EXCLUSIVE: Some of Hollywood’s biggest names met with the leadership of SAG-AFTRA today to get the lowdown on the breakdown of talks with the studios and streamers last week.
28.09.2023 - 19:27 / deadline.com
Everybody who needs to be in the room when SAG-AFTRA and the studios sit down for talks next week will be.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the actors union’s national executive director and chief negotiator, will be returning from Turkey this weekend in time for Monday’s resumption of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which will be held at the guild’s offices in Los Angeles.
The two sides hadn’t met since the actors union went on strike on July 14.
Crabtree-Ireland has been in Istanbul attending the annual Executive Committee meeting of the International Federation of Actors (FIA), a global federation that represents some 90 organizations and hundreds of thousands of performers in more than 60 countries.
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At the meeting, FIA is expected to declare its support of SAG-AFTRA’s strike, and its affiliated unions are expected to express their refusal to allow AMPTP productions to flee to their jurisdictions to avoid the guild’s strike sanctions.
And even though he’s been out of the country this week, Crabtree-Ireland has remained deeply involved in preparations for the guild’s upcoming contract talks — just as SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, who chairs the guild’s negotiating committee, had been, either in person or via videoconference, near the end of bargaining in July.
She had left the country to attend a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show in Italy, where she was a brand ambassador. She returned in time for the last two days of negotiations before the strike, and to deliver a fiery strike speech.
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While out of the country,
EXCLUSIVE: Some of Hollywood’s biggest names met with the leadership of SAG-AFTRA today to get the lowdown on the breakdown of talks with the studios and streamers last week.
Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Talks broke down last week between the major studios and SAG-AFTRA, with the studios saying that the gap between the two sides is “too great” to continue productive negotiations. Until they can bridge the gap, SAG-AFTRA will remain on strike and the entertainment industry will remain shut down. So how big is that gap? About $480 million a year.
It’s been nearly three weeks since SAG-AFTRA‘s talks with the video game industry broke off, but a power-up is on the horizon. The union said today that negotiations for a new Interactive Media Agreement will continue. But as for when — stay tuned.
SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is very happy with Taylor Swift and not so happy with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
In an interview of the Today show this morning, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher called the AMPTP’s walk out on strike negotiations this week “wrong,” “unfair,” and “disrespectful.”
While walking the picket line Thursday outside of Netflix, SAG-AFTRA‘s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland expressed his frustration over the suspension in talks the studios called last night.
Four U.S. senators today announced a discussion draft bill aimed at protecting actors, singers and others from having their voice and likeness generated by artificial intelligence. The bipartisan Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act, or NO FAKES Act (read it here), would hold people, companies and platforms liable for producing or hosting such digital replicas.
The latest round of talks between the studios and SAG-AFTRA on ending the 92-day strike have collapsed tonight and now he Fran Drescher-led guild are accusing the AMPTP of using “bully tactics” and “the same failed strategy they tried to inflict on the WGA.”
After a rough day of negotiations Wednesday, the actors guild and the studios have pulled the plug for now.
There was no picketing Monday by SAG-AFTRA members due to the Indigenous Peoples Day holiday, but the leadership of the actors guild did return to the bargaining table with the studios and streamers.
Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will meet for further negotiations in the former’s ongoing strike, the parties announced on Wednesday. “SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP met for a full day bargaining session and have concluded. Negotiations will continue on Friday, Oct.
SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, is attending New York Comic Con on Oct. 14 for the panel “AI in Entertainment: The Performer’s Perspective”.
One down, and more to come.
SAG-AFTRA is set to sit down with the studios today to restart talks on a deal for the actors.
Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Lead negotiators for SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will head back to the table on Monday, Oct. 2, after a bitter concurrent strike led by the Writes Guild of America was resolved on Tuesday. “SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP will resume negotiations for a new TV/Theatrical contract on Monday, Oct.
This is Day 76 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
SAG-AFTRA members have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against 10 of the major video game companies. The vote was 98.32% in favor. A total of 34,687 members cast ballots, representing a voting 27.47% of eligible voters. The guild’s last strike against the gaming companies, in 2016-17, lasted 183 days. The guild, meanwhile, has been on strike against the film and TV industry since July 14.
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.
With the actors’ strike now in its 63rd day, SAG-AFTRA leaders are ramping up their rhetoric against the studio heads, accusing them in the latest issue of the SAG-AFTRA Magazine of “behaving like petty tyrants,” “would-be feudal lords” and “land barons in feudal times.”
As the SAG-AFTRA strike clocked its 62nd day, and the WGA’s 135th, the former held a massive solidarity march today from Netflix HQ on Van Ness Blvd to the Melrose gates of Paramount to juice guilds’ spirits with the entertainment industry work stoppage running past Labor Day.