SAG-AFTRA Calls History-Making Strike as Talks With Studios Collapse

At a moment when Hollywood’s writers remain on strike, members of performers union SAG-AFTRA will soon be mounting their own picket lines, constituting the first “double strike” involving both actors and scribes since 1960.

SAG-AFTRA’s National Board officially called a strike Thursday against major film and television companies as contract talks with studios and streamers broke down without a deal on July 12. The work stoppage will impact 160,000 union members and begin at midnight tonight. The union’s national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said that the talks left the union “with no choice” but to call a strike, while union president Fran Drescher said that the studios “plead poverty” and that the producers “stand on the wrong side of history.”

Drescher added of the studios’ offer, “there was nothing there, it was insulting,” and said the union would be rejecting “incremental changes” on its contract with film and TV producers.

“It came with great sadness that we came to this crossroads. We had no choice,” the SAG-AFTRA president said in a fiery speech. “We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people we have been in business with are treating us. I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right while giving millions to CEOs. It’s disgusting, shame on them.”

Drescher also spoke about the impasse surrounding the use of artificial intelligence and portrayed the union as taking a stand for all of labor against big corporations. “The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI. This is a moment of history that is a moment of truth. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble, we are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines,” she said.

The studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, released a talking points memo in response, along with a statement that said it proposed a substantive offer. “The AMPTP presented a deal that offered historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, and a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members,” the studios said. “A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life.”

It will be SAG-AFTRA’s first strike against film and television companies in four decades. When actors went on a 95-day strike in July 1980, they pushed for a system of profit-sharing to get a percentage of revenue from home media releases. SAG wanted to get ahead of what it believed would be lucrative market (SAG merged with AFTRA in 2012).

The last of the major entertainment unions to enter labor negotiations with entertainment companies in the spring and summer of this year, SAG-AFTRA walked into their talks with the AMPTP on June 7 with a strike authorization vote in hand. Responding to an especially tight time frame in which to negotiate their sprawling TV/theatrical contracts (their current pact initially expired June 30, then was extended to July 12), nearly 98 percent of voting members of the union authorized their leaders to call a strike if deemed necessary.

During their own negotiations with the AMPTP, the industry’s writers never made a deal, resulting in a strike, while the Directors Guild of America did reach an agreement that was ratified by its membership.

In late June, top SAG-AFTRA negotiators told members that they were making progress during “extremely productive” discussions with the entertainment companies, and on June 30 both management and labor decided to extend negotiations eight more business days, to 11:59 p.m. on July 12.

But in recent days, SAG-AFTRA set a number of strike preparations into motion, getting in touch with major PR firms and hundreds of agents to reveal potential strike rules, and the AMPTP reached out to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to intervene in talks. Late Tuesday evening, SAG-AFTRA agreed to this plan, but did not accept extending the talks any further than July 12.

“We will not be distracted from negotiating in good faith to secure a fair and just deal by the expiration of our agreement,” the union said in a strongly worded statement. A federal mediator joined negotiations for just one business day, on Wednesday.

By Wednesday night, the two sides had failed to reach a deal, leading SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee to unanimously recommend a strike to its National Board. Drescher accused the AMPTP of refusing to “meaningfully engage” on some topics and stonewalling on others, while the AMPTP said the failure to compromise was “the union’s choice, not ours.” The AMPTP claimed that SAG-AFTRA left “our offer of historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses, and more” on the table.

Prior to negotiations, SAG-AFTRA signaled that it was looking to put contractual guardrails in place regarding the use of artificial intelligence in entertainment and improve streaming residuals. The union also argued that it was important to bolster its benefits plans and change rules regarding self-taped auditions, which skyrocketed in popularity at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The news will have an immediate impact on all remaining U.S. union physical production that has been able to keep going despite writers being out on strike and picketing certain ongoing shoots since May 2. Without actors, those projects will have to press pause immediately. Even before Wednesday’s announcement, THR reported that insurance companies were declining to bond indie film productions until at least June 30, when SAG-AFTRA’s contract expired.

When writers struck 15 years ago, the fallout of the 100-day labor stoppage was roughly $2 billion (or $2.8 billion in 2023 dollars). Experts who spoke with THR after the WGA’s May 1 call predicted the financial toll from this latest strike may be even greater. That figure will undoubtedly balloon now that productions will be further stalled by the work stoppage from the actors.

In a pointed remark to studios, Drescher added in her speech on Thursday: “This is a very big deal, and it weighed heavy on us. But at some point, you have to say, ‘No, we’re not going to take this anymore — you people are crazy. What are you doing? Why are you doing this?'”