SAG-AFTRA Members Go On Strike, Actors Join Writers in Hollywood Shutdown

Hollywood is formally shut down … the union representing actors is now on strike, which implies actors will be a part of writers on the picket traces for the primary time in greater than half a century.

SAG-AFTRA’s nationwide board met Thursday morning and voted unanimously to strike after its contract ran out Wednesday evening, following a 2-week extension on the finish of June to maintain negotiations with the studios going.

Both sides of the battle agreed Tuesday to have a federal mediator be a part of negotiation talks in a last-ditch effort, however that did not get the union and the studios on the identical web page.

You’ll recall, roughly 98% of union members voted in favor of a strike final month if a deal wasn’t struck … and that vote got here weeks after the Writers Guild stopped working.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher referred to as the studios’ responses to their calls for “insulting and disrespectful” after the contract expired … including, “Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reach a deal.”

There are some fairly strict guidelines that include this strike … beginning at midnight tonight, actors can’t work on movie and TV initiatives throughout the globe — actors additionally aren’t allowed to do any promotions for upcoming initiatives … which incorporates press junkets and premieres.

The huge London premiere for “Oppenheimer” occurred Thursday, and the studio pushed the occasion up an hour so stars like Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, and extra aren’t going towards union guidelines.

The huge forged stepped onto the purple carpet, however they weren’t current contained in the theater — with director Christopher Nolan saying they left to gear up for the strike.

Actors can also’t take part in panel discussions, together with these taking place on the ultra-popular San Diego Comic-Con, which kicks off subsequent week.

Actors and writers final joined forces on the picket line means again in 1960 — for context, Ronald Reagan was the president of SAG at the moment.

FYI, actors are asking for honest streaming residuals, improved working circumstances, and elevated minimal charges, amongst different issues … and as , the WGA started combating for a lot of the identical when it put pencils down at first of May.