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Amid news that SAG/AMPTP negotiations could start next week, international unions are mostly moving cautiously in support of a potential strike by stakeholders.
Unions in English-speaking countries are conservative, in contrast to writers’ unions around the world, which expressed their support for the WGA’s labor action even before it was convened.
With more than 1,000 stakeholders now urging SAG-AFTRA’s leadership to take a hard line in negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television (AMPTP) and talks at a knife-edge, questions have arisen like other nations could react and which guidelines could apply on site The actors receive information about working on projects for “ailing” US companies.
Canadian actors’ guild ACTRA declined to comment, saying only the strike “has not yet taken place and is currently speculative”, while the Brussels-based International Federation of Actors (FIA) had nothing to say just two days before the first deadline expired. As we announced late yesterday, this deadline could be extended to next week if SAG and AMPTP are close to an agreement.
Most of the guilds we’ve reached out are keeping their powder dry until the situation becomes clearer, but some international unions are taking a clearer position. Mark Phillips, communications director for Australia’s Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said SAG-AFTRA has kept its organization informed.
“As a sister union, MEAA stands in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA and will continue to work with SAG-AFTRA to determine the appropriate steps required for any manufacturing in Australia affected by industrial action should it take place in the US,” added he added .
“We must avoid confusion”
While the situation has calmed down somewhat after almost two months, in the early days of the writers’ strike, international writers were urgently seeking clarity about whether they would be allowed to work on certain projects. As for the actors, sources told Deadline they want to avoid a repeat of the confusion that has raged in areas like co-productions and streamer shows commissioned outside the US
John McVay, who heads Britain’s producer trade association Pact, said his panel is looking for “clarity and consistency” before offering advice to its hundreds of indie members, dozens of whom produce screenplays and many who work with US buyers.
“What we want to avoid is the confusion that has arisen with the WGA strike,” he added. “We want to know who can do what, where they can do it and avoid gray areas.”
A senior UK source with knowledge of the situation said actors’ union Equity, which Variety said was in LA this week speaking to SAG officials, is “more robust” when it comes to America’s guilds.
“Equity would not look favorably on anything that affects the ability of its members to work,” the source added. “They don’t want the SAG to get a foothold in the UK, but the problem is that there are British actors working in the US who will also be members of the SAG.”
The source also pointed out that “the prospect of replacing an American writer with a British writer is vastly different than replacing an American actor with a British actor,” and behind-the-scenes talks about this disparity are ongoing.
Equity, like other global actors’ guilds, declined Deadline’s request for comment on the strike, as did UK directors’ guild Directors UK and behind-the-camera union Bectu.
Several big-budget US television series and films are currently filmed outside the United States, including HBO’s House of the Dragon, Andor, and The Palace. Should a strike ever be authorized, the eyes of the industry will be on these tent poles. Currently, acting guilds around the world are sitting still.