Hollywood actors strike as union negotiations fail

SAG-AFTRA, the union representing many actors in Hollywood, announced Thursday it would begin a strike at midnight after contract negotiations with film studios failed.

The union, which has more than 160,000 members including Hollywood’s biggest stars, pledged to strike after last-second negotiations failed Wednesday with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, hours before the group’s contract expired.

“Because the AMPTP remains unwilling to offer a fair deal on key issues essential to protecting the livelihoods of working actors and performers, SAG-AFTRA’s national board unanimously voted to issue a strike order against the studios,” Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said at a press conference Thursday.

Actors want higher wages and better compensation for streaming shows and movies, which do not pay as well as those distributed traditionally. Inflation has also lowered wages, the union has argued.

There are also concerns over artificial intelligence, which the union has seeked to prevent the use of without actors’ consent.

Additionally, the union is demanding increased support for pension and health funds as well as ending “self-taped auditions,” an increasingly common practice that used to be handled exclusively by studios.

“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 that have taken place in the industry,” Crabtree-Ireland said.

“Unfortunately, the current streaming model has undercut performers’ residual income and high inflation has further reduced our members’ ability to make ends meet,” he added. “We’ve proposed contract changes that address these issues, but the MPTP has been uninterested in our proposals.”

Actors will now join TV and film writers on picket lines outside of major studios. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike over similar demands since May. The two unions will now strike together for the first time since 1960.

In a vote last month, 98 percent of the acting union’s members authorized a strike, and union leadership authorized the action in a meeting earlier Thursday.

The strike will only impact union members working in film and TV studios. Members working in broadcast news, commercial production, audiobooks and other areas are not impacted.

“It came with great sadness that we came to this crossroads, but we have no choice,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said. “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.” 

Drescher, who’s also an actor, said in a heated speech that the studio’s offers were “insulting” and that the entire business model of the union’s previous contract must change due to the rise of streaming.

“We’re not going to keep doing incremental changes on a contract that no longer honors what is happening right now with this business model that was foisted upon us. What are we doing, moving around furniture on the Titanic? It’s crazy,” she said.

“So the jig is up, AMPTP. We stand tall. You have to wake up and smell the coffee. We are labor and we stand tall and we demand respect and to be honored for our contribution. You share the wealth because you cannot exist without us,” she added.

A strike will cause the movie industry to come to a near-standstill, with no actors to film new productions or writers to plan future ones.

In a CNBC interview Thursday, Disney CEO Bob Iger had said the effects of an actors’ strike would “have huge collateral damage.”

“There’s a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic, and they are adding to a set of challenges that this business is already facing, that is quite frankly, very disruptive,” he said.

The last SAG-AFTRA strike was in 1980 and lasted more than three months.