesday, star Matt Damon said that while everyone was hoping a strike could be averted, many actors need a fair contract to survive.

"We ought to protect the people who are kind of on the margins," Damon told The Associated Press. "And 26,000 bucks a year is what you have to make to get your health insurance. And there are a lot of people whose residual payments are what carry them across that threshold. And if those residual payments dry up, so does their health care. And that's absolutely unacceptable. We can't have that. So, we got to figure out something that is fair."

The looming strike has cast a shadow over the upcoming 75th Emmys. Nominations were announced Wednesday, and the strike was on the mind of many nominees.

"People are standing up and saying, 'This doesn't really work, and people need to be paid fairly,'" Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain, who was nominated for her first Emmy Award on Wednesday for playing Tammy Wynette in "George & Tammy," told the AP. "It is very clear that there are certain streamers that have really kind of changed the way we work and the way that we have worked, and the contracts really haven't caught up to the innovation that's happened."