In a historic move, Hollywood actors have announced their participation in the ongoing strike initiated by screenwriters, resulting in the industry's largest shutdown in over 60 years. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is demanding fairer profit sharing and improved working conditions from streaming giants, Reuters reports.
At the stroke of midnight on July 13, Los Angeles time, approximately 160,000 performers will cease work, bringing the majority of US film and TV productions to a grinding halt. Prominent stars, including Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt, left the premiere of Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" in London upon the declaration of the strike.
The SAG walkout will commence with picketing outside the California headquarters of Netflix, before moving on to Paramount, Warner Bros, and Disney. Among the union's demands is a guarantee that artificial intelligence and computer-generated faces and voices will not be utilized to replace actors. Tighter regulations on self-taped auditions are also sought, as the union believes that home auditions unfairly transfer costs to performers.
The strike order issued by the SAG encompasses a wide range of roles, including actors, singers, dancers, stunt performers, and those involved in puppeteering or motion capture. It also includes various background and promotional tasks.
On July 12, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) announced its inability to reach an agreement with major studios. The negotiating committee unanimously recommended strike action.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), representing the studios, criticized the decision, stating that "a strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life."
The AMPTP offered a proposal aimed at addressing concerns about the use of artificial intelligence, which included protecting the digital likeness of actors and requiring their consent for the use of digital replicas or alterations. However, the SAG's national executive director and chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, deemed the offer unacceptable.
Another crucial demand from the SAG is for streaming services to provide actors with higher base pay and residuals, which are payments actors receive from repeats of films and shows they have starred in. The strike includes tens of thousands of actors who receive significantly lower pay for minor roles compared to A-list actors.
"In the old model, they get residuals based on success," explained Kim Masters, editor-in-chief of the Hollywood Reporter. "In the new model, they don't get to find out what's going on behind the scenes because the streamers don't share."
Fran Drescher, president of the SAG, emphasized that the strike represents a critical moment for actors in the industry and reflects issues faced by laborers across various fields.
She stated, "What's happening to us is happening across all fields of labor when employers make Wall Street and greed their priority, and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run."
Since May, the Writers Guild of America has been conducting a separate strike demanding better pay and working conditions. Some writers have shifted their focus to projects not covered by the guild's contract with the AMPTP. This simultaneous strike by both unions marks the first occurrence since 1960, when the SAG was led by actor Ronald Reagan, long before he entered politics and became the US president. The last strike by actors took place in 1980.
Speaking prior to the SAG's announcement, Disney CEO Bob Iger, at a gathering of industry leaders in Idaho, criticized the demands of both the actors and writers, deeming them impractical and damaging to an industry still recovering from the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The walkout will add to the growing list of projects that have already shut down or stalled due to the writers' strike. For films in production, a significant portion of work will become impossible. Even completed films may face obstacles as actors will be unavailable for re-shoots and other essential aspects of the filmmaking process. TV shows currently in production will also face disruptions as actors become unavailable, although side agreements between performers and producers could potentially allow work to continue.
Furthermore, top Hollywood stars will be unable to attend events promoting new releases, potentially leading to rescheduling or scaled-back versions of events like the Emmys and Comic-Con. While international events such as the Toronto and Venice film festivals will proceed, SAG actors will be unable to attend, as they traditionally do.
Following the strike announcement, several actors affiliated with the SAG took to Instagram to express their support, including Bob Odenkirk from "Better Call Saul," Cynthia Nixon from "Sex and the City," and Hollywood veteran Jamie Lee Curtis.
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