SAG-AFTRA Says Studios Didn’t ‘Meaningfully Engage’ on ‘Critical Issues,’ Studios Call Guild ‘Disingenuous’

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.

In the wake of yesterday’s upbeat news that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the WGA are heading back for talks this Friday, SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland says that as far as actors go, it’s still crickets from the producers.

SAG-AFTRA tonight responded to criticism of its interim agreements, saying that they are a “vital part of our strategic approach to these negotiations and to the strike.” The interim agreements allow truly independent projects to film during the strike as long as they agree to be bound by the terms of whatever deal the guild eventually reaches with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

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.

Angelique Jackson On July 13, as SAG-AFTRA leadership declared the union was going on strike, SAG-AFTRA Foundation president Courtney B. Vance and executive director Cyd Wilson drafted a letter to 2,700 of the union’s highest-earning actors outlining the financial need that many would face in the work stoppage. “Having been through this during COVID and having such a great response from our own membership to take care of their own, when the strike was decided, Courtney and I sat down with our team and said, ‘Here we go again,'” Wilson tells Variety. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation (a non-profit organization associated with the union, but not part of it) worked to provide financial relief to many of the union’s 160,000 members via the foundation’s Emergency Financial Assistance Program, which will again be used to help actors during the strike.

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.

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.

“TIFF is on,” beamed the Toronto International Film Festival CEO Cameron Bailey to Deadline, “Our dates are the same, the films are coming.”

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.

#NYC, #SAG LA Vice President @itsMichelleHurd says actors are literally working "Paycheck to paycheck" #ActorsStrike. pic.twitter.com/AWVTc4nQZOHurd said the strike was a labor issue and not a matter for “whiny elitist actors, you know, screaming for more money for their yachts.”“We are working class people, we’re all journeymen actors,” Hurd said. “Think about all the actors that you see on TV, that you don’t know their names, but you are comforted every time you see them.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s largest employers are sparring over the terms of the offer that SAG-AFTRA rejected before the union went on strike last week. SAG-AFTRA issued a detailed statement outlining its objections to the deal presented last week after weeks of bargaining with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The AMPTP countered late with a statement that accused the union of trying to “deliberately distort” the terms of the employers’ offer. SAG-AFTRA opened its statement to members by declaring that the union is fighting “against a system where those in charge of multibillion-dollar media conglomerates are rewarded for exploiting workers.” SAG-AFTRA called a strike against AMPTP companies on July 12. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since May 2.

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.

Acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film, The Boy And The Heron (aka How Do You Live?), hit Japanese theatres on Friday, July 14 with no advance publicity apart from a title and a poster. 

Joey King is on the picket lines to fight for a fair deal for all SAG-AFTRA members!

thousands of actors and entertainers striking in Hollywood with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) for the first time in over six decades.“I haven’t acted much as an adult, but I WAS on a recurring character on one of the most critically acclaimed animated shows of all time, as well playing an actual Disney villain,” the 35-year-old tweeted Thursday.“But thanks to streaming, I have never once made enough to qualify for SAG-AFTRA healthcare.”Wilson became an established actress at a young age, landing the role of Natalie ‘Nattie’ Hillard in the film “Mrs.

After AMPTP called their AI proposal to SAG-AFTRA yesterday “groundbreaking”, the actors’ union National Executive Director and chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, still begs to differ.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the SAG-AFTRA strike a “historic inflection point” that will have an impact on the overall economy, while suggesting that she would be working on a resolution.

While the 70-day-old WGA strike has been an “annoyance” for entertainment companies, in the view of one Wall Street analyst, the SAG-AFTRA walkout will be “much more disruptive.”