SAG-AFTRA Contract Talks Officially Begin Following “Astounding” Strike-Authorization Vote

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International If you ask most people in the U.K. industry how business is going right now, they’ll likely tell you it’s been agonizingly “slow.” It’s meant to be boom time for production, but this summer, the U.S. writers strike combined with a cost of living crisis is brutally squeezing unscripted and scripted projects. This week, as the clock ticks away on negotiations between American actors union SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s collective bargaining agent, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the prevailing thought will be: is all of this about to get much worse? A number of British actors Variety has spoken to say they’ve yet to hear from local actors’ union Equity with any guidance about their situation. That’s likely because it’s being worked out in real time. Paul W. Fleming, general secretary for Equity, has been in Los Angeles for discussions with SAG-AFTRA, which is optimistic about its negotiations with the AMPTP. (He’s also visiting New York to meet with theater union Actors’ Equity.)

SAG-AFTRA leaders painted a sunny picture of their ongoing negotiations in a video released over the weekend, saying the talks have been “extremely productive” and promising to reach a “seminal deal.” But according to multiple sources with knowledge of the dynamic in the negotiating room, the sides remain far apart on a range of key issues. With just a few days left before SAG-AFTRA’s current contract expires on Friday, some are privately predicting that talks will be extended beyond the June 30 deadline, though such a move has not formally been broached in the negotiating room with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

interview this past spring, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told TheWrap that SAG-AFTRA’s leaders believe it could benefit actors if properly regulated so that performances and likenesses can’t be used without proper compensation and consent.If talks aren’t successful, SAG-AFTRA could end up joining WGA in a strike; members voted to authorize a strike ahead of contract talks earlier this month by an overwhelming 97%. If that happens, studios will face a strike by two separate guilds at once for the first time since 1960, when a double strike held by writers and actors led to the establishment of residuals for TV reruns.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer With less than a week to go before their contract expires, the leaders of SAG-AFTRA are striking an optimistic note about the progress of negotiations. In a video sent to members on Saturday, union president Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland say they hope to be able to achieve a deal with the studios. If they do, that would avert a “double strike,” in which performers would join the Writers Guild of America on picket lines outside the major studios. “I just want to assure you that we are having an extremely productive negotiations that are laser-focused on all of the crucial issues you told us are most important to you,” Drescher said. “We’re standing strong and we’re going to achieve a seminal deal.”

SAG-AFTRA leaders told their members today that the guild’s ongoing contract negotiations have been “extremely productive” and that they “remain optimistic” that a fair deal can be reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The longest day of the year was this week, and SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers sure could use the extra hours to keep negotiating as the June 30 deadline to reach a deal before the current contract expires is only a week away.

EXCLUSIVE: Independent films that found it impossible to get bonded or financed this spring and summer with a potential SAG-AFTRA strike looming — as well as new projects that were looking to start after June 30 — now have a shot at moving ahead as the union proceeds with interim agreements.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA’s master contract with Hollywood’s largest employers is due to expire in two weeks, and negotiators who have been in bargaining talks since June 7 have a lot of proposals to work through before that deadline. The time crunch has raised the possibility that the union’s talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers could go past the June 30 deadline, according to multiple sources who asked not to be identified. The SAG-AFTRA board has the power to call a strike starting on July 1 if no agreement is reached. That would immediately shut down all film and TV production that has not already been halted by the writers strike.

The moment the WGA strike started at 12:01 a.m. on May 2, all late-night shows went dark. Many presume that the same is bound to happen with daytime dramas if SAG-AFTRA goes on strike July 1, as those series, similarly, are in continuous, year-round production.

Manchester City have released four players at the end of the 2022/23 season including club captain Ilkay Gundogan.

Billy Ray and Todd Garner are back for Week 6 of the Writers Guild standoff on Deadline’s Strike Talk podcast. Click below to listen.

The Television Critics Association has officially cancelled its upcoming summer press tour as the WGA, DGA and SAG-AFTRA are at different points of negotiating new contracts with the AMPTP.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA began negotiations with the major studios on Wednesday, and the two sides have already agreed on one thing: they won’t be talking to the media about it. In a joint statement on Wednesday, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and SAG-AFTRA said they will adhere to a media blackout for the duration of talks. “Today, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP began formal negotiations for a new contract, and with the agreement that neither organization will comment to the media about the negotiations during the process,” they said in a joint statement.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The membership of SAG-AFTRA has voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike authorization, maximizing the guild’s leverage ahead of negotiations that begin on Wednesday. The guild announced Monday night that 97.91% of the voting members supported the authorization. Turnout was 47.69%. The vote comes as the Writers Guild of America strike enters its sixth week. Many SAG-AFTRA members have already joined WGA members walking the picket lines. The leaders of both guilds have expressed solidarity with each other several times this year. The writers strike has caused a sharp downturn in production, especially in television. If SAG-AFTRA goes on strike, any remaining film and TV production would halt immediately. The union represents 160,000 performers.

SAG-AFTRA, which begins negotiations for a new contract on Wednesday, said today that its bargaining strategy remains unchanged in the wake of the tentative deal made last night by the Directors Guild and the studios.

SAG-AFTRA members have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if upcoming contract talks fail to produce a satisfactory agreement by June 30. The vote revealed Monday was 97.91% in favor, with nearly half of eligible members — 47.69% — casting ballots. According to the union, nearly 65% of eligible members voted.

released a memo to members of the actors guild congratulating the Directors Guild of America on reaching a tentative agreement on a new labor contract while noting that such a deal will have no impact on SAG-AFTRA’s own labor talks beginning this week. “Our bargaining strategy has never relied upon nor been dependent on the outcome or status of any other union’s negotiations, nor do we subscribe to the philosophy that the terms of deals made with other unions bind us,” the memo reads.

In a defiant clarion call for continued solidarity and endurance as the Writers Guild’s strike enters its second month, WGA negotiating committee co-chair Chris Keyser says in a new video that the guild’s fight for a fair contract is not one that’s being fought for writers alone, but for the entire labor movement.

The Writers Guild told its members today that the AMPTP’s “divide and conquer” strategy isn’t working, and that if the companies think they can pit one guild against the other, make a deal with the Directors Guild and force the WGA to accept it and end its strike – as was the case with the WGA’s last strike – they are mistaken.

The leaders of the Writers Guild, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and the Teamsters have issued a “joint statement of solidarity” with the Directors Guild in its final scheduled week of contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, saying that they “stand alongside our sisters, brothers, and kin in the DGA in their pursuit of a fair contract.” Their statement comes on the 30th day of the ongoing WGA strike and 21 days after the DGA began its contract talks with the AMPTP.