The Hollywood union SAG-AFTRA, which represents actors in Hollywood, voted on Monday night to authorize a walkout if major studios and production companies fail to agree upon a new contract by June 30.
Nearly 98% of 65,000 members voting approved the strike authorization.
The guild began its negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on Wednesday. This comes over a week after the Writers Guild of America went on strike in its dispute with AMPTP.
The strike would only affect television and film productions. News and broadcasting would not be affected.
The issue is the increase in base compensation that actors claim has been reduced by inflation and streaming, the unregulated use artificial intelligence, benefits plans, and the burden of self-taped “auditions”, which were previously the responsibility of casting, production, and other departments.
The AMPTP released a statement on Monday that stated, “We approach these negotiations with a goal of achieving a favourable agreement for SAG-AFTRA’s members and the entire industry.”
The strike authorization vote is a bargaining tool that comes at an important time for the industry. 11,500 writers are now in their sixth week on strike, while the Directors Guild reviews a tentative agreement reached with studios recently regarding issues such as wages, streaming residuals and artificial intelligence. The industry would be brought to a standstill if the actors were to strike. Production and promotion of completed projects would also come to a standstill.
Since the writers started walking the picket line on May 2, the WGA, DGA, and SAG-AFTRA showed solidarity. Hollywood was worried that the three guilds could strike together, since both the director’s and actors’ contracts were due to expire soon.
The situation changed on Sunday night, when the Directors Guild, which represents over 19,000 directors in film, TV and commercials, announced they had reached an “historic” tentative agreement with studios. The terms of the agreement, which were not disclosed to the media or other guilds in full, will be presented Tuesday to the DGA Board for approval, and then to members for ratification.
Both the writers’ guild and the actor’s guild expressed their congratulations to the DGA for reaching an agreement, but neither group commented on the specific terms of the DGA. The WGA said its bargaining position remains the same.
Some WGA members were not happy with the DGA agreement. They remembered the time when the directors had negotiated their contract during the 2007-2008 strike by the writers. Some felt that the deal made 15 years ago set a precedent for the writers, forcing them to accept the DGA’s terms and end their strike.
“Zero surprise. The AMPTP is still using their old tired playbook. The DGA continues to follow suit, knowing they can draw from the WGA’s determination to strike a truly historical deal. Steven DeKnight tweeted: “Disappointing but not surprising.” Steven DeKnight is a veteran television writer who wrote and directed the film Pacific Rim: Uprising.
The WGA’s negotiating committee, which appeared to be anticipating another repeat, released a warning letter last week, cautioning studios that they would again use a “divide-and-conquer” strategy by pitting guilds against each other.
The WGA’s letter stated: “Our position is very clear. To resolve the strike, companies will need to negotiate with WGA on all our agenda.” “We will march until companies negotiate with us fairly.”
Although the unions appear to be more united, their goals are different in a number of areas. The directors emphasized the importance of securing streaming residuals from international sources that would account for the growth in subscribers. They also stressed the importance of wages, safety, diversity, inclusion, and Juneteenth being a paid holiday.
The WGA agenda includes better pay, residuals and minimum requirements for staffing. Artificial intelligence is a key area where all three overlap. The DGA announced that they had reached “a groundbreaking agreement confirming that AI does not represent a person, and that generative AI can’t replace the duties performed my members.”
Duncan Crabtree Ireland, chief negotiator of SAG-AFTRA maintains that the guild’s actors have unique needs. Hollywood actors haven’t been on strike against AMPTP in 1980. That strike lasted 95 days and was over paid television and VHS.
Crabtree Ireland said on Sunday that “our bargaining strategy was never dependent or based on the outcome of other union’s negotiation, nor did we subscribe to the belief that deals made with unions in other countries bind us.”
He said that on Monday the vote was “a clear statement that it is time for an evolutionary change in this contract.”
