OAN’s Stephanie Stahl
5:23 PM – Thursday, October 12, 2023
Negotiations between Hollywood’s major studios and SAG-AFTRA — the union that represents more than 160,000 actors and performers — have been suspended after two weeks.
SAG-AFTRA, which stands for the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, has been striking for fair wages since July 14th.
On Wednesday, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents major studios and production companies, said in a statement that the divide between it and the union “is too great.”
“Conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction,” AMPTP’s statement read.
SAG-AFTRA posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, to address the situation.
Meanwhile, the Hollywood writers strike officially ended on Tuesday, October 10th, when the Writers Guild of America (WGA) voted to ratify its contract with AMPTP after five months of strikes.
However, there is no end in sight for actors, extras, and producers, who began their strike just weeks after writers did, back on May 2nd.
The Writers Guild of America expressed its support for SAG-AFTRA on social media.
Reportedly, wages and artificial intelligence (AI) protections are points of contention between actors and studios.
According to AMPTP’s statement, the union is proposing a “viewership bonus” that the studios claim would cost them $800 million per year.
SAG-AFTRA has accused the studios of “intentionally” misrepresenting the cost of the proposal to the press, claiming it is 60% less than what AMPTP publicly announced in the media.
The union contends that a new contract is needed to address “modern issues.”
These issues include pay raises, protections surrounding use of artificial intelligence, and greater participation in streaming revenue, which has eroded traditional residual payments.
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