SAG-AFTRA & Studios To Meet, But Issues Remain – Deadline

Back on the bargaining desk Monday for the primary time in additional than two and a half months, SAG-AFTRA and the Hollywood studios and streamers have an extended approach to go to make a deal – even with the momentum gained by the top of the writers strike.

“No one is going into this overly confident or assuming it’s going to be easier because the writers have made their deal,” a well-positioned guild member instructed Deadline of the renewed talks, which we solely revealed final week.

“Let’s be cautious, there is some serious ‘wait and see’ here,” the SAG-AFTRA member added. “Wait and see what they bring new to the table, what they are willing to reconsider. Wait and see if they have really changed their tune or if this is the old AMPTP back in the room.”

Following the expiration of their contract June 30 and a virtually two-week extension in negotiations, the 160,00-strong actors union went out on strike July 14. Ever since, they’ve picketed studio gates and headquarters alongside the Writers Guild of America, which went on strike May 2. After 5 days of whirlwind talks over beforehand “intractable” points like AI protections, information transparency, considerably elevated residuals and writers room staffing, the scribes and studio CEOs reached an “exceptional,” because the WGA referred to as it, tentative settlement on September 24 simply earlier than sunset.

As was the case in that closing and profitable spherical of deliberations with the WGA, Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers chief Carol Lombardini shall be joined on the employers’ facet immediately by NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley, Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Disney’s Bob Iger. Meeting on the SAG-AFTRA places of work on Wilshire’s Miracle Mile, Lombardini and the CEO Gang of Four will face the guild’s negotiating committee led by just lately re-elected president Fran Drescher; National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland; and Ray Rodriguez, SAG-AFTRA’s longtime Chief Contracts Officer.

Having been back-channeling to some extent for the reason that SAG-AFTRA strike started, the events are scheduled to formally sit down for the primary time in over 80 days at round midday PT immediately. As the negotiators started talks, SAG-AFTRA members shall be out on the picket strains in pressure in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere, because the guild made clear in a social media submit Sunday night.

The begin of this newest spherical of negotiations between the actors’ guild and the AMPTP comes on the identical day the WGA begins voting on ratification of its tentative settlement. Running October 2-9, the vote is broadly anticipated to cross and would cement a brand new contract that spans from September 25, 2023 to May 1, 2026.

Unless a brand new finish date is agreed upon by SAG-AFTRA and the studios and streamers of their talks, the actors guild’s new contract will finish on June 30, 2026 – as soon as they strike a deal, that’s.

Although the WGA strike formally ended at 12:01 a.m. PT on September 27, after which writers might decide up their pens and open their keyboards, a plethora of scribes have nonetheless been out on the picket strains in ongoing solidarity with SAG-AFTRA.

How for much longer they may all be out there’s TBD, relying on how the brand new talks go.

“I do not expect this to be a speedy effort — it will take some time before there’s a deal,” a particular person acquainted with the within lane of Hollywood labor talks famous of immediately’s begin of talks. “Getting the AMPTP to even think about straying from the patterns they’ve set with the DGA and even the WGA to accommodate SAG-AFTRA, [that’s] going to be a struggle.”

While the tentative WGA deal offers some traction and even potential pathways on matters like AI and information transparency, “one size doesn’t fit all,” as Drescher stated final week. Real will increase in wages and minimums, plus digital auditions, are clearly huge points for guild leaders to ship for the overwhelming majority of their financially struggling membership. Looking on the ravages of inflation and real-world price of dwelling, the guild was not impressed with the AMPTP’s self-styled supply of “more than $1 billion in wage, pension & health contribution and residual increases” again in July.

Then there’s the thought of income sharing.

SAG-AFTRA says what it needs is easy and quantities to about 2% of the cash a present makes on streaming. “Casts share in the revenue generated when their performances are exhibited on streaming platforms,” the guild stated in late July about its proposal, which is predicated on metrics from measurement consultants Parrot Analytics. “This would allow casts to share in the success of high-performing shows.”

On each avenue of the notion – from metrics to cash circulation to danger – the AMPTP resoundingly stated no to the income share proposal. That POV hasn’t appeared to have change since then.

“Revenue sharing works in some sports, for sure, has for years,” an trade insider says of the SAG-AFTRA proposal for streaming sequence and movies utilized by the NBA, MLB and the NFL. “Here, [SAG-AFTRA] isn’t recognizing how our business really works — it’s DOA. It was DOA even before they went out on strike in July, and it is still dead now.”

In that context, whereas no formal schedule has been inked on how the studio bosses and the guild will meet past immediately, it’s understood that each side need to “take the temperature of the room” Monday, one supply says, and work from there.

Adding to the entire jambalaya of Tinseltown labor discord, SAG-AFTRA members voted unanimously final week to authorize a strike towards the online game trade.

“The exploitative uses of AI and lagging wages” had been the main issues the guild expressed relating to the dispute.

“This strike authorization makes an emphatic statement that we must reach an agreement that will fairly compensate these talented performers, provide common-sense safety measures, and allow them to work with dignity,” Rodriguez stated final week. “Our members’ livelihoods depend on it.”