American productions are suffering from shutdowns in recent months. In May, the writers' strike began, which paralyzed around 80% in Hollywood, according to information from The New York Times. Lately, there has been a lot of news about the possible actors' strike, focusing on the SAG-AFTRA.
Understand what the Hollywood actors strike is and how it will affect productions
What is SAG-AFTRA?
SAG-AFTRA is the union that most represents actors when working in film and television productions in the United States. Unions function by gaining strength through collective bargaining.
Currently, the vast majority of actors with some experience are members of SAG-AFTRA, where participants are not allowed to work as performers on any production that does not have a union agreement. Any project that wants to work with SAG-AFTRA actors – independent films, short films, student films – first needs to go to the union, which will sign one of the few pre-existing agreements based on the type of production and the size of the budget. These contracts determine how much your actors will be paid, how much they should receive as residual, and define the rules for how actors should be treated.
In addition, SAG-AFTRA has a general contract with Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP), whose membership includes all major studios and music platforms streams. The contract is renegotiated every three years and determines the quality of the highest paid acting jobs in the industry.
Why a strike?
The most recent contract between SAG and AMPTP expired on June 30 with no deal. For this reason, the actors' union prepared for the possibility of going on strike against the class group that was formed to represent the studios, broadcasters and streaming services in labor negotiations with the unions.
What is SAG-AFTRA asking of AMPTP?
While details are unknown, communications from SAG-AFTRA stressed the need for better wages, stronger contributions to the union's pension and health fund, and the budgetary residuals from streaming services to be added to those traditionally paid for theatrical and video productions. streaming.
The union is also seeking greater regulation of “self-recorded auditions,” which have become an industry norm. Rather than going to a casting room and being recorded, up-and-coming actors are now being asked to record themselves, burdening actors with having to provide recording equipment and find their own scene partner.
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Finally, there is the issue of AI. A future where creative workers are replaced by Artificial Intelligence looks closer than ever, and actors may be at greater risk. Voice actors are already reporting competition from AI-generated performances. On social media, support for entertainment unions is strong (as is it on the streets), but videos that use AI narration in place of actors still go viral, with no real sense of contradiction.
Why is everyone in Hollywood on strike right now?
O Writers Guild of America (WGA), which represents film and television writers, and the Directors Guild of America (DGA), which represents directors (and assistant directors, second assistant directors, etc.), also work on three-year contracts with the AMPTP. And for many years, the contracts were synchronized so that they all expired back to back, starting with the WGA.
On May 30, the WGA contract expired without a deal; its members went on strike and have been trying to guarantee their rights for over two months. The quest for a writing career that will provide a sustainable income has become increasingly unattainable, particularly as streaming services, which can pay less under current deals, now represent a larger slice of the industry. The WGA has a tradition of being ready to attack. The last major strike in the entertainment industry was also a writers' strike, in 2008, and the WGA came close again in 2017. However, streaming has been extremely disruptive for everyone in the industry, and so there is hope that with the WGA leading the way, the DGA and SAG-AFTRA may soon join them for a “triple strike”.
Prior to the talks, the SAG-AFTRA leadership called for a strike authorization vote. A strike authorization, if approved by a majority vote of all members, gives the negotiating team the power to call a strike if they feel it is the best way to get a fair deal. Unions tend to keep these votes when negotiations are not going well (that's how it happened between the AMPTP and the WGA). Asking for authorization to strike even before the start of negotiations is a strong sign that the union is prepared to be firm in its demands. If the authorization vote passed by a wide margin, it would show the AMPTP that members are ready to make the short-term sacrifices that a strike requires and that the long-term need to improve industry labor practices is very strong.
On June 3, the votes were counted and SAG-AFTRA members voted 97.6% in favor of authorizing the strike.
Imminent Strike
The Hollywood Actors Union announced that negotiations with major studios ended without a signed agreement, indicating the beginning of a strike in the American entertainment industry. In practice, this means the complete stoppage of actors' activities in Hollywood, which directly impacts the production of new films and series.
With the strike, unionized artists are prevented from working on new shoots, in addition to not participating in actions to publicize their work, such as interviews and events.
In a statement to members, the president of the actors' union, Fran Drescher, said AMPTP's responses to sensitive points in the agreement were insulting and disrespectful.
“SAG-AFTRA entered into negotiations in good faith, hoping to reach an agreement that would meet the needs of our artists, but AMPTP's responses to the union's most important proposals were insulting and disrespectful of our contributions to this industry. Companies refused to discuss some topics in a productive way, and others just ignored us. Until such time as they negotiate in good faith, we cannot reach a new agreement.”
Although the requests from the writers' union and the actors' union present their particularities, they have points in common, such as regulations for the use of technologies with artificial intelligence and in the reproduction of artists and residual payments for productions released in streaming.
What happens to the series and movies with these strikes?
With the writers' strike that started in May, Hollywood was already about 80% paralyzed, according to information from the The New York Times. With that, only the production of unscripted programs such as news or sports was underway. This was thanks to the organization of the union and the support received by the Hollywood community.
Some productions even started after the first days of the strike, with the condition that their scripts were finalized and not changed. In cases like Deadpool 3, which had official production images released recently, anything that was filmed outside of what was written in the script, even a joke told by Ryan Reynolds in the footage, it could be seen as a violation of the strike, which would have consequences for those involved.
With the actors' strike, the situation becomes even more drastic and productions can come to a complete stop, since without the cast, no recording is possible. However, the situation becomes a little more serious if you analyze that the union indicates that its members will not be able to participate in any promotional work, including interviews, press conferences, film premieres and events, such as the San Diego Comic-Con, which takes place now at the end of July. Stars will be able to attend these events as long as they don't sit on any panel to promote a specific film or series, or to discuss future projects.
Some productions have already started to feel the effects of the strike, as is the case of Oppenheimer, which had to advance its premiere to an hour ahead of schedule to allow the film's actors to attend the event before the strike officially began on July 13. gladiator 2 and Mortal Kombat 2 they had started their filming and must paralyze everything until the end of the strike. Already productions with European teams, which are not part of any of the Hollywood unions, should happen normally. The same goes for Korean movies and series, for example.
How long will the strike last?
There is no way to predict how long the actors' strike will last. Its impact is believed to be felt in the coming weeks and will influence writers' union negotiations.
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