Since writing my article about the combined strike between the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, the writers have since gotten their requests approved and have been able to end the strike on Wednesday, September 27, 2023. But the actors still have yet to get their demands approved even nearly a month and a half following the end of the writers strike.
SAG-AFTRA is still going strong out on the picket lines going against AMPTP, which represents big Hollywood studios including Amazon/MGM, Apple, Disney/ABC/Fox, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount/CBS, Sony, Warner Bros. Discovery (HBO), among others. The demands SAG-AFTRA is specifically looking for protection for actors images and voice being used to AI, actors being provided qualified professionals to deal with textured hair and different skin tones, pay that that reflects their labor, support from employers to sustain health and retirement plans, giving principal performers (someone with a speaking line on camera) better timelines on when they’ll be working for serieses, and actors wish to be reimbursed for relocation expenses when they’re employed away from home.
According to the SAG-AFTRA strike website the actors agreed to a compressed bargaining schedule the AMPTP still subjected them to delays and stonewalling. But, since the end of the WGA strike the hope is that a deal is around the corner , with SAG-AFTRA being told that the writers and studios are a good place when it comes to streaming revenue share terms. However those details have been confidential.
The current rumor is that a deal is “all but done” between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP and that the actors are playing more of a waiting game now, something that both strikes have claimed the studios were trying to do, thinking they could outlast those on strike. The union is currently saying the ball is entirely in the studios’ courts and they are simply waiting for a response. It is clear to both sides that the progress these strikes have made, and will make will set the stage for what the future of Hollywood looks like.
