Michael Buckner for Variety
SAG-AFTRA delivers its response Monday to the studios’ “last, best and final” offer as Hollywood awaits a resolution to the 116-day actors’ strike.
The union’s bargaining committee spent nearly 12 hours Sunday crafting its response. Details have not yet been announced.
The Alliance of Film and Television Producers said in a Zoom meeting Saturday that its current offer was the best it could do and that it would not negotiate further. The offer includes a success fee for streaming shows, increases in minimum tariffs and protection against artificial intelligence.
Several members of the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee expressed their dissatisfaction with the offer on Twitter. Four of them retweeted a call for high-profile actors to pressure studio CEOs to come back with a cheaper offer.
The union can continue to push for additional conditions, but by using the term “last, best and final” the AMPTP is trying to convey that it has listened to the union’s arguments and cannot make any further concessions.
Studios tried to emphasize that point Saturday by bringing together a larger-than-usual group of CEOs on the Zoom call, including executives from Paramount, Amazon and Sony.
The hope is that production can resume in January if SAG-AFTRA agrees to a deal. But CEOs have already warned that they may not be able to salvage 13-episode seasons of certain shows.
Much of the negotiations leading up to Saturday’s meeting focused on the AI issue. Among other things, the union is seeking a veto against the use of AI to create “digital doppelgangers”. The union also calls for minimum wages for the use of AI to create digital images and ironclad consent requirements.
Meanwhile, the union continued picketing in New York and Los Angeles on Monday. SAG-AFTRA has scheduled regular picketing through Thursday, with a scheduled day of rest on Friday for Veterans Day.