SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland Applauds U.K. Solidarity as Equity Boss Warns Britain Could Also Face Industrial Action in Next 12 Months

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.

“The cracks in the employers’ walls are getting deeper everyday.”

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.

With SAG-AFTRA members already on strike against films and TV shows and voting now underway to authorize a separate strike against the video game industry, the guild’s leaders are saying that a dual strike, if it comes to that, “makes sense” because the issues at stake in both contracts “mirror” each other.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland Labor Day is more than a long weekend of beaches, barbecues and block parties. It’s a national celebration marking the economic and social contributions of American workers. How ironic, then, that SAG-AFTRA members are observing this 141st Labor Day on strike against a global industry that refuses to fairly recognize the contributions of the workers who power its economic success.

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.

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.

SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America West are among more than 20 labor organizations lobbying for passage of a bill pending in the California legislature that would make striking workers in the state eligible for unemployment benefits, as they are in New York and New Jersey.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor As SAG-AFTRA clocked its 40th day on strike, the union’s chief negotiator has called for leaders of Hollywood’s major studios and streamers to step in to bring the sides to a new deal and get the industry back to work. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive secretary and its chief negotiator, said the union has had outreach from industry insiders who aim to help with basic communication between SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Ahead of its world premiere in competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, which follows the Presleys from the perspective of the King’s young bride, has secured a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement.

SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland has acknowledged “significant economic consequences” impacting workers around the world due to the strikes, while the boss of British Equity said his union is prepared to enter disputes if U.S. producers try to recast roles with UK actors.

SAG-AFTRA’s Los Angeles Local and the Writers Guild of America will hold a “National Day of Solidarity” rally on Tuesday outside Disney Studios.

SAG-AFTRA has given an interim agreement to another upcoming fall festival pic with theChristy Hall drama Daddio, starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn. The agreement will allow talent to promote the movie at the upcoming festivals including Toronto, where it has been confirmed as a Special Presentation pic.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Movie distributors headed to this year’s fall film festivals hoping to buy select star-studded indie films must be prepared to agree to new contract terms from SAG-AFTRA, the union’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said Tuesday. During a broad press conference on the topic of SAG-AFTRA’s interim agreements program — under which some movies and TV projects can shoot or engage in publicity during the ongoing strike — Crabtree-Ireland confirmed what many in the indie film world have been sweating over for weeks.