As tens of thousands of actors enter their fifth day of strike against Hollywood studios, the two sides show no sign of returning to the negotiating table, even exchanging acrimonious messages that highlight their divisions.
Late Monday night, the leadership of the actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, sent members a 12-page memo outlining the request and the studio’s counter-proposal. The two sides “remain separated on the most important issues affecting the very survival of our profession,” the memo said.
“We marched forward because they deliberately limped,” he continued.
The Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance, which negotiates on behalf of the studios, responded to the press with a memo claiming that the union’s message “deliberately distorts” the offer it made.
“A strike is not the result we wanted,” the coalition said. “It is dishonest at best to claim that SAG-AFTRA is not meeting the needs of its members.”
Thousands of Hollywood actors went on strike Friday after failing to reach new deals with major studios, including long-established companies such as Paramount, Universal and Disney, and tech giants such as Netflix, Amazon and Apple.
The actors join 11,500 screenwriters who went on strike 78 days ago, the first time since 1960 that both unions have left at the same time. The writers haven’t returned to the negotiating table since talks with the studio broke down in early May.
The gap between the two countries remains wide on several key issues, including compensation, guardrails against artificial intelligence, and the cost of health care and pensions, according to the SAG-AFTRA memo.
Union leaders said they demanded an 11% wage increase in the first year of the new contract. The studio reportedly returned a 5% offer.
As for artificial intelligence, union leaders have enacted a number of provisions to protect it “if a ‘digital replica’ is made or if artificial intelligence is used to alter our performance.” said he claimed.
They said the studio partnership “fails to address many critical concerns, leaving the lead and background actors at risk of having most of the production replaced with digital replicas.”
The studio said the union’s memo to its members “doesn’t contain any verbally presented proposals” during negotiations, and that the overall package includes wage increases, residual money (a type of royalty). It said it was worth more than $1 billion in improvements to health insurance, health insurance contributions, and more. .
Regarding artificial intelligence, the studios said they presented “innovative proposals to protect performers’ digital likenesses, such as requiring performers’ consent to create and use digital replicas or digitally alter their performances.” Stated.
Union leadership sent a table summarizing each proposal and the studio’s response. According to the union, the studio’s response to more than 20 proposals was “rejected”.
“So who is making the T-shirts that say ‘Rejected’?” Actress Senta Moses Posted on Twitter.
“This is why we are on strike,” the union memo read. “AMPTP thinks we will give in, but the will of our members is stronger than ever. We have the determination and solidarity needed to defend our rights.”
