Amidst SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher’s criticism of the major studios for suspending contract talks with striking actors, a coalition of Hollywood labor unions has called for negotiations to resume immediately.
“We demand that the AMPTP resumes negotiations in good faith right away, takes meaningful action at the bargaining table with SAG-AFTRA to address the specific needs of performers, and gives them the fair deal they deserve,” stated the unions, referring to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios.
The joint statement was issued by the Writers Guild of America’s West and East branches, the Directors Guild of America, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the American Federation of Musicians, the Teamsters, and Hollywood Basic Crafts.
This statement comes just two days after negotiations collapsed in the ongoing labor dispute, with the AMPTP suspending talks and stating, “After having meaningful conversations, it is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too wide, and the discussions are no longer moving us in a productive direction.”
However, on Friday, the union coalition expressed solidarity with SAG-AFTRA.
“Our members work alongside each other for the same few employers, and our unions and guilds are more united than ever,” the statement by the unions read.
“Every day that a fair contract addressing the unique priorities of actors is delayed, working professionals across our industry suffer unnecessarily. At this point, it should be evident to the studios and the AMPTP that more is required than proposals that simply replicate the terms negotiated with other unions.”
Earlier on Friday, Drescher appeared on NBC’s Friday Show and expressed her shock over the breakdown in talks. “What exactly does that mean, and why would you walk away from the table?” she asked. “We are not asking for anything outrageous. It is so wrong and unfair that they left the meeting and showed such disrespect.”
The two sides have met five times since October 2, their first meeting since the SAG-AFTRA strike began on July 14, including a meeting on Wednesday.
“Despite the fact that last week, they presented an offer that was shockingly less than what they proposed before the strike started, we have negotiated with them in good faith,” SAG-AFTRA stated on Wednesday.
The union claimed that the studio CEOs “walked away from the bargaining table after rejecting our latest offer.”
SAG-AFTRA’s demands include general wage increases, protections against the use of actor images through artificial intelligence, increased compensation for successful streaming programs, and improvements in health and retirement benefits.
In its Wednesday statement, the union argued that the studios “refuse to protect performers from being replaced by AI, they refuse to increase your wages to keep up with inflation, and they refuse to share a small portion of the enormous revenue your work generates for them.”
“We have made significant and meaningful counters on our part, including completely revising our revenue share proposal, which would cost the companies less than 57 cents per subscriber per year. However, they have rejected our proposals and refused to counter.”
On Thursday, Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, who has been involved in the negotiations along with other major studio heads, remarked during a Bloomberg conference that the talks fell apart due to a union proposal to add a “levy” on every streaming service subscriber.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sarandos stated at the conference that the union turned down a revenue model with a “success-based bonus” similar to the one recently accepted by the Writers Guild of America union, which was considerably more expensive.
“That proposition was rejected and they counter proposed this levy on every subscriber, and before that, there was a levy on all revenue, where effectively the union would take a particular amount for each subscriber to a service,” stated Sarandos, as reported by THR.
“The writers’ issue was resolved and was not only accepted in the deal but also ratified with a 99 percent vote by the Writers Guild. So I know that these guilds are not the same and they have distinct needs, but as I said, that approach worked as it rewarded success, and we agreed with it. However, adding a levy on top of our revenue or per subscriber, without any understanding of the revenue per subscriber or anything like that, felt like going too far deep into the negotiations.”
The Writers Guild of America concluded its strike against the studios on September 27. Members of the WGA voted earlier this week to ratify the agreement, terminating the strike that began on May 2.
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