SAG-AFTRA Issues Strike Rules With Walkout Set To Begin At Midnight

Luc Besson’s DogMan has become one of the first films to receive a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement that will allow talent to do press during the upcoming festival season. Actors will be allowed to promote the pic at its upcoming premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Seth MacFarlane is giving back in a major way.

The New York City Council’s Committee on Civil Service and Labor passed a resolution today in support of a fair contract for striking actors and writers.  

SAG-AFTRA will hold a mass rally in Times Square on Tuesday morning. It’s expected to be the biggest rally in NYC since the strike began on July 14. Celebs scheduled to attend the “Rock the City for a Fair Contract” rally include Bryan Cranston, Steve Buscemi, Christian Slater, Lauren Ambrose, Christine Baranski, Matt Bomer, Tituss Burgess, Liza Colón-Zayas, Gregory Diaz, Jennifer Ehle, Nancy Giles, Danai Gurrira, Jill Hennessy, Marin Hinkle, Stephen Lang, Arian Moayed, Wendell Pierce, Corey Stoll and Merritt Wever.

officially went on strike after they were unable to reach an agreement with major Hollywood studios and streamers by the July 12 deadline. Because of this, nearly all productions in Hollywood have been forced to shut down, which have already had an immediate impact in the industry with canceled premieres, axed publicity tours, delayed projects and abandoned sets.Actors like Jason Sudeikis, Susan Sarandon, Olivia Wilde, Allison Janney, Josh Gad, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Mandy Moore, Ben Schwartz and Sharon Lawrence were among those joining the writers — who have been on strike since May 2 — on the picket line beginning July 14.

SAG-AFTRA has granted more waivers in recent days that give permission to indie projects to shoot during the current strike, including the independent film The Summer Book starring Glenn Close. Other recent projects that will be allowed to shoot include the TV series Underdeveloped and Sight Unseen.

EXCLUSIVE: For those awards strategists wondering whether stars from indie U.S. films can promote at the fall film festival troika, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland says “We’re looking at that issue.”

Following SAG-AFTRA’s clearance of AppleTV+’s Israeli spy series Tehran and New Line’s horror movie Watchers –prolific projects from AMPTP studios that the guild remains in talks with– in their interim agreement process, some producers and filmmakers in town have been miffed.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Dave Coulier on Friday launched a new rewatch podcast for “Full House,” the beloved sitcom he appeared on opposite the late Bob Saget. In the premiere episode of “Full House Rewind,” Coulier speaks with series creator Jeff Franklin as they reminisce about working with Saget (who died last year) and talk about the pilot episode of the show that premiered in September 1987. They also discuss the fact that Saget wasn’t actually the first actor to play Danny Tanner (that was John Posey, but Posey appeared as the character only in an unaired pilot). But there’s been some question about whether such TV rewatch podcasts are allowed under the rules of SAG-AFTRA’s strike against studios and streaming providers.

Bethenny Frankel's advice to Rachel Leviss -- should Rachel choose to go back to the kind of environment that ultimately landed her in a mental health treatment facility — is don't agree to go back to  until she's hammered out a new deal with Bravo.Speaking to ET's Kevin Frazier after questioning why reality TV stars haven't gone on strike, Frankel says Leviss is the one still getting dragged for her role in creating Scandoval, an affair with Tom Sandoval, whose nine-year relationship with Ariana Madix was torpedoed when news of the affair surfaced earlier this year. While the rest of the gang have all returned to production for the highly anticipated season 11, Leviss has bee noticeably absent. And Frankel, host of the  podcast, encourages Leviss to keep it that way until both sides can come to an agreement.«She had an affair. She's not the first person in the world that's had an affair and, you know, bullying or beating someone down for a tragic error that, yes, everybody has, like,  grabbed and ripped the meat off the carcass.

Editor’s note: Almost a week into the first joint strike by the actors union and the writers guild since 1960, there are picket lines all over LA and NYC. Yet there are no new negotiations planned between SAG-AFTRA or the WGA and the studios and streamers. Despite the silence and divisions between the parties, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland insists that a pathway to a new contract and a better future for all is possible.

releasing a FAQ on its strike website ahead of San Diego Comic-Con this weekend. The new rules are uncharted territory for Hollywood labor, as this is SAG-AFTRA’s first strike on the TV/Theatrical contract since 1980.

You can read the full SAG-AFTRA memo here, and read AMPTP’s response here.“We moved on some things,” the SAG-AFTRA memo said, “but from day one they wouldn’t meaningfully engage on the most critical issues.”Along with a summary, the memo included a comprehensive breakdown of guild proposals and the counteroffers made by AMPTP. Among the disagreements between the two sides, according to SAG-AFTRA:A requested 11% general wage increase in the first year, and 4% in the second and third years to deal with inflation was countered with 5% in the first year, 4% in the second and 3.2% in the third, the guild says.A proposed a revenue sharing scheme on streaming services to offset residuals losses was flatly rejected by AMPTP.A proposal to make terms for background actors the same everywhere was rejected by AMPTP.A proposal to compensate background actors who also do stand-in work on the same day for both jobs, instead of paying them for one, was rejected.AMPTP agreed to provide hair and makeup specialists trained for diverse hair types and skin tones, but only for principle performers.And of course, the memo mentions the previously discussed proposal by AMPTP that studios be allowed to use AI to scan background actors and retain ownership and the right to use their likenesses in perpetuity, while paying them only once.“SAG-AFTRA continues to mischaracterize the negotiations with AMPTP,” AMPTP said in its own statement.

Saying that “we’re fighting for the survival of our profession,” the SAG-AFTRA leaders tonight released the details of just how far they and the companies were when contract talks broke off and the performers launched their first strike against the film and scripted TV industry since 1980. “We moved on some things, but from day one they wouldn’t meaningfully engage on the most critical issues,” they said in a communique to members.

Kimiko Glenn has had many roles over the past few years, including appearing in several seasons of “Orange Is the New Black” as inmate Brooke Soso.

IATSE President Matt Loeb is calling on the studios to provide health care benefits to below-the line workers who might lose them if they fall short of qualifying during the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes, as the companies did during the Covid pandemic.

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.

Oliver Stone said Friday he was shocked to hear that the stars of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer had walked out of its London premiere the day before as SAG-AFTRA officially declared strike action.

The Locarno Film Festival has said it is “monitoring the situation” around the availability of acting talent following SAG-AFTRA’s decision to move forward with strike action last night. 

Fran Drescher is speaking out in response to the controversy surrounding her recent trip to Italy and meetup with Kim Kardashian.