SAG-AFTRA
The entire cast of studio executives from major studios and streamers are expected to attend Saturday’s negotiating session with SAG-AFTRA, has learned.
The two parties will meet via Zoom on Saturday after the studios made their latest offer to the union’s top negotiators on Friday evening. Studio executives including Disney’s Bob Iger, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav participated in previous bargaining sessions this year with SAG-AFTRA as well as with the Writers Guild of America before that union closed its deal in late September concluded – but Saturday’s group is expected to be more numerous.
Top executives from Paramount, Sony, Apple and Amazon will also be in attendance, meaning all major Hollywood studios will be represented alongside the three tech giants with big film and TV ambitions.
has reached out to AMPTP for comment.
It’s a serious sign as the SAG-AFTRA strike enters its 114th day. Until Saturday, sources gave different answers as to when an agreement might be reached. Some were more optimistic than others that negotiations could be concluded quickly at this point. The SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee met Saturday morning to prepare for the day’s bargaining session.
The two parties have been back at the negotiating table since October 24th and have been meeting continuously. Iger, Langley, Sarandos and Zaslav were present at some of these meetings, but recently AMPTP President Carol Lombardini led the discussions on behalf of the studios.
A little over a week ago, top executives from the larger contingent companies met with SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and union president Fran Drescher to outline, among other things, the challenges facing their television and film production plans and how they will reach a tipping point, including the Summer film calendar 2024.
Participants in this call included Sony Pictures Chairman Tony Vinciquerra, Paramount CEO Brian Robbins, and Amazon Studios’ Mike Hopkins and Jennifer Salke, in addition to the four regular executives present in previous negotiating sessions.
Kim Masters contributed to this report.