The writers' strike had set the script very high: discreet negotiations, talks for only five days, a pact that leads to a successful conclusion and a 99% ratification by the union. Many, therefore, expected a similar script for the actors. But no. Late on Wednesday night (early Thursday morning, Spanish peninsular time), something went off track and everything went down the drain. And the strike continues without a clear end horizon. Because the Hollywood actors union has announced that it suspends, and without a return date, negotiations with the employers (formed by half a dozen of some of the largest film studios in the world), which they harshly accuse of "abusive tactics" in their negotiations.
The union, known by its acronym in English, SAG-AFTRA, released around midnight on Wednesday a statement explaining the "suspension" of talks with the Alliance of Film and Television Producers (Amptp), which had resumed on Monday, October 2. "After fruitful discussions, it is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too large, and the talks are no longer leading us in a fruitful direction," they said. On his social networks, the message was harsher: "It is with deep disappointment that we announce that the CEOs of the industry have left the negotiating table, after refusing to confront our latest offer. We have negotiated with them in good faith, despite the fact that last week they presented an offer that, surprisingly, was less than what was proposed before the strike began. Our determination is unwavering."
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Hollywood Actors Union and Studios Meet for First Time in 80 Days to Seek End to Strike
The union represents more than 160,000 performers across the United States, who decided to go on strike on July 14 to try to improve their economic and working conditions. Their collective contract is renewed every three years and the time had come to improve it, but their demands were not accepted by the big studios and Hollywood platforms, so they were planted and did not meet again until last October 3, after eighty days of strikes and already with the scriptwriters, who have gone on strike for almost five months, back to work.
However, now the negotiations are taking a step backwards again. It may simply be a bump, even a pressure strategy on the part of one of the two. But the order may go seriously and continue with the sector paralyzed, and already about the season of major awards in Hollywood – until March 10, when the Oscars will be held – which involves a multitude of premieres and events, fundamental for the promotion, which this year will be decaffeinated or disappear.
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The union has been very harsh in its statements. They have stated that the companies with which they negotiate "refuse to protect interpreters from being replaced by artificial intelligence, refuse to raise wages to overcome inflation, and refuse to share a tiny portion of the immense profits that their work generates for them." "We have made large and significant changes, including a complete transformation of the profit-sharing model, which would cost companies less than 57 cents [0.54 euro cents] per subscriber per year. They have rejected the proposal. On the contrary, they have used abusive tactics," they say. The proposed salary increase meant about 800 million dollars per year (760 in euros), to be paid among all the majors.
One of the most significant issues and for which the union fights is how the career of the actors will be with the development of artificial intelligence. According to SAG-AFTRA, the AMPTP has required actors to sign a consent on the first day of work so that a digital replica of that same performer can be used "for an entire cinematic or franchise universe." Also, tactics don't like it. The AMPTP denies this, but the SAG-AFTRA counterattacks by assuring that they are "using the same failed strategy as with the writers' union: publishing misleading information to try to cajole our members into abandoning solidarity and pressuring negotiations." In fact, at the end of Wednesday's negotiations, NBC chief Donna Langley told Bloomberg that they had "spent a lot of time with the actors" and that they hoped to "spend as much time as necessary to reach an agreement and get back to work." At that time, the negotiation was already broken.
These days, the members of the union, led by its chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, have sat at the table with the heads of companies such as Warner, Disney, Universal and Netflix, and according to sources familiar with the matter on Wednesday they were meeting in a longer session "and much more entrenched" than usual, says the specialized media Deadline.. The AMPTP has stated that they want "SAG-AFTRA to reconsider and return to productive negotiations soon." They claim that they have increased percentages of minimum wages, as well as protection in terms of artificial intelligence, and that they have responded to the requests of the actors. "In general, the AMPTP has offered the same terms ratified by the directors and screenwriters' unions, but the actors have rejected them," they state in their statement. But when it was announced that the writers had reached an agreement, the president of the interpreters, also actress Fran Drescher, said flatly to CNN: "We are happy with the agreement with the writers, but one is not valid for all."
Today, they seem to have returned to square one. Pickets are still frequent in Los Angeles, actors are heading for 100 days on strike, the industry has lost jobs and the State of California, more than 6,000 million dollars. We feel the pain these companies have inflicted on our members and our team members," the union said in a statement, without giving up. "We have sacrificed too much to capitulate to their evasions and greed. We remain united and ready to negotiate today, tomorrow and every day."