Striking actors and Hollywood studio bosses interrupted their negotiations on Wednesday, endangering hopes of a rapid resumption of film and series production after long months of strikes.
The heads of studios and platforms like Disney and Netflix have been speaking since last week with representatives of the SAG-AFTRA union – which represents the interests of 160,000 actors, stuntmen, dancers and other professionals on the small and big screen, whose members deserted the film since July.
But in a statement late Wednesday, the studios, which are represented in the negotiations by the Association of Cinema and Television Producers (AMPTP), said that discussion was on hold for now.
“After serious discussions, it became clear that the gap between the positions of AMPTP and those of SAG-AFTRA is too great, and [que] “These discussions are no longer moving us forward fruitfully,” the studios said.
Last month, the AMPTP reached a pay agreement with another company, that of Hollywood screenwriters, ending a strike that had lasted nearly five months.
Given the similarity between the actors’ demands and those of the authors, optimism about the possibility of a rapid agreement seemed warranted.
But in a statement on Wednesday, AMPTP accused the actors of making exorbitant demands, including a sharing of revenue from the works’ distribution on streaming platforms, which “alone would cost more than $800 million per year.”
This is an “unbearable financial burden” for the studios.
They also accused the SAG-AFTRA union of rejecting the raises accepted by the screenwriters.
“We hope that SAG-AFTRA will review its positions and quickly return to productive negotiations,” the Hollywood studios said.
For its part, the SAG-AFTRA union did not immediately respond to these statements.
Image cloned by AI without consent
Although writers have resumed work, most productions cannot resume as long as the actors’ strike that began in July continues, costing the industry millions of dollars every day.
Like the screenwriters, the actors also stopped working and, in particular, demanded a half-masted increase in their remuneration and protection measures against artificial intelligence (AI) in the streaming age.
In theory, the agreement between studios and screenwriters should help actors imitate them, analysts say.
But SAG-AFTRA’s salary demands and demands for guarantees against AI go further than those of their script colleagues.
In particular, they demand a larger salary increase and, if a series is successful, demand a real percentage of the profits instead of a simple bonus.
Additionally, actors fear that AI will be used to clone their voice and image without their consent and without compensation.
At the end of September, the International Federation of Actors, which gathered its steering committee in Istanbul, reiterated its “unwavering” support for the Hollywood actors’ strike movement, viewing it as an “existential struggle” for actors who are at risk “without any compensation.” having to compete with virtual copies of themselves.”
The lectures also cover other actor-specific topics, such as auditioning remotely – a practice that emerged during the pandemic and is widely denounced by actors.
Some film and television productions by small Hollywood studios have already been able to resume thanks to temporary exemptions.