Hollywood shuts down as SAG-AFTRA actors join writers on strike

It’s a historic day in Hollywood. Earlier this year, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike to secure, among other things, better job security and protections against AI for screenwriters. They’ve been on strike for over 70 days, with the studios of the American Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) refusing to budge on the existential issues at stake.

Now, the battle to secure a more stable future for workers in Hollywood has entered into a new phase, as the actors of SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) have called for a strike of their own after talks with the AMPTP broke down this week. SAG-AFTRA has been negotiating with the AMPTP for the past four weeks. It’s been quite a saga, especially in the last several days.

Negotiations ended at midnight on July 12. The following morning, the SAG-AFTRA board called a strike authorization vote at 9:00 a.m. That vote passed unanimously, so at this point we can say it’s official: SAG-AFTRA is on strike. Chief SAG-AFTRA negotiator Duncan Crabtree Ireland announced during a press conference that as of July 14, SAG-AFTRA actors will no longer be working:

"From the time negotiations began on June 7, SAG-AFTRA staff and the members of our negotiating committee have worked overtime, devoting their weekends, evenings, and holidays to achieving a deal that would ensure a sustainable future for the acting profession. But despite our team’s efforts, the AMPTP has remained steadfast in its commitment to devaluing the work of our members.Actors deserve a contract that reflects the changes which have taken place in the industry. Unfortunately the current streaming model has undercut performers’ residual income, and high inflation has sorely reduced our members’ ability to make ends meet. Additionally, industry expectations around self-tape auditions mean performers are bearing casting costs that were once the responsibility of producers. To complicate matters further, actors now face an existential threat to their livelihoods with the rise of generative AI technology.We proposed contract changes that address these issues, but the AMPTP has been uninterested in our proposals. Because of this the board has determined that union members should withhold their labor until a fair contract can be achieved. A strike is an instrument of last resort. We tried for four weeks to reach a deal with the AMPTP, and unfortunately they have left us with no alternative."

This is the first time since 1960 that both SAG and the WGA have been on strike at the same time. With both actors and writers now on strike, expect a lot more productions to shut down in the coming days until equitable deals can be reached with the guilds.

Things get dirty in final days of SAG-AFTRA / AMPTP negotiations

Negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP were initially set to expire on June 30, but the groups agreed to an extension until July 12 in hopes of reaching a deal which was satisfactory to both parties. As the deadline loomed, the AMPTP called for a federal mediator to intervene, hoping that involving a third party would help stave off a work stoppage. SAG-AFTRA released a statement in response saying that they “agreed to the AMPTP’s last-minute request for federal mediation,” but weren’t interested in another extension.

The actors guild then took things a step further with a fiery truth bomb that called out the fact that the story about the federal mediator was purposefully leaked to the press before SAG-AFTRA had even been informed of the AMPTP’s intent to involve a third party:

"Furthermore, we condemn the tactic outlined in today’s inaccurate Variety piece naming the CEOs of several entertainment conglomerates as the force behind the request for mediation; information that was leaked to the press by the CEOs and their ‘anonymous sources’ before our negotiators were even told of the request for mediation. The AMPTP has abused our trust and damaged the respect we have for them in this process. We will not be manipulated by this cynical ploy to engineer an extension when the companies have had more than enough time to make a fair deal."

Within hours of this story breaking, another piece broke, this one on Deadline, which revealed that the studio executives were essentially planning to try to starve out the striking screenwriters of the WGA. “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” one anonymous exec told Deadline, with several others insiders confirming the monstrous strategy. One called it “a cruel but necessary evil.”

The real kicker was that this piece confirmed that the AMPTP hadn’t really been negotiating in good faith with the WGA in the first place. “It’s been agreed to for months, even before the WGA went out,” one executive said of the strategy to starve out writers. “Nobody wanted a strike, but everybody knew this was make or break.”

There were a lot of these sorts of articles coming out in recent days, all in trade publications owned by members of the AMPTP. This led many members of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA to call them out as propaganda meant to intimidate SAG and the already-striking WGA. It seems to have had the opposite affect, with many claiming it has only strengthened their resolve to fight for better conditions.

An AMPTP spokesperson addressed the situation, saying, “These anonymous people are not speaking on behalf of the AMPTP or member companies, who are committed to reaching a deal and getting our industry back to work.” But by then, it was likely too late to reassure anyone about the purity of the AMPTP’s intentions.

Who needs livable wages? Studio execs blame unions for “disrupting” film industry

That brings us to today. While SAG-AFTRA gathered to vote on the final authorization to hit the picket lines, Disney CEO Bob Iger shared his thoughts on the looming strike on CNBC’s Squawk Box, where he claimed that SAG-AFTRA and the WGA aren’t being “realistic” about their demands. “It’s very disturbing to me. We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption.”

Iger went on to say that a SAG-AFTRA strike “will have a very, very damaging affect on the whole business, and unfortunately, there’s huge collateral damage in the industry to people who are supportive services.”

Essentially, he tried to use Hollywood support staff as scapegoats, painting these strikes as a reason that the assistants, teamsters, crew members, and other workers who make all our favorite shows and movies possible will suffer. And he’s not wrong; shutting down production will certainly be difficult for those who rely on them for work.

But it’s worth noting that IATSE, which represents stagehands and crew members, the Teamsters union, the WGA, and even the Director’s Guild — who already reached their own deal with studios last month — issued a joint statement this week in support of a SAG-AFTRA strike. Productions like Disney’s Daredevil: Born Again and HBO’s The Penguin have already been shut down by other unions refusing to cross picket lines for the writers strike, so the widespread solidarity among Hollywood unions definitely pokes holes in Iger’s argument.

At the end of the day, these strikes are about the people responsible for making the shows and movies we all love being able to afford to survive. The New Yorker ran a piece on the eve of the SAG-AFTRA / AMPTP negotiation deadline which highlights just how much a problem this labor issue is in Hollywood. Reporter Michael Schulman interviewed 10 cast members from Netflix’s hit show Orange Is The New Black, highlighting how little the people in the series made even while the show was being touted as one of Netflix’s flagship productions and viewed by tens of millions of households. Cast members had to hold down other jobs even as they became so popular they were recognized on the street. The entire thing is very much worth a read, but this passage stands out:

"Before one sag Awards ceremony, the cast attended a house party thrown by Ted Sarandos, then Netflix’s chief content officer and now its co-C.E.O. Several actors remember that Sarandos gave a toast bragging that more people watched “Orange” than “Game of Thrones”—a rare sliver of transparency about the ratings. (One actor called it a “whoops” moment.) But the cast found the line less uplifting than galling; if the show was really more popular than “Game of Thrones”—whose top cast members have been said to make more than a million per episode by the end—why were the salaries for “Orange” so paltry? [Actor Lea DeLaria] told me, “I remember all of us thinking, ‘Give us the money!’ But we were always saying, ‘Give us the money.’ We were keenly aware that we weren’t being paid.” She added, referring to her residuals, “I get twenty dollars! I would love to know: How much money did Ted make last year?” (Twenty-two million in salary, plus stock options.)"

In the coming months, we may notice new episodes of TV slowing down. That may be frustrating, but it’s important to remember why we’re here. If we want to ensure that there will be more shows and movies for us to gush about in the years to come, it’s incumbent on Hollywood finding an equitable way forward.

As of this writing, the Writers Guild of America is on day 73 of its strike. SAG-AFTRA will begin formally striking tomorrow. Expect a lot of updates about productions being shut down in the days to come.

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