Deadline’s Strike Talk Podcast Week 11: Striking SAG-AFTRA Joins WGA Pickets; How The Different Goals Of AMPTP Signatories Hampers A Resolution

EXCLUSIVE: Bella Thorne (Divinity) and Jack Kilmer (Palo Alto) have been set to topline The Tower, one of 102 projects to have been granted a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement following the launch of the actors strike. Also set for the fantastical drama, from filmmaker Adam Sigal (Nandor Fodor and The Talking Mongoose), are Cam Gigandet (Violent Night) and Chris Mullinax (Chariot).

Jaden Thompson Will Smith has taken to Instagram and Twitter to support the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. A member of SAG-AFTRA, Smith wrote about the importance of this moment for both guilds. “I wanna talk for a second about ACTING,” Smith wrote.

Billy Ray is back for the 13th installment of Deadline Strike Talk, the weekly podcast that began at the start of the Writers Guild strike against AMPTP. With writers and actors petrified at the job cutting and ecosystem-destroying potential of AI, Ray re-engages the technology in conversation, as he did in his week seven podcast. But this time, with a new twist.

2023 Emmy Awards are no longer taking place on Monday, Sept. 18, as was originally planned.

2023 Emmy Awards are no longer taking place on Monday, Sept. 18 as was originally planned.

Deadline Strike Talk hits a dubious 12th week milestone today, with the business shut down and actors picketing alongside the writers. Host Billy Ray has put together another strong group of guests who put the plight of working actors in relatable and understandable terms. Joining are four actors, three of whom are on the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee. Sarah Ramos’ credits include The Bear, Winning Time, and Parenthood; Shaan Sharma’s credits include The Chosen and Mr. Mercedes; Charles Bodin’s credits include Good Trouble, Halt and Catch Fire, and The Last Tycoon; and Andrew Leeds’s credits include Barry, The Patient, and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The double SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes are worrying exhibitors in France, where the box office is driven by Hollywood blockbusters. In an interview with French news channel BFM Business, Richard Patry, who presides over the National Federation of Cinemas, predicts “the strike might go on for a long time” because it’s aimed at streaming services. “Many U.S. films have already started to be delayed, and it worries us a lot for 2024,” Patry said. The dearth of U.S. releases during the pandemic hurt the French box office, which was down by about 30% in 2022. Even if French movies have a large market share domestically, U.S. blockbusters typically drive an upward trend. Case in point: the French B.O. finally recovered this year and has been up 33%, bolstered by a spike in anticipated American movies, which skyrocketed from 29 in 2022 to 51 in the first five months of 2023, according to Comscore France. 

EXCLUSIVE: Noah Hawley’s Alien FX series has started production in Thailand but without its stars who are SAG-AFTRA members — including the two leads — due to the ongoing strike.

Jordyn Palos Not many publicists will talk about the strikes – especially not publicly. It is our job to stay in the background and navigate the public-facing and oftentimes private worlds of the talent we represent. It’s a career that I have loved for nearly two decades. Publicists are paid a fee to deliver impactful campaigns that can move the needle for our clients’ careers, but my journey is much deeper than media placement, making sure that photo approvals are completed, or ensuring that a plane arrives on time for an overseas premiere. Representation is a responsibility, and not one that I take lightly.  In 2010, I launched Persona PR out of my apartment with no larger agency experience and have worked to build my business from the ground up. As my company has expanded over the years, I have grown into more than a talent representative, and am now a full-fledged business owner, taking on employees and their livelihoods and wellbeing. I work to be a great partner for the companies we share business with, aspire to be a mentor to publicists coming up-the-ranks and became a wife and a mother to two children, as Persona PR has grown.

Tehran, the Israeli spy thriller that airs globally on Apple TV+, has become one of the most high-profile TV series to land a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement.

TelevisaUnivision CEO Wade Davis said the dual strikes crippling Hollywood have “zero impact” on his company’s operations due to the Hispanic media giant’s programming supply chain.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent French film guilds representing authors, directors and producers have released a joint letter pledging their “full solidarity” with the SAG-AFTRA and WGA double strike. “This battle that’s shaping tomorrow’s industry crosses borders. It’s also ours,” reads the letter, which was signed by the ARP (authors, directors, producers) and SRF (society of French directors), the governing body of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. The letter says the double strike “signals a turning point where the questions of sharing of wealth and integration of new models and AI are central.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger already made his perspective clear about the ongoing guild strikes last week before the SAG-AFTRA one commenced. Now it’s Netflix CEO’s Ted Sarandos‘ turn.

Anne Hathaway, Jenna Ortega, Matthew McConaughey and others, are still shooting in the U.S. and overseas.

SAG-AFTRA has granted approval to 39 independent productions to shoot during the actors strike, after confirming that they are not linked to AMPTP companies. The list includes two A24 projects, and Deadline first reported on Monday that faith-based series The Chosen was likely to get one, which now is confirmed.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA has granted approval to 39 independent productions to shoot during the strike, after confirming that they are not tied to AMPTP companies. The list includes two projects from A24, the independent production company: “Mother Mary,” starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel, and “Death of a Unicorn,” starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, which is set to begin shooting soon in Hungary. A24 is not part of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said a spokesperson for the company. The projects also include “The Rivals of Amziah King,” starring Matthew McConaughey and “The Chosen,” a TV series about the life of Jesus.

Christopher Nolan sees the insistence by striking SAG-AFTRA and WGA members that studios and streamers limit the use of artificial intelligence stems directly from the explosion of streaming over the past decade-plus.

With the SAG-AFTRA strike starting today and the WGA writers strike heading into its 74th day, most of Hollywood comes to a standstill. When will these guild strikes end? When negotiations between both of them and the AMPTP resume.

William Earl The SAG-AFTRA strike has shut down scores of film and TV productions as actors picket. While many sets had already shut down as a result of the WGA writers strike, this will effectively slow Hollywood down to a crawl as negotiations continue. Read Variety‘s list of newly-halted productions below, which will be updated throughout the strike. Beetlejuice 2 The Tim Burton production, with Michael Keaton reprising his role as the crude ghost, is almost done with shooting in London, but was still expected to film one more sequence in Vermont when the strike took place.

Production has paused on Deadpool 3 following SAG-AFTRA’s decision to move forward with strike action last night.