LOS ANGELES (AP) — The union representing movie and tv actors says no deal has been reached with studios and streaming companies and its management will vote on whether or not to strike on Thursday.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists mentioned early Thursday that its resolution on whether or not to affix already hanging screenwriters shall be thought of by management at a gathering later that day. A press convention asserting the choice is scheduled for midday Pacific.
If the actors do go on strike, it is going to be the primary time since 1960 that actors and writers picket movie and tv productions.
The actors’ guild launched an announcement asserting that its deadline for negotiations had ended and not using a contract. The assertion got here hours after this 12 months’s Emmy nominations, recognizing the most effective work on tv, had been introduced.
“The companies have refused to meaningfully engage on some topics and on others completely stonewalled us. Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reach a deal,” mentioned Fran Drescher, the star of “The Nanny” who’s now the actors guild president.
The group representing the studios, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, mentioned it was upset by the failure to achieve a deal.
“This is the Union’s choice, not ours. In doing so, it has dismissed 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,” the AMPTP mentioned in an announcement.
It added that as an alternative of continuous to barter, “SAG-AFTRA has put us on a course that will deepen the financial hardship for thousands who depend on the industry for their livelihoods.”
If the actors strike, they’ll formally be part of screenwriters on the picket strains exterior studios and filming areas in a bid to get higher phrases from studios and streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon. The actors’ guild had beforehand approved a strike by an almost 98% margin.
Members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike since early May, slowing the manufacturing of movie and tv sequence on each coasts and in manufacturing facilities like Atlanta.
Issues in negotiations embrace the unregulated use of synthetic intelligence and the results on residual pay introduced on by the streaming ecosystem that has emerged in recent times.
In a letter to SAG-AFTRA membership in a single day, Drescher informed actors to arrange to hit picket strains after the board’s vote Thursday.
“As you know, over the past decade, your compensation has been severely eroded by the rise of the streaming ecosystem,” Drescher wrote. “Furthermore, artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to creative professions, and all actors and performers deserve contract language that protects them from having their identity and talent exploited without consent and pay.”
Appearing on CNBC, Disney chief Bob Iger warned Thursday morning that an actors strike would have a “very damaging effect on the whole industry.”
“This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption,” Iger mentioned. “There’s a level of expectation that (SAG-AFTRA and the WGA) have that is just not realistic.”
Actors have joined writers on picket strains for weeks in solidarity. An actors’ strike would stop performers from engaged on units or selling their initiatives.
With a stoppage looming, the premiere Christopher Nolan’s movie “Oppenheimer” in London was moved up an hour in order that the forged might stroll the pink carpet earlier than the SAG board’s announcement.
Attending a photograph occasion on Wednesday, “Oppenheimer” co-star Matt Damon mentioned that whereas everybody hoped a strike could possibly be averted, many actors want a good contract to outlive.
“We ought to protect the people who are kind of on the margins,” Damon informed the AP. “And 26,000 bucks a year is what you have to make to get your health insurance. And there are a lot of people whose residual payments are what carry them across that threshold. And if those residual payments dry up, so does their health care. And that’s absolutely unacceptable. We can’t have that. So, we got to figure out something that is fair.”
The looming strike has forged a shadow over the upcoming seventy fifth Emmys. Nominations had been introduced Wednesday, and the strike was on the minds of many nominees.
“People are standing up and saying, ‘This doesn’t really work, and people need to be paid fairly,’” Oscar winner Jessica Chastain, who was nominated for her first Emmy for enjoying Tammy Wynette in “George & Tammy,” informed the AP. “It is very clear that there are certain streamers that have really kind of changed the way we work and the way that we have worked, and the contracts really haven’t caught up to the innovation that’s happened.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”