Sarah Silverman Now Less Pissed Off About SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreements After Leadership Meeting, Kinda; AMPTP Can Still “F*cking Kick Rocks”

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Dozens of Hollywood players are staring anxiously at empty Louis Vuitton trunks this week, wondering if A-list stars and select filmmakers will get the greenlight from SAG-AFTRA to attend the rapidly approaching Venice Film Festival. The union’s interim agreements have been a focal point over the past weeks of the contentious strike, as the deals allow some productions to resume and select finished films to engage in publicity.

Editors Note: Bill Mechanic is chairman and CEO of Pandemonium Films and a former top executive at Paramount, Disney and chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment. He is also a former producer of the Oscars and Oscar-nominated films like Hacksaw Ridge and Coraline. He previously advocated for interim agreements as a guest on Deadline’s Strike Talk podcast and his company has applied for them since.

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.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, confirmed Tuesday that fall festival buyers will need to agree to the terms proposed for the guild’s new contract before acquiring projects being promoted under an interim agreement.

Hollywood’s potential misuse of artificial intelligence is a “deadly cocktail” and a “poison” that needs to be strictly regulated, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in the guild’s latest strike podcast.

News broadcasters aren’t on strike, but their SAG-AFTRA steering committee is standing behind the actors and performers who are. “The world is watching,” the committee said in a statement Wednesday, and urged a “quick and productive resolution to the strike.”

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.

EXCLUSIVE: With such big 2023 movies such as Kraven the Hunter, the next Ghostbusters, the Zendaya romance Challengers and more moving into 2024 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, exhibition is facing another possible recession should stars remain unable to promote.

Actor-comedian Sarah Silverman is confused about the large volume of projects that have been granted interim agreements by SAG-AFTRA to film during the actors strike. And she is not alone.

Sophia Scorziello editor Sarah Silverman has seen the so-called SAG waivers — and she’s not a fan. In a recent video posted to Instagram, the comedian slash actor slammed fellow Hollywood stars for continuing to film independent, SAG-AFTRA-approved projects under interim agreements as actors and writers remain on strike.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Prince Royal, an actor in Los Angeles, was working as an extra on “The Flash” when he was directed to a tractor trailer to “take pictures.” Inside were hundreds of cameras. He stood with his arms up as the operators took a 3-D scan, which he was told would be used for continuity and special effects. “We were told if we didn’t do it, we’d be sent home without pay,” he said.

The Venice Film Festival confirmed to us today it is hopeful that movies with SAG-AFTRA ‘interim agreements’ will bring their casts to the Lido.

SAG-AFTRA, which launched a strike against Hollywood studios on July 14, launched its interim agreements program that allows independent productions with no direct ties to members of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to continue filming.

The Gray House, a Civil War spy drama series that is being produced by Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman, is the latest high-profile project to land an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA.

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.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The perils of artificial intelligence to the entertainment industry came to San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, with SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland joining a panel of voice actors organized by NAVA, the National Association of Voice Actors, to discuss the specific hazards AI is already posing to the profession. “We’ve got to reject the idea that this is just something that’s going to happen to us and we can’t say anything about it,” Crabtree-Ireland said at the outset of the panel, about whether AI could devastate the entertainment industry. “I think it definitely could, the question is whether we’re going to let that happen.”

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.”

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA has granted approval to 39 independent productions to shoot during the strike, after confirming that they are not tied to AMPTP companies. The list includes two projects from A24, the independent production company: “Mother Mary,” starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel, and “Death of a Unicorn,” starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, which is set to begin shooting soon in Hungary. A24 is not part of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said a spokesperson for the company. The projects also include “The Rivals of Amziah King,” starring Matthew McConaughey and “The Chosen,” a TV series about the life of Jesus.