‘All of American Labor Has Joined Our Fight’: SAG-AFTRA Chief Pushes Studios to Negotiate as Actors Strike Hits Day 53 (Guest Column)

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer The biceps and bro love will flow freely this December, as a new sports drama starring Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White has been given the greenlight to conduct publicity from striking union SAG-AFTRA. “The Iron Claw,” about the ill-fated American pro wrestling family the Von Erichs, has received an interim agreement from the actors guild – meaning its stars are clear to promote the film around the world before it sees a wide release this holiday season.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Media watchdog GLAAD released its Studio Responsibility Index on Thursday, using its annual ranking of queer representation in mainstream films to stand with striking unions SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. Convening in-person at the Los Angeles LGBTQ Center’s Ed Gould Plaza in Hollywood, leadership from both show business unions, queer talent and GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis spoke of the dangers that work stoppages from the strokes pose to inclusive storytelling.

Margot Robbie has joined her fellow actors at the picket line in show of her support for the SAG-AFTRA strikes in LA.The Barbie star took part in the SAG-AFTRA rally from Netflix Studios to Paramount Studios on Wednesday (August 13). She was seen wearing an oversized t-shirt which read: “SAG-AFTRA ON STRIKE!,” and also held up a black, white and yellow sign with the same message.READ MORE: Hollywood on strike! Every question about the actor and writer protests answeredSpotted directly behind Robbie at the rally was fellow Australian actress Samara Weaving, who was holding the same sign.The SAG-AFTRA union, which consists of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, announced its strike in July after contract negotiations broke down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), who represent major studios like Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Warner Bros.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA held a massive march and rally outside the Paramount studio on Wednesday, as the union marked 62 days on strike. Union leaders argued that the strike has resonated across industries, as workers stand up to “unchecked corporate greed.” “What’s at stake is bigger than just the entertainment industry,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director. “It’s about the livelihoods of everyone who needs a job to earn a living.” He urged actors to use their voices and authenticity to speak for the broader labor movement.

Olivia Rodrigo is giving fans an inside look at her songwriting process for Guts!

Michaela Zee Jessica Chastain is encouraging independent producers to sign interim agreements amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. “If a majority of independent producers, come forward and sign the Interim Agreement deal it will show the AMPTP how wrong they are when they say our contract terms are unrealistic or unreasonable,” Chastain wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday.

Nearly 30,000 people  have signed a petition which urges the British government to give film and TV crews furlough cash, after the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes in the US have left them without work.

SAG-AFTRA’s presence at TIFF continued into Saturday with a special picket outside Amazon offices here in Toronto with Canada’s commercial actors union ACTRA, who’ve been in a 501 day contract lockout with the country’s advertising agency’s org.

OK, so there was one good deal point –one– to come out of the AMPTP talks with the WGA, as SAG-AFTRA National Executive director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland admitted at TIFF today: It was the streamer’s transparency on viewership numbers.

Amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” has an interim agreement set in place.

He brought zing to a sleepy Comic-Con, and he’s raising the humidity levels here at TIFF. SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland took the stage at the festival to give a post-Labor Day update on talks; and still it’s the same old story: The actors haven’t heard zip from the studios about moving forward.

SAG-AFTRA’s National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator in a pitstop at TIFF revealed that the Taylor Swift: Eras Tour concert film, which is poised to open to $70M-$100M has a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement.

In an unprecedented move, the libraries and foundations of 13 former U.S. Presidents have banded together to issue what they’re calling “an urgent call to action for all Americans.” The signatories include institutions representing virtually the entire spectrum presidential politics – from Barack Obama to Ronald Reagan, to Bill Clinton to Richard Nixon to John F. Kennedy – stretching back to Herbert Hoover.

was invited to the , but she was actually–perhaps on more of a spiritual level–attending The Masters or The PGA Tournament. That is because she wore a Miu Miu sweater that looked as though it might have been designed for a 1970s golfing pro, its wide-paned Argyle plaid rendered in butterscotch browns and creams.Worn with a tangle of gold chains, straight-legged jeans, and some square-toed ballet flats, the look compounded the that Holmes and her stylist Brie Welch have spent the past couple of months constructing.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer New York City filming permits declined 53% year over year in August, which marked the first full month of the year during which both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) were on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Per the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MoME), 364 permits were issued to 157 projects from Aug. 1 to Aug.

Megalopolis, the long-awaited passion project from Francis Ford Coppola, is the latest film to land an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA. The film finished production earlier this year so it is unknown what the agreement would be used for but with festival season ramping up it could potentially be getting one in order to be sold on one of the markets or potentially screen an upcoming festival and in need of one for publicity purposes.

Trustees of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan have unanimously agreed to a one-calendar-quarter extension of health coverage for certain qualified participants who would otherwise lose coverage on Oct. 1, 2023. The extension accounts for jobs that may have been lost in May and June of this year due to the Writers Guild strike. The WGA has been on strike since May 2, SAG-AFTRA since July 14.

EXCLUSIVE: Shadow and Bone star Kit Young is part of the Season 1 cast of FX’s Alien series, sources tell Deadline. Additionally, I hear filming in Thailand has been suspended due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, and the cast was sent home Friday. According to sources, the break was planned as the show’s production schedule was adjusted to account for the SAG-AFTRA work stoppage. Crew members are still working, and sets are still being prepared for when shooting resumes after the end of the strike, sources said.

SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee said Sunday it “remains ready at a moment’s notice to go back to the bargaining table to secure a righteous deal” to end the actors’ strike, which is now in its 46th day. “Unfortunately, as we’ve seen from the recent news out of the WGA negotiations, it appears the AMPTP is still unwilling to make the concessions necessary to make a fair deal that would bring the strikes to a close.”

J. Kim Murphy SAG-AFTRA issued a statement on Thursday evening to encourage members to promote and audition for approved interim agreement productions, as a means of “strengthening the union’s bargaining position and demonstrating solidarity.” The guild’s statement provides guidance in regards to the matter of promoting a project with an interim agreement, which has been a matter of contention among some SAG-AFTRA members since the strike began in July.